Jojo Dass: Shaima Ibrahim Khairy Mahmoud Gad was born in Cairo, Egypt. Her father, Ibrahim Khairy Mahmoud Gad, is a retired food and beverage manager at a hotel in Egypt and her mother, Carmen Rassmuzin Cordoviz, left her home in Makati City in Metro Manila, Philippines for Egypt when she was 30 years old, and decided to become a school teacher. Gad has three other sisters and a brother, arrived in Dubai last year, and started working as PR and marketing coordinator at Crowne Plaza Deira. She plans to grow her career and move to Tunisia someday to settle down with her husband, Kaies Amri, a Tunisian national who works at Damac Maison Hotel in Downtown Dubai.
AARON PALABYAB: My friends and I during our trip to Egypt in 2008.
Bezalel Porten: The Elephantine documents reveal the presence on the island of Elephantine and on the mainland (Syene) of a Jewish military colony serving Persian interests. The Elephantine Jews observed the Sabbath, celebrated Passover, and gave their children Hebrew names. One of the most striking features of the Elephantine papyri is the prominent role that women play. It is no exaggeration to say that they are everywhere. Almost a third of the contributors were women. Their names enhance our knowledge of female onomastica. While a married woman in the Bible was regularly known by the name of her husband, these women, as well as the ones mentioned in the contracts, are referred to by their fathers’ names.
