Albert Gabbai

Rabbi Albert E. (Abraham) Gabbai is an American rabbi, serving as the Rabbi Emeritus of the Sephardic synagogue Congregation Mikveh Israel since 1988. Mikveh Israel was founded in 1740, and is the second-oldest active congregation in the United States.

Gabbai is a native of Cairo, Egypt. Following the Six-day War in 1967, Gabbai, who was 18 years old at the time, was arrested and sent to prison in Egypt for three years. After being released he went to France and then to the United States.

Gabbai was born in Egypt in 1949 to Jewish immigrant parents. His father was born in Baghdad to a family of rabbis. He came to Egypt as a child with his family, and traded in silk shirts. Gabbai's mother came from a family originally from Leghorn, Italy. They met and married in Egypt.

Gabbai's maternal grandmother was born in Salonica, Greece. Her family spoke Ladino.

There were ten children in the Gabbai family: eight boys and two girls. The family was strictly observant of Judaism.

Gabbai attended the Collège de la Salle (French Catholic School). The majority of the students were Christians, but there were Jews and Moslems as well.

As a child Gabbai sang in the choir of the Sha'ar Hashamayim Synagogue.

Life in Egypt was generally good for Jews up until the 1940s and 50s. The situation became more strenuous until eventually, the Jews started to leave and immigrate to other countries. Gabbai's four brothers left before 1967 and went to the USA where they became US citizens. Gabbai, three brothers, two sisters, and their widowed mother stayed behind. Their father had died years earlier.