For the first time, there will be no minyan (prayer quorum) at the central synagogue of Alexandria, Rabbi Avraham Dayan, who assists the community, said in a radio interview Monday. In past years, yeshiva students have flown in to help complete the minyan, slaughter animals for holiday meals, and lift the spirits of the few Jews, nearly all of them elderly, during the high holiday period.

Rabbi Dayan said that he had been informed by Egyptian authorities this year that it was prefereable that the students not enter the country, because it is “dangerous,” and as a result there will be no prayers at the Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue – which, at full capacity, could seat 5,000 people.