The Sha'ar Hashamayim Synagogue (lit. Gate of Heaven) is located in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. The synagogue was also known as Temple Ismailia and the Adly Street Synagogue.

Its long time leader was Chief Rabbi Chaim Nahum

Chaim Nahum

Chaim Nahum Effendi was a Jewish scholar, jurist, and linguist of the early 20th century. He was born in 1872 in İzmir. He was sent by his parents to a yeshiva in Tiberias, after which he studied at a French lycée for his secondary education and obtained a degree in Islamic law in Istanbul...

. In 2008, the synagogue marked its 100th anniversary. The synagogue was built in a style evoking ancient Egyptian temple

Egyptian temple

Egyptian temples were built for the official worship of the gods and commemoration of pharaohs in Ancient Egypt and in regions under Egyptian control. These temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated...

s, and was once the largest building on the boulevard.

When the synagogue opened in 1899, there was a vibrant Jewish community in Cairo. The last time the synagogue was full was in the 1960s. Today the community numbers 30-40 members, most of them older women.

Although it is considered a Sephardic

Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...

 synagogue, many Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...

were members of the congregation and contributed to its construction and upkeep.

In February 2010, a booby-trapped suitcase was hurled at the synagogue from a nearby hotel. The suitcase caught fire, but no one was hurt and no damage was reported.