34.Sayi Second Edition

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INDEX

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52

10 THE 517-YEAR-OLD JOURNEY OF TURKISH JEWSThe present size of the Jewish community is estimated to be

around 22,000. The vast majority live in Istanbul, with a com

munity of about 500 in Izmir and other smaller groups located

in Adana, Ankara, Antakya, Bursa, Canakkale, Kirklareli etc.

14 AN OVER 100-YEAR-OLD HISTORY OF TURKISHSEPHARDIC JEWS IN SEATTLEThe first two Sephardic Jews Jack Policar (d. 1961) and

Solomo Calvo (d. 1964), arrived in Seattle from the island of

Marmara, Turkey in 1902. In 1904, they met Nissim Alhadeff,

who had arrived that year from the Isle of Rhodes, between

Greece and Turkey, in a Seattle Greek Caf.

18 SEPHARDIC JEWS FROM OTTOMAN LANDSIN THE U.SToday, the Sephardic community in the United States is

generally known for its members attachment and loyalty to

their native lands in and around Turkey. New York City has

the largest population of Sephardim in the country, and isknown, together with Seattle.

22 SEPHARDIC JEWS OF LOS ANGELESThe first spiritual leader was Rabbi Abraham Caraco. There

were 52 families in the congregation: 37 from Rhodes. In

time, as happens in most families, the Rhodeslies and

Turkinos, as they called one another split up due to shall we

say, euphemistically for parochial differences.

24 DAVID DANGOOR, PRESIDENT OF AMERICANSEPHARDI FEDERATIONDavid Dangoor: Turkey saved a big chunk of the Jewish

religion when the Jews came from Spain. God knows what

would have happened to them if they had no place to go.

32 BARRY HABIB: A SON OF AN STANBUL FAMILYBarry is the youngest of five children of an immigrant family

from Ortakoy, stanbul. When the family decided to move

away in 1958, like any immigrant who desired to come to the

U.S., they thought that money lay scattered on the streets

and all they had to do was just bend down and picked it up.

35 FIRST CHIEF RABBI IN ISTANBUL: RABBI MOSHECAPSALIAfter arriving in Istanbul, Sephardic Jews would move out to

their permanent homes, which the various communal

organizations found for them, settling in the different districts

of Constantinople such as Ortakoy and Kuzguncuk, as well asHaskoy and Balat.

48 EDIRNE AND ITS JEWISH COMMUNITY AT THE TURNOF THE 19TH CENTURYAccording to Jewish sources, there were 12,000 Jews living in

Edirne in 1873 and 17,000 in 1902. Their numbers reached a

peak of 20,000 in 1912 on the eve of the first Balkan War.

52 JEWS IN BURSAJews did not leave the city of Bursa when Sultan Orhan took

over that city. Sultan gave permission for the building of the

Efs Ehaim synagogue the first synagogue in the Ottoman

state- in what today is called Arapsukru Street in the Jewish

town.


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The Anatolian territory, which has been located on the

migration lines for centuries, has hosted millions of im-

migrants. Jews who fled from Spain to stanbul in 1492, re-

fugees from the Caucasus who came to various Anatolian

cities as a result of the Crimean War of the 1850s and the Ot-

toman-Russian War in 1870s, victims of Balkan Wars who

moved from Bulgaria and Greece The paths of all refuges

crossed in Anatolia.

These people moved to such cities of the Ottoman Empire

as stanbul, Edirne, Salonica, zmir, Bursa, Tekirda, and

Rhodes. For years, they continued their lives.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, with the French

Revolution, nationalism spread to the whole world. Consecu-tive wars broke out, such as the Balkan Wars (1912), World

War I (1914), which included the Gallipoli Campaign (1915),

and The Arab Revolt (1916). These wars cluttered the territory

ruled by the Ottoman Empire. Faced with wars, raids, and

economic problems, the Anatolian soil lost its children by the

hundreds of thousands.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in the years betwe-

en 1895-1924, a total number of 318,945 Ottoman citizens mo-

ved to the United States. The migration waves from Ottoman

lands were not only toward United States; people were rus-

hing to Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Australia and Cuba as well.

In the year of 1913, 1670 people moved to Havana, Cuba, in

1893 410 people moved to Melbourne, Australia. In 1906,66,558 Ottomans emigrated to Argentina. In the years bet-

ween 1880-1901, about 1 million Ottomans emigrated to the

United States, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and other countries.

The most valuable research about immigration from the Ot-

toman Empire to the United States and Latin America coun-

tries was conducted by Kemal Karpat, Emeritus Professor of

History at the University of WisconsinMadison. Karpats

magnificent work, Ottoman Population, 1830-1914: Demog-

raphic and Social Characteristics, gives many details about

the immigration of the Ottomans.

Karpat writes in his book that in the years between 1908-1912

a total of 26,065 Ottoman citizens immigrated to Brazil. In

Brazil Ottomans were the fifth-largest group of immigrants inthe period. The probable number of Syrians in Argentina in

1909 was 51,936. By 1914 the total was 64,369. In Argentina,

the Ottomans were the sixth-largest group of immigrants.

Between 1901-1924, a total of 65,756 Armenians and 18,848

Turkish immigrants arrived in the New World.

Karpat indicates that the general classification terms for Ot-

toman immigrants were non-descriptive; in Argentina they

were called Syrians, while in Brazil they were referred to

as Turks and Arabs.

Before the first waves of immigration to United States, the

famous historian gives important population figures for s-

tanbul. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the popu-

lation of stanbul consisted of about 722,000 people, divi-

ded into 380,000 Muslims, 205,000 Armenians, 100,000

Greeks, and 37,000 Jews.

Karpat emphasizes that in about 1850, stanbul had more

than 350 mosques of all sizes, 91 Greek and Armenian churc-

hes, 8 Catholic churches, and 37 synagogues. stanbul was

the capital of the worlds faith and cultures.

Today there are hundreds of thousands of Americans whose

grandfathers and fathers were born in Turkey; hunger, wars

and economic crises forced them to emigrate to the United

States. They call themselves Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi, Egypti-

an, Greek, Armenian or Jewish. No matter what religion or na-

tionality they claim, they are the people of the same soil. They

are different colors of a rainbow and the pieces of a mosaic.Some pieces of the mosaic are still in Anatolia, and some pie-

ces are in the various corners of the world. If someone has a

dream of establishing a greater Turkey, these mosaics have

to be combined and never allowed to be divided again.

IMMIGRATION FROM TURKEY

Year to the U.S.to Argentina to Brazil to Cuba to Canada**

1897 4,884 - 648 - -

1898 4,451 - 978 - -

1899 4,516 - 1,823 - -

1900 4,247 - 874 - 662

1901 6,169 - 781 - 1,268

1902 6,410 - 772 23 1,050

1903 8,647 - 481 88 540

1904 9,579 - 1,097 86 788

1905 10,699 - 1,446 228 812

1906 15,864 66,558 1,193 264 758

1907 28,820 - 1,480 248 1,842

1908 21,043 - 3,170 190 510

1909 16,521 - 4,027 277 803

1910 33,617 - 5,257 210 619

1911 24,667 - 6,319 313* 838

1912 27,269 - 7,302 651* 1,119

1913 38,083 - 10,886 1670* 625

1914 29,915 - 3,456 239* 148

1915 4,551 - 514 71 3

1916 1,983 59,272 603 68 171917 545 - 259 33 4

1918 58 - 93 13 -

1919 29 - 504 79 29

1920 6,966 - 4,854 1138* 410

1921 18,126 162 1,865 216* 80

1922 3,658 199 2,278 249* 64

1923 5,926 1,611 4,829 868* 516

1924 4,301 1,309 4,078 1,178* 336

Total

(1856-1924) 364,014 144,903 72,025 8,400 13,841

Source: Imre Ferenczi and Walter F. Willcox, International Migrations,

Vol. 1 (New York 1919)

* From Turkey and Turks from other countries.

** All Turkish

The Unted Colors of Turkey and The Mosacs

that Have Spread from Anatola to the World

FROM EDITOR

Cemil [email protected]

Some pieces of the

mosaic are still in

Anatolia, and some

pieces are in

the various corners

of the world.


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TurkofAmerica

Anatolia, from the pre-historic period until thepresent time, evolved into an area enriched witha cultural legacy inherited from many different civi-lizations. This cultural heritage has been preserveduntil the present time, making good use of sharedexperiences and utilizing what had been learned oraccumulated. In this way, Anatolia has served notonly as a geographic bridge, connecting Asia toEurope or the East to the West, but also as a percep-tion linking the past with the present and introduc-ing Eastern thought to the Western way of thinking.

The Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey also servedas a cradle for many religions, such as Islam,Christianity and Judaism, which were allowed to co-exist together. During the Ottoman era, the regula-tions put into practice by Sultan Mehmet the

Conqueror and many others clearly aimed at protect-ing the cultural diversity and the existence of the dif-ferent belief systems and communities, as well asestablishing appropriate circumstances to guarantee

a decent life for all citizens. As a result, different reli-gious groups that suffered oppression at home didnot hesitate to migrate to take shelter in this peacefulland. Modern and secular Turkey has followed thisOttoman path of tolerance and co-existence.

THE JEWISH DIASPORA IS OUR PARTNER

The culture of "living together" has gained furthersignificance in today's globalized world, in particularthe European Union integration process. Jews in theOttoman Empire and Turkey enjoyed and still enjoyall rights and appreciate their status in our country.This also contributes to the positive image of Turkeyas a country respecting differences and religiousminorities, which is one of the fundamental values ofthe EU.

In fact, around 300.000 American Jews of Ottomanorigin contributed to building a bridge of friendshipbetween the Ottoman Empire and the USA in the19th century. Turkey's positive approach to Jews andthe Jewish community, as well as Israel, is reflectedin the attitudes of the Jewish Diaspora not only in theUSA but also in European countries towards Turkey.We consider the Jewish Diaspora as our natural part-ners to better communicate Turkey's tradition andculture of tolerance and "diversity in unity" to therest of Europe and the world.

In this respect, progress in Turkey's EU accessionwill mean more stability and better relations in the

region and beyond. Turkey's full membership in theEU will contribute to a better understanding of theMiddle East issue and the concerns of all sides,including Israel. Turkey in the EU will also increasethe credibility of the Union vis a vis the region, mak-ing the EU a real global actor to bring balanced andviable solutions to the problems of the region.

* Egemen Bafl, Minister for EU Affairs and ChiefNegotiator of Turkey

EGEMEN BAIfiEgemen Bafl was first elected to Parliament in

2002 as a deputy for stanbul. He was appointedMinister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator onJanuary 2009 and has been working at Turkeys fullmembership negotiations since then.

Bafl was the party's Vice Chairman in charge ofForeign Affairs and as a Vice Chairman, he was amember of AK Party's Central Executive Committee,the party's highest body, until 2009.

Bafl was the party's contact person for internation-al relations and diplomacy. He directed and coordi-nated the party's national and international networkand local branches on foreign policy matters. He alsocoordinated the flow of key global developments to

the party leadership.

FROM THE MINISTER

We consider the

Jewish Diaspora asour natural partners

to better communi-

cate Turkey's tradi-

tion and culture of

tolerance and diver-

sity in unity to the

rest of Europe and

the world.

By Egemen Bafl

European Turkey:

Dversty n Unty08


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10 TurkofAmerica

At midnight on August 2, 1492, when Columbusembarked on what would become his most famo-us expedition to the New World, his fleet departedfrom the relatively unknown seaport of Palos becau-se the shipping lanes of Cadiz and Seville were clog-ged with Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain by theEdict of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain.

The Jews forced either to convert to Christianity or to"leave" the country under menace "dare not re-turn... not so much as to take a step on them nottrespass upon them in any manner whatsoever" lefttheir land, their property, their belongings, all thatwas theirs and familiar to them rather than abandontheir beliefs, their traditions, their heritage.In the faraway Ottoman Empire, one ruler extendedan immediate welcome to the persecuted Jews ofSpain, the Sephardim. He was the Sultan Bayazid II.

In 1992, the Discovery Year for all those connected tothe American continents - North, Central and South -

world Jewry was concerned with commemorating not

only the expulsion, but also seven centuries of theJewish life in Spain, flourishing under Muslim rule,and the 500th anniversary of the official welcome ex-

tended by the Ottoman Empire in 1492.

This humanitarianism demonstrated at that time wasconsistent with the beneficence and good will tradi-tionally displayed by the Turkish government andpeople towards those of different creeds, culturesand backgrounds. Indeed, Turkey could serve as amodel to be emulated by any nation which finds re-fugees from any of the four corners of the world stan-ding at its doors.

In 1992, Turkish Jewry celebrated not only the anni-versary of this gracious welcome, but also the remar-kable spirit of tolerance and acceptance which has

characterized the whole Jewish experience in Turkey.The events that were planned - symposiums, confe-rences, concerts, exhibitions, films and books, resto-ration of ancient synagogues, etc - commemoratedthe longevity and prosperity of the Jewish commu-nity. As a whole, the celebration aimed to demons-trate the richness and security of life Jews have fo-und in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republicover seven centuries, and showed that indeed it isnot impossible for people of different creeds to livetogether peacefully under one flag.

A HISTORY PREDATING 1492

The history of the Jews in Anatolia started many cen-turies before the migration of Sephardic Jews. Rem-nants of Jewish settlements from the 4th century B.C.have been uncovered in the Aegean region. The his-torian Josephus Flavius relates that Aristotle "metJewish people with whom he had an exchange of vi-ews during his trip across Asia Minor."The ruins of ancient synagogues have been found inSardis, Miletus, Priene, Phocee, etc., dating from220 B.C. and traces of other Jewish settlements havebeen discovered near Bursa, in the southeast andalong the Aegean, Mediterranean and Black Sea co-asts. A bronze column found in Ankara confirms therights the Emperor Augustus accorded the Jews of

Asia Minor.

The present size of

the Jewish

community is

estimated to be

around 22,000.

The vast majority

live in Istanbul, with a

community of about

500 in Izmir andother smaller groups

located in Adana,

Ankara, Antakya,

Bursa, Canakkale,

Kirklareli etc.

The 517-Year-Old Journey of

Turksh Jews from theIberan Pennsula to the

Present

JOURNEY OF TURKISH JEWS

By Naim Guleryuz*

The Ashkenazi Synagogue in Istanbul.(Courtesy of fialom Newspaper)


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11 TurkofAmerica

A HAVEN FOR SEPHARDIC JEWSSultan Bayazid II's offer of refuge gave new hope to the persecuted

Sephardim. In 1492, the Sultan ordered the governors of the provin-ces of the Ottoman Empire "not to refuse the Jews entry or causethem difficulties, but to receive them cordially". (3) According to Ber-nard Lewis, "the Jews were not just permitted to settle in the Otto-man lands, but were encouraged, assisted and sometimes even com-pelled.

Immanual Aboab attributes to Bayazid II the famous remark that"the Catholic monarch Ferdinand was wrongly considered as wise,since he impoverished Spain by the expulsion of the Jews, and enric-hed Turkey". (4)

The arrival of the Sephardim altered the structure of the community

and the original group of Romaniote Jews was totally absorbed.

Over the centuries an increasing number of European Jews, escapingpersecution in their native countries, settled in the Ottoman Empire.In 1537 the Jews expelled from Apulia (Italy) after the city fell underPapal control, and in 1542 those expelled from Bohemia by King Fer-dinand found a safe haven in the Ottoman Empire. In March of 1556,Sultan Suleyman "the Magnificent" wrote a letter to Pope Paul IV as-king for the immediate release of the Ancona Marranos, whom hedeclared to be Ottoman citizens. The Pope had no other alternativethan to release them, the Ottoman Empire being the "Super Power"of those days.

By 1477, Jewish households in Istanbul numbered 1647, or 11% of the

total. Half a century later, 8070 Jewish houses were listed in the city.

OTTOMAN ENCOURAGED JEWISH IMMIGRATIONJewish communities in Anatolia flourished and continued to prosper

through the Turkish conquest. When the Ottomans captured Bursa in1326 and made it their capital, they found a Jewish community oppres-sed under Byzantine rule. The Jews welcomed the Ottomans as saviors.Sultan Orhan gave them permission to build the Etz ha-Hayyim (Tree ofLife) synagogue, which remained in service until the nineteen forties.

Early in the 14th century, when the Ottomans had established theircapital at Edirne, Jews from Europe, including Karaites, migrated the-re. Similarly, Jews expelled from Hungary in 1376, from France byCharles VI in September 1394, and from Sicily early in the 15th cen-tury, found refuge in the Ottoman Empire. In the 1420s, Jews from Sa-lonika, then under Venetian control, fled to Edirne.

Ottoman rule was much kinder than Byzantine rule had been. In fact,from the early 15th century on, the Ottomans actively encouraged Je-wish immigration. A letter sent by Rabbi Yitzhak Sarfati (from Edirne)to Jewish communities in Europe in the first part of the century "invi-ted his co-religionists to leave the torments they were enduring inChristendom and to seek safety and prosperity in Turkey". (1)

When Mehmet II "the Conqueror" took Constantinople in 1453, heencountered an oppressed Romaniot (Byzantine) Jewish communitywhich welcomed him with enthusiasm. Sultan Mehmet II issued aproclamation to all Jews "... to ascend the site of the Imperial Thro-ne, to dwell in the best of the land, each beneath his Dine and his figtree, with silver and with gold, with wealth and with cattle...". (2) In1470, Jews expelled from Bavaria by Ludvig X found refuge in the Ot-

toman Empire.

The Synagogue of Haskoy Maalem.(Photo Izzet Keribar, Synagogues of Turkey, Gzlem Publishing)


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TURKISH JEWS TODAY

The present size of the Jewish community is estimated to be around22,000. The vast majority live in Istanbul, with a community of abo-ut 500 in Izmir and other smaller groups located in Adana, Ankara,Antakya, Bursa, Canakkale, Kirklareli etc.Sephardim make up 96% of the community, with Ashkenazim acco-unting for the rest. There are about 100 Karaites, an independentgroup that does not accept the authority of the Chief Rabbi.

Turkish Jews are legally represented, as they have been for manycenturies, by the Hahambasi, the Chief Rabbi. He is assisted by a re-ligious council made up of five Hahamim. Fifty Lay Counselors lookafter the secular affairs of the community and an Executive Commit-tee of fourteen runs daily matters. Representatives of Jewish founda-tions and institutions meet four times a year as a so-called thinktank to exchange opinions on different subjects of concern to Tur-kish Jewry.

Synagogues are classified as religious foundations (Vakifs). Thereare 18 synagogues in use in Istanbul today. Three are in service in ho-liday resorts, during summer only. Some of them are very old, espe-cially Ahrida Synagogue in the Balat area, which dates from themiddle of the 15th century. The 15th and 16th century Haskoy andKuzguncuk cemeteries in Istanbul are still in use today.

The Museum of Turkish Jews (Trk Musevileri Mzesi), the first suchMuseum in Turkey, was inaugurated on November 25, 2001.(www.muze500.com)

EDUCATION, LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL LIFE

Most Jewish children attend state schools or private Turkish or fore-ign language schools, and many are enrolled in the universities. Ad-ditionally, the community maintains in Istanbul a school complexincluding elementary and secondary schools for around 700 stu-dents. Turkish is the language of instruction, and Hebrew is taught 3

to 5 hours a week.

While younger Jews speak Turkish as their native language, the ge-neration over 70 is more at home speaking French or Judeo-Spanish(Ladino). A conscious effort is being made to preserve the heritage ofJudeo-Spanish.

For many years Turkish Jews have had their own press. La Buena Es-peransa and La Puerta del Oriente started in Izmir in 1843 and Or Is-rael was first published in Istanbul ten years later. Now one newspa-per survives: SALOM (Shalom), a fourteen to sixteen pages weekly inTurkish with one page in Judeo-Spanish, plus a monthly 24-pagesupplement in Judeo-Spanish: EL AMANESER.

A Community Calendar (Halila) is published by the Chief Rabbinateevery year and distributed free of charge to all those who have paidtheir dues (Kisba) to the welfare bodies. The Community cannot levytaxes, but accept donations.

Two Jewish hospitals, the 98-bed Or-Ahayim in Istanbul and the 22-bed Karatas Hospital in Izmir, serve the community. There are alsohomes for the aged (Moshav Zekinim) and several welfare associati-ons to assist the poor, the sick, and needy children and orphans.Social clubs containing libraries, cultural and sports facilities, anddiscotheques give young people the chance to meet.

The Jewish Community is of course a very small group in Turkey to-

day, considering that the total population - 99% Muslim - exceeds 70million. But in spite of their small numbers, the Jews have distinguis-hed themselves. There are several Jewish professors teaching at theUniversities of Istanbul and Ankara, and many Turkish Jews are pro-minent in business, industry, the liberal arts, and journalism.

* Naim Gleryz, a researcher and writer, is president of the 500. Yl Vakf (Quincenten-

nial Foundation)

(1) Bernard Lewis, "The Jews of Islam"(2) Encyclopedia Judaica, Volume 16 page 1532(3) Abraham Danon, Review Yossef Daath No.4(4) Immanual Aboab, "A Consolacam as Tribulacoes de Israel, II-I Israel"

13 TurkofAmerica

celebration ceromany of Sukkot in Kuzguncuk Synagogue in Istanbul.

Courtesy of fialom Newspaper)


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14 TurkofAmerica

According to the M.A. thesis of Albert Adatto, a studentof University of Washington in 1939, (Sephardim andthe Seattle Sephardic Community), the first two Sephar-

dic Jews Jack Policar (d. 1961) and Solomo Calvo (d. 1964),

arrived in Seattle from the island of Marmara, Turkey in

1902. The first Turkish Jew to arrive in Seattle is thought

to have been David Levy in 1900. In 1904, they met Nissim

Alhadeff, who had arrived that year from the Isle of Rho-

des, between Greece and Turkey, in a Seattle Greek Caf.

In addition to Marmara and Rhodes, Sephardim from Te-

kirdag (Rodosto) and Istanbul (Constantinople) joined

the first Turkish Jews immigrant group. Almost all were

young men, and after a few years some went back to the-

ir homes in Turkey to marry and bring their new wives to

Seattle. Shortly thereafter the first of the American-born

Sephardim appeared.

By 1906, 17 Sephardic Jews resided in Seattle. That num-

ber tripled by 1907. As economic and political conditions

in the Ottoman Empire deteriorated, and as Jews became

newly subject to the draft, immigration increased. Sep-

hardim from Constantinople and Rodosto joined thosefrom Rhodes and Marmara. By 1910 there were about 40

Sephardic families, more than 100 souls, and growing.

By 1916 the Sephardic community had grown to about

1500 people, which comprised three separate groups,

The first two

Sephardic Jews Jack

Policar (d. 1961) and

Solomo Calvo (d.

1964), arrived in

Seattle from the

island of Marmara,Turkey in 1902. In

1904, they met

Nissim Alhadeff, who

had arrived that year

from the Isle of

Rhodes, between

Greece and Turkey, in

a Seattle Greek Caf.

TURKISH JEWS IN SEATTLE

An Over 100-Year-Old Hstory

of Turksh Sephardc Jews nSeattleSolomon Calvo (left) and Jack Policar (right) were the first twoSephardic Jews, arriving from the Turkish island of Marmara in

1902, to settle in Seattle. (Photo: University of WashingtonLibraries. Special Collections Division)

Marco Calvo, Jack Policar and Sam (Sol) Baruch at Apex Sheet MetalWorks, Seattle, December 30, 1930. (Photo: University of

Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division)

Esther and Jack Policar, studio portrait, Seattle, ca. 1954.(Photo: University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division)

Jack Policar's 80th birthday with children and grandchildren, Seattle,1959. (Photo: University of Washington Libraries. SpecialCollections Division)

Bottom: Pearl Cohen. 2nd row, L-R: Esther and Jack Policar. 3rd row,L-R: Betty Alhadeff, Sam Alhadeff, Ralph Policar, Marco Calvo,Sema Calvo, 1932. (Photo: University of Washington Libraries.Special Collections Division)

Marco Calvo's 80th birthday with children and grandchildren, Seattle,1977. (Photo: University of Washington Libraries. SpecialCollections Division)


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TurkofAmerica 15

University of Washington and six years later he was elected President of

Sephardic Bikur Holim.

That same year some Sephardic Bikur Holim members left when the Mar-

mara group announced plans to build their own synagogue, the Ahavath

Ahim, which was completed in 1922.

CHIEF RABBI OF TURKEY VISITED TO SEATTLE IN 1921In 1921 Rabbi Haim Nahum, former Haham Bashi (Chief Rabbi of Turkey) vi-

sited Seattle on behalf of the Alliance Israelite Universalle to raise money.

The entire Sephardic community turned out to see and hear Rabbi Nahum

who remained in Seattle for three weeks. He raised more money in Seattle

than he did in Portland or Los Angeles.

In 1924 a very significant event occurred within the Sephardic Bikur Holim

community. Since Rabbi Abraham Maimon had been the rabbi in Tekirdag

when many of the members had lived there prior to immigrating to the US,

they knew him and greatly respected and admired him. When some of the-

se leaders learned that he might be interested in moving to Seattle, theybegan contacting him by mail in late 1923, and by mid-1924 the papers and

preparations for his appointment as rabbi and his move to the US were

completed. This took some time because beginning in 1921 the American

Congress passed several laws restricting immigration to the US. Rabbi Mai-

mon and his family (his wife Vida and 6 of his 8 children) arrived in Septem-

ber, 1924, in the evening, a day before the start of Yom Kippur. Due to ill-

ness the family had to spend Rosh Hashanah on Ellis Island before procee-

ding by train to Seattle, where they were warmly greeted by more than 100

members of the community.

LEON BEHAR: FIRST PRODUCER OF SEPHARDIC THEATERDuring the 1920s one of the unique social past times for the members of

SBH was attending the amateur Sephardic Theater, performances of plays

completely in Ladino. Leon Behar, who grew up in Istanbul before comingto Seattle, was the most accomplished producer of Ladino theatrical pro-

ductions, but not the only one. In Istanbul as a teenager he had participa-

ted as an actor, director and playwright of several plays, and he put that ta-

lent to good use in Seattle. He produced and directed a number of plays,

beginning with Dreyfus in 1922, using talented Sephardim from all three

synagogues as his actors. Once the Depression started at the end of 1929,

the era of Ladino dramatic productions in Seattle came to an end.

By 1930, Seattle would be second to New York in Sephardic population in

the United States.

Rabbi Maimon died in 1931 and Rabbi Isaac Azose was called to lead the

congregation again.

In 1944, Solomon Maimon, son of Rabbi Abraham Maimon, became thefirst American Sephardic Jew to receive rabbinic ordination in this country.

He was the first Sephardi to receive semiha at Yeshiva University and in the

country. He remained the rabbi of Sephardi Bikur Holim for 40 years. After

him more than 30 SBH members followed in his footsteps, going to New

York to further their Jewish education by attending YU, either its Yeshiva

College (for men) or Stern College (for women). Along with Bikur Holims

Rabbi Wohlgelernter, he was instrumental in organizing the first all day re-

ligious school in Seattle, Seattle Hebrew Academy.

A SYNAGOGUE CANTOR FROM EDIRNERev. Morris Scharhon, the Hazzan, passed away in 1950, and the synago-

gue began looking for a new Hazzan Rev. Samuel Benaroya, originally from

Edirne, Turkey was at the time the Hazzan of the Sephardic kehilla in Gene-

va, Switzerland.

Sephardic Bikur Holim, the Rhodes group which established their own

synagogue, Ezra Bessaroth and the Marmara group.

Sephardic Bikur Cholim, founded by Jews from Turkey, particularly Tekir-

dag, incorporated in 1910. The congregation purchased the former Ashke-

nazic Bikur Cholim synagogue on 13th Avenue and Washington Street. To

this day Sephardic Bikur Holim follows the traditions and customs brought

from Turkey by its founders.

Ezra Bessaroth Congregation evolved out of Koupa Ozer Dalim Anshe

Rhodes, a fund to help the needy in Rhodes; its synagogue incorporated

in 1914.

Ahavath Achim Congregation, founded in 1914, had a membership that inc-

luded the earliest founders of the Seattle Sephardic community -- Jacob Po-

licar, Solomo Calvo, and David Levy.

SEPHARDIC BIKUR HOLIM: FOUNDED BY JEWS FROM TEKIRDAGAccording to the Seattle Sephardic Bikur Holim website, up to 1908, Jewish

religious services such as for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur had been

held by all of the Sephardim together, in a rented hall, with the Ashkenazic

rabbi coming over to blow the shofar. In the following years, because of dif-

ferences in minhagim, the Turkish (Tekirdag and Marmara) and Rhodes

groups were determined to conduct their own separate religious services.

In 1911, Samuel Morhaime, head of the mutual aid society of the Tekirdag

group, decided to purchase a Sefer Torah, a handwritten copy of the Torah,

from Palestine, as the first step towards a synagogue. Two years later, the

Tekirdag group took action towards the establishment of a synagogue. The

Ashkenazi synagogue, Bikur Cholim, was completing the construction of a

new building at 17th and Yesler, so their old synagogue, at 13th and Was-

hington, was becoming available. The Tekirdag group called a meeting,and their leaders convinced them to take joint and dramatic action. They

raised $800 and agreed to buy the building, along with a section of ceme-

tery, from Bikur Cholim.

The synagogue was established as Bikur Holim, named after the synago-

gue in Tekirdag, and Joseph Caston was elected as its first President. Offi-

cially, it was known as the Spanish Hebrew Society and Congregation Bi-

kur Holim. At this time, the Marmara group decided to maintain their own

identity.

FIRST RABBI OF SYNAGOUGE SERVED IN TEKIRDAG AND ISLAND OFMARMARA

Religious services at Sephardic Bikur Holim were conducted by Rabbi She-lomo Azose, who had arrived in Seattle 1910 and had served as a haham in

both Tekirdag and Marmara previously.

According to Adattos master thesis, Rabbi Solomon Azose served as scho-

het (ritual slaughterer), cantor, and mohel (one who performs circumcisi-

ons) until his death in 1919. When he passed away in 1919 he was succee-

ded by his brother, Rabbi Isaac Azose, who served until 1924.

After World War I was over, a number of the relatives of the Sephardim li-

ving in Seattle, who had suffered through the war in Turkey, made their

way to the US to be with their family members. This influx lead to a sudden

increase in the Sephardic population in Seattle, but it was followed by a

number of families leaving Seattle for Portland and Los Angeles.

In 1921, Henry Benezra became the first Sephardic Jew to graduate from the


18/68

TURKISH JEWS IN SEATTLE

At the request of the Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregati-

on, another Turkish citizen, Rev. Samuel Benaroya (d.

2003) and his family immigrated to Seattle in 1952. Reve-

rend Samuel Benaroya is a descendant of one of the most

renowned families of musicians from Edirne, Turkey,

where he was born in 1908, the youngest of five brothers

and two sisters. His father, Haham Yitzhak Benaroya, was

a Hazzan in Edirne for 60 years.

In early 1935 the three social organizations merged into

the Seattle Sephardic Brotherhood, which became the

largest Sephardic organization in Seattle, and still plays

an important role today.

Reverend Samuel Benaroya had served the synagogue

for 26 years as Hazzan, since his arrival in 1952 from Ge-

neva, Switzerland. He was highly regarded in the commu-

nity for his abilities as Hazzan, his knowledge and inter-pretation of the Turkish traditional melodies and for his

friendliness and helpfulness in the community.

In 1965, a new synagogue was purchased by SBH at 6500,

52nd Avenue South in Seward Park and by 1975, the SBH

constitution was amended to allow for women to serve as

members of Board of Directors; two women, Becky Varon

and Judy Balint, were elected the following year.

By the end of 1977 the Reverend informed the synagogue

board of his intention of retiring as Hazzan by the middle

of 1978. Rev. Samuel Benaroya passed away in Seattle,

Washington on Thanksgiving Day 2003 at the age of 95.

In 1977, Dr. David Raphael, who came to Seattle and beca-

me affiliated with SBH in the late 1960s along with his wi-

fe of Turkish descent, Esther, directed and produced the

famous film, Song of the Sephardi, telling the cultural ta-

le of the Sephardic Jews. By the 1980s, the Seattle chapter

of the umbrella organization American Sephardi Federati-

on, established in 1973, was created, holding regular con-

ventions which have included such noteworthy speakers

and attendees as CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer.

In the 1990s, Sephardic Bikur Holim was led by Rabbi Si-

mon Benzaquen, who was born and raised in Spain, and

educated and rabbinically ordained in England. Accor-

ding to Stacey Schultz, freelance writer living in Seattle,

today, there are over 40,000 Jews in Seattlethe Sefar-

dic community is now the third largest in the country

and most live in small clusters throughout the city and

suburbs.

WHAT DID THE FIRST IMMIGRANTS IN SEATTLE DO?One of first Turkish Jewish immigrants, Solomon Calvo,

founded the Waterfront Fish and Oyster Co. in Seattle,

while Nessim Alhadeff started the Palace Fish and Oyster

Co., which later became the Pacific Fish Co. In the 1920s,

Turkish immigrant David Levy purchased City Fish Mar-

ket, which he ran until his death in 1943. His sons sold the

business in 1995, but the store remains in the market. In

1951, Jack Amon bought the Pure Food Fish Market. Hisson, Sol, took over in 1956 and continues to run the Pike

Place operation.

In 1914, the Young Men's Sephardic Hebrew Association

was founded to improve Turkish-Jewish conditions in Se-

attle. Parliamentary rules were followed for meetings.

The group purchased a home on 14th Avenue between

Washington and Yesler and converted it into a clubhouse

with pool tables, a card room, library, and coffee shop. In

1917 the name changed to Young Men's Sephardic Asso-

ciation. In 1920 the hall moved to 109 12th Avenue. The

Young Men's Sephardic Association was instrumental in

achieving social harmony among the Sephardim.

TURKISH SONGS BY SEPHARDIC WOMENIn 1935, the unique Sephardic culture possessed by some

of the older members of the SBH community received re-

cognition by a UW professor in the Anthropology Depart-

ment, Dr. Mel Jacobs.

Emma Adatto, a member of SBH along with her parents

Anna and Nessim Adatto, was a student in the UW Ant-

hropology Dept. writing a MS thesis on Sephardic folklo-

re. She sought to add an extra dimension to her thesis by

including with it recordings of some of the old Sephardic

songs, Ladino romanzas and Turkish songs. Thus a group

of about 10 Sephardic women, most from SBH, was dri-

ven to the UW to record a series of Sephardic songs,and the best technology available at that time for recor-

ding music was the old-style large metal cylinders.

In 1981, through the intervention of a latter-day Jewish

music expert, these recordings were transferred to audi-

ocassettes.

Sources: Albert Adatto, "Sephardim and the Seattle Sephardic Commu-

nity", MS Thesis, U. of Washington, 1939 / Isaac Maimon, "The History

of Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation, 1914-1989", 1989 / Joy Maimon,

"Unity and Divisions Among the Early Seattle Sephardic Community"

Senior Paper, U. of Washington / Marc Angel, "The Sephardic Theater of

Seattle Jewry," Western States Jewish History, October, 1996, Vol. XXIX,

No. 1, p. 553 / Isaac Maimon, English Translation of the Minutes of the

Bikur Holim Building Committee, 1928-1930.

16 TurkofAmerica

Sue Rousso and Sema Calvo stand next to a photo-graph of Solomon Calvo (left) and Jack Policar(right). Jack Policar was the father of Sema Calvoand Sue Rousso. Solomon Calvo was the father-in-law of Sema Calvo. (Photo: University ofWashington Libraries. Special Collections Division)

In 1952, Rev. Samuel Benaroya arrived in Seattlewith his wife and daughter to become the Hazzan(cantor) for Sephardic Bikur Holim congregation.He was originally from Edirne, Turkey, but hadbeen employed as a Hazzan in Geneva,Switzerland, prior to his arrival in Seattle. (Photo:University of Washington Libraries. SpecialCollections Division)

Benaroya family in Edirne, Turkey, ca. 1913. Edirne,Turkey, ca. 1913; L to R: sister Esther, ?, Rev.Samuel Benaroya's mother, Polomba, father -Yitzchak Benaroys. (Photo: University of

Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division)

Ralph Policar in Navy uniform with parents, Estherand Jack Policar, Seattle, ca. 1940-1945.(Photo: University of Washington Libraries.

Special Collections Division)

The SBH Talmud Torah directed byProf. Albert Levy December 1937.(Photo: Washington State Jewish

Archives Photographs)

Temple de Hirsch exte-rior, 15th Avenue andE. Union St., Seattle,

ca. 1908-1914. (Photo:University of

Washington Libraries.Special Collections

Division)


19/68

TurkofAmerica 17

The grandparents of

Dan Morhaim,

Deputy Majority Leaderof the Maryland

General Assembly,

moved from

Lleburgaz, a town and

district of Krklareli

Province in the

Marmara region of

Turkey, to the United

States in 1916.

DAN MORHAIM - A SEPHARDIC POLITICIAN

is a Deputy Majority Leader and also a physician on the

faculty at Johns Hopkins. Dan Morhaim answered TURKO-

FAMERICAs questions.

Could you tell us your family story? When did they leave

Turkey?

My grandfather was born in Luleburgaz in the late 1890's.

He left around 1916 or so for the United States, settling inLos Angeles. He spoke Turkish and Ladino.

Did you have a chance to visityour ancestors birthplace

in Turkey?

My wife and two children and I went to Turkey in 2000.

We had a wonderful time, in Istanbul, Kufladas, zmir, Ep-

hesus, and elsewhere. The country is so beautiful, and

everyone was very nice to us.

We did go to Luleburgaz. It's a small beautiful city on the

European side of Turkey. We went to the Hall of Records,

and they printed out a list of "Morhaim" names, people

that had been born there since the founding of the Re-

public by Ataturk. We ate lunch in the town center at a lo-vely restaurant.

In your childhood, did your grandparents talk about Tur-

key? Do you remember anything about Turkish culture, li-

ke music, food, etc.? Do you have any relatives in Turkey?

My grandparents were always proud of their Turkish heri-

tage and often served Turkish food at home. I don't think

we have any relatives there.

Could you tell us about the Sephardic community in your

district? How big is it?

While there is a large Jewish community in Maryland, the

Sephardic community is part of the whole. There is a growing

Turkish community here, and I am in touch with them.

Until a century ago in Krklareli, the capital of KrklareliProvince in Eastern Thrace, in the European part ofTurkey, there was a Jewish congregation of one thousand

three hundred people. Now among the native-born resi-

dents of the city there are only five Jews, including the

rabbi. Rabbi Hayim Abravanel (86) has served over 50 ye-

ars in the Musa Synagogue Foundation.

According to Margalit Bejarano, author of Jewish Women:A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, Cuba became

the destination of the Sephardim from two distinct areas

in Turkey: Istanbul and Thrace (European Turkey). Most

of them came from two small towns: Silivri, on the outs-

kirts of Istanbul, and Krklareli (Kirklisse), near Edirne.

The first wave of immigration was mainly male; it was mo-

tivated by economic reasons and by the fear of compul-

sory enlistment in the Ottoman army during the Young

Turks revolution (1909) and the Balkan Wars (19121913).

Cuba was a second option for Sephardic Jews. Usually the

young immigrants hoped to return home after makingAmerica or to bring over their wives or brides. However,

the outbreak of World War I severed communications

with their families. After the war, communications with

the old home were resumed, and wives, children, mot-

hers and other relatives from Turkey emigrated to the

United States, Cuba, Brazil, Canada and Argentina.

The grandparents of Dan Morhaim, Deputy Majority Lea-

der of the Maryland General Assembly, moved from Lle-

burgaz, a town and district of Krklareli Province in the

Marmara region of Turkey, to the United States in 1916.

Morhaim was first elected to the Maryland General As-

sembly in 1994 and re-elected in 1998, 2002, and 2006 to

represent the 11th District in the House of Delegates. He

My Grandparents Were Always Proud

of ther Turksh Hertage

Dan Morhaim, Deputy MajorityLeader of the Maryland GeneralAssembly.(Courtesy of joncardin.com)


20/68

18 TurkofAmerica

On March 4, 1992, Turkish Jews celebrated at theNeve Salom Synagogue in Istanbul the 500thanniversary of their ancestral acceptance in OttomanTurkey under Sultan Beyazit II, after the expulsion ofhundreds of thousands of Sephardic Jews (who refusedto convert to Christianity) by Spain in 1492. Hearingabout the eviction, the Sultan issued a welcomingdecree for the Jews, purportedly commenting that theSpanish King must have lost his mind for expelling hisbest and wealthiest subjects.Sephardim, referring to Jews with ancestral originsfrom the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain andPortugal), is said to come from the word for Spain inHebrew, also found in the Bible. A major portion ofSephardic Jews, speaking a Judeo-Spanish languagecalled Ladino, settled in various parts of the OttomanEmpire, especially in the cities of Istanbul and Salonika;

myth has it that the root word Sepharad, the land whereHebrew wanderers settled after the Babylonian captureof Jerusalem, likely refers to a region in Asia Minor, or,modern-day Turkey.

Today, the Sephardic community in the United States isgenerally known for its members attachment and loyal-ty to their native lands in and around Turkey. New YorkCity has the largest population of Sephardim in thecountry, and is known, together with Seattle, for havingone of the earliest and most influential Sephardic com-munities in the US; the two cities are also interconnect-ed in that many young people from Sephardic BikurHolim Congregation in Seattle, for example, tend to trav-el to NYC to further their Jewish education. TheSephardic Diaspora in the United States, however, alsoincludes decades-old communities in cities such as LosAngeles, San Francisco, Portland, Atlanta, Montgomery,Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Philadelphia,Rochester, New Brunswick, etc.UNITY WAS ACHIEVED BY A TURKISH-BORN RABBISuch Sephardic colonies, spread throughout the United

States, often faced the problem of unity as there wasnever any one, recognizable organization uniting all ofthem; this was certainly the case with the Sephardim ofNew York. An effort in the 1920s, for example, by NewYorks Sephardim to maintain a central communal-insti-

tution entitled the Sephardi Jewish Community of NewYork, Inc., with a community house located on 115thStreet in Harlem, eventually fell apart, lacking visionaryleadership. The lack of unity showed itself mostpoignantly in the realm of religious guidance: the lack ofunity in liturgy was especially found to be problematicand unfruitful for the production of Sephardic leaders.As a solution, the Union of Sephardic Congregationswas founded in 1928, formed through a meeting of threeancient congregations: the Shearith Israel in New York(founded in 1684), Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia (found-ed in 1740) and Shearith Israel of Montreal. Althoughthis Union obtained a very significant achievement with

the publication of Sephardi prayer books, it too gradual-

Today, the Sephardic

community in the

United States is gen-

erally known for its

members attachment

and loyalty to their

native lands in and

around Turkey. New

York City has the

largest population of

Sephardim in the

country, and is

known, together with

Seattle.

SEPHARDIC JEWS IN THE USA

SephardcJews from Turkey

and Former OttomanLands n the Unted

States

Welcome", oil painting by Mevlut Akyildiz. (Courtesy of 500. Yil Vakfi)

By Selin Senol


21/68

TurkofAmerica 19

merchandise sold on the streets, into a profitable business entitledShinasi Brothers making millions of dollars each year-eventually sellingthe factory to the Tobacco Produce Company in 1916 for $3.5 million.Other notable businessmen and professionals included Eliah and JackCrespi from Ankara (of The Sunshine Battery Company), Samuel Yahyafrom Istanbul (of the Adams Paper Company), lawyer John Hezekiah Levy,and Mair Jose Benardete- the first Turkish Jew licensed to teach publicschool in the US.Between 1890 and 1924, nearly thirty thousand Sephardic Jews came tothe United States, most of them Ladino-speaking people originating fromTurkey and the Balkan region, settling mostly in the Lower East Side ofNew York City - often facing wretched conditions. Many came after vari-ous nationalist revolts led to a gradual collapse of the Ottoman Empirearound this time, lured by dreams of entrepreneurial success similar tothat achieved by the Sephardic Jews who had immigrated many yearsearlier; they were called Orientals by the existing Sephardic Jewish com-munity to distinguish them from the earlier Grandees.

Around 10,000 Sephardic Jews entered the US between 1908 and 1914,with 1,911 Jews being recorded in the year 1912 as originating fromTurkey. Sephardic communities in the Ottoman Empire were also affect-ed around this time by grave natural disasters as well as the violence ofTurkeys war with Italy in 1911-1912 and the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913;with the official breakout of WWI in 1914, stories of America as a place ofprosperity and equal opportunities for economic advancement becameespecially appealing. The 1908 revolt of the Young Turks attempting tocreate a constitutional government in Turkey, beginning compulsory mil-itary service in the country for all male citizens, affected the poorest citi-zens (usually non-Muslim minorities) the most. This is because they werethe ones unable to afford paying a certain amount of money to the gov-ernment to exempt themselves from being drafted and becoming sol-diers; Gadol believes this was a major reason behind many of the Jews

leaving for America.Albert Amateau, for example, was such a Jew who came to New York in1909 and went on to organize a self-help society for Sephardic Jews calledthe Brotherhood of Rhodes.Sephardic immigrants initially felt unwelcomed by Ashkenazi Jews in theUnited States, whom they felt often saw them as Greeks, Italians, orTurks because of their appearance and exotic culture and somehow notactually Jewish. In time, however, Gadol celebrated that feelings of affin-ity between the two groups were achieved for the most part, though cer-tain identity-issues of feeling unique still exist amongst Sephardimtoday- he attributed this to his La America. With time, some Sephardimon the Lower East Side were able to find economic success and relocateto more spacious living spaces in Brooklyn, Harlem and the Bronx, while

others were relocated to places like Seattle and Indianapolis by theIndustrial Relief Office (IRO).

SEPHARDIM SOCIETIESThe deepest-rooted and most prestigious Sephardic society in NYC wasthe Union and Peace Society, founded in 1899 with English as its officiallanguage; most of its members originated from Turkey, including theShinasi brothers, and many worshipped at the Shearith Israel synagogue.It is worthy to note that another organization, the Oriental ProgressiveSociety, was founded in 1904 with most of its members being AshkenaziJews from Turkey. There were also organizations created by Sephardimfrom Canakkale, Churlu, Silivri, and Ankara, Turkey. Most of theseSephardim were concerned with raising enough money to both earn a liv-ing as well as send money to their relatives back in Turkey and that

region, facing many financial difficulties along the way; Gadol even sug-

ly became inactive.A final attempt at unity was made by Turkish-born Rabbi Nissim J. Ovadia,who shortly after his 1941 arrival in the United States created the CentralSephardic Jewish Community of America, Inc.: although facing mostlyNYC concerns, its membership consisted of Sephardim living in other UScities as well. After Mr. Ovadia died in August of 1942, his wife, MazalOvadia, helped to organize a womens division for the Community. InSeptember 1943, the seemingly successful organization then launched abulletin entitled The Sephardi, with the stated purpose of [awakening]the Sephardi masses to the necessity of a united Sephardi communitythroughout the Western Hemisphere; it lasted until 1957.

10,000 SEPHARDIC JEWS IN EARLY 20th CENTURY AT NEW YORK CITYWhen Moise Gadol, a successful businessman who became the editor ofthe first Ladino-American newspaper La America, which ran from 1910until 1925, arrived in NYC from Bulgaria in 1910 to visit relatives,he was surprised to see the plight of the immigrants

living on the Lower East Side, especiallythe Sephardic Jews number-ing over 10,000.

In the early 1900s, Shearith Israel of New York had been conducting freeHoly Day services for the needy, for example- a form of charity oftencalled overflow services. Gadol observed in 1913 that 90% of the wor-shippers in such services were Turkish Jews and believed that sendingsuch immigrants to the downstairs auditorium of the synagogue, asbecame the custom, rather than allowing them to occupy seats in themain area, was degrading.

SUCCESFULL BUSINESSMENNonetheless, success stories did arise amongst Turkish Jews in NYCdespite a general state of economic despair; the Shinasi Brothers, born inManisa, Turkey, became the most inspiring of such luminaries. Althoughthey arrived in the US without much money in 1892, they were able to turn

their small cigar-factory establishment, which at first began operation with


22/68

SEPHARDIC JEWS IN THE USA

gested at one time, unsuccessfully so, that a collector should actually besent to such Sephardic societies to pick up unpaid pledges and subscrip-tion-money for his magazine!Turkish Sephardic immigrants were called Turkinos and soon manyTurkino cafes and restaurants were popping up all over NYC, especiallyon Chrystie Street. As such, the Sephardim were gradually getting usedto their new environments while culturally staying in touch with their fel-low Sephardim in this new world- similar to other such distinctlyAmerican realities as the Chinese of Chinatown or Italians of Little Italy.Dark aspects of life on the Lower East Side, such as gambling, prostitu-tion, rape, adultery and alcoholism soon found themselves impacting theSephardic community as well, however, causing many to complain of this

new environment. This was America, after all, and instead of an OttomanSultan inviting Jews being evicted from the Iberian Peninsula, there wasnow the American Dream inviting them- and its consequences, bothpositive (success in return for hard work) and negative (parting frommorality and traditions), can affect every immigrant, regardless of wherehe or she is from, in the same ways.

20 TurkofAmerica

Bibliography Guleryuz, Naim. Iberden Gunumuze Turk Yahudilerinin 500 Yillik Yolculugu (Turkish-Jews 500 year-old Voyage since the Iberian Peninsula),

TUSIAD: Gorus Dergisi (Ozel Sayi)- Turkiye Yahudileri, September 2003 Weiner, Rebecca. Sephardim, Jewish Virtual Library: A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org Birmingham, Stephen. The Grandees- Americas Sephardic Elite. Syracuse University Press. 1997 SBH 90th Anniversary, Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation, sbhseattle.org Albert Adatto, Sephardim and the Seattle Sephardic Community (M.A. thesis, University of Washington, 1939) Lorraine Sidell, "Historically Speaking: Sephardic Jews of Seattle," Part II Nizcor: Washington State Jewish Historical Society Newsletter, March 1992 Gurock, Jeffrey S. & American Jewish Historical Society. American Jewish History: A Eight-Volume Series, 1998

Belinfante, Randall C. The Other Lower East Side. American Sephardic Federation (americansephardicfederation.org) Angel, Marc D. La America: The Sephardic Experience in the United States. 1982

Morris Schinasi and his wife Laurette.Schinasi brothers were able to turntheir small cigar-factory establishmentinto a profitable business entitled

Shinasi Brothers making millions ofdollars each year-eventually selling thefactory to the Tobacco ProduceCompany in 1916 for $3.5 million.(Courtesy of Naim Gleryz)

(June 4, 1912Schools For14,000 Turk

Jews) A newsabout Turkish

Jews

immigrants inNew York in

1912. (Source:New York

Times June 4,1912)


23/68


24/68

22 TurkofAmerica

The first Jew arrived in Los Angeles in 1841 with theRowland-Workman party. His name was JacobFrankfort, a German tailor. Though Frankfort wasn'tSephardic, it was only a dozen years later that someSephardim did arrive from the eastern part of thecountry. Solomon Nunes Carvalho (pronouncedCavayo in Portuguese), a painter and photographerwith the John C. Fremont Expedition to California the1840s, was born in South Carolina in 1815 ofSephardic parentage.

In 1854, Carvalho opened a photographic studio in abuilding owned by the Labatt brothers, Samuel K.and Joseph, the only Sephardim in town at that time.The first native-born American Jewish adults wereSamuel K. and Joseph Labatt who were also the firstSephardic Jew in Los Angeles, but more important,Samuel K. Labatt was the first president of the firstJewish organization to be established here. Theirfather, Abraham Labatt came to San Francisco in1849.

Between the 1850s and the 20th Century there wasonly one instance of a Sephardic Jew in the Los

Angeles area. His name was David d'Ancona who

traveled from San Diego to Los Angeles in the 1870s.The real emphasis of the Sephardic community was-n't felt until the beginning of the 20th century, thepredominant influx coming from the OttomanEmpire. They came from Salonica, Egypt, Turkey,Rhodes and other points of the middle east.

The first Sephardic Jew to arrive in 20th century LosAngeles was Mordecai Zeitoun, a veteran of theFranco-Prussian War of 1870-71, a native of Algeria.

He was an entrepreneur in the Louisiana PurchaseExposition at St. Louis, Missouri in 1904. "Papa" ashe was affectionately known, along with his daugh-ter Rose arrived in Los Angeles during the closingmonths of 1904, probably in October or earlyNovember. They were followed by brothers Louisand David Bramy. Davidmarried Rose Zeitoun onMarch 6, 1906 and their son, Roger was the firstknown Sephardi to be born in Los Angeles onFebruary 14, 1907.

Another early Sephardic arrival was Jacob (Jack)Caraco. Names like Baruch, Cohen and Levy plus alisting of a Portuguese Jewish Colony (probably the

Avat Shalom Congregation founded in 1912) was

The first spiritual leader

was Rabbi Abraham

Caraco. There were 52

families in the

congregation: 37 fromRhodes. In time,

as happens in most

families, the Rhodeslies

and Turkinos, as they

called one another split

up due to shall we say,

euphemistically for

parochial differences.

Sephardc Jews of Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES SEPHARDIC COMMUNITY

By Maurice I. Bob Hattem*

There were 52 families in Los Angelescongregation: 37 from Rhodes. Interior of Kahal

Shalom Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Rhodes,

Greece today.


25/68

TurkofAmerica 23

In 1974, High Holy Day Services were conducted for the first time atthe new Temple Center on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles.In 1994 Sephardic Beth Shalom and Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israelmerged. Apparently their parochial differences had been ameliorat-ed to some degree after 80 years to everyone's delight.

The Sephardic Jews have given the world a rich and beautiful cultureand have left a Heritage of which they can all be proud. Whereverthey went they brought their culture with them and always a bit ofold Spain is evidenced by the Spanish and Judeo-Spanish-Ladinothey have managed to keep as they traveled from country to countrythese past 500 years. This is the key to their survival.

* Maurice I. Bob Hattem, archivist/historian of Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel in Los

Angeles, California.

included in the honor roll of the first Jewish Federation dated 1912.Its members were from Turkey and from Rhodes.

The first spiritual leader was Rabbi Abraham Caraco. There were 52families in the congregation: 37 from Rhodes. In time, as happens inmost families, the Rhodeslies and Turkinos, as they called oneanother split up due to shall we say, euphemistically for parochialdifferences.

In 1917 the Rhodeslies formed the Peace and Progress Society withHaham Haim Levy serving as the Spiritual leader and Morris Sorianoas the first president. In 1919, Avat Shalom composed of Turkinosdivided into three groups: The Sephardic community of Los Angeles,Haim VaHessed, The Sephardic Brotherhood, and Yaacov Tovee. TheSephardic Community of Los Angeles was organized on 1st February1920 in Walker Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles withAbraham Caraco as rabbi and Adolph Danziger De Castro as their first

president.

The Rhodeslies built a synagogue at the corner of 55 th Street andHoover Avenue in 1935. It was called Ohel Abraham but theCommunity was known as The Sephardic Hebrew Center. Later thename was again changed to Congregation Sephardic Beth Shalom.The Sephardic Community of Los Angeles dedicated their first syna-gogue at 1516 West Santa Barbara Avenue, (now called Martin LutherKing Boulevard) on 21 February 1932. In 1959 The SephardicBrotherhood (Haim VaHessed) merged with the SephardicCommunity of Los Angeles. The new name became The SephardicCommunity and Brotherhood of Los Angeles. Later the namechanged again, this time to the Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, thename by which it is known today.

A PROFILE: MAURICE AMADOMaurice Amado (1888 to 1968) wasborn in Izmir, Turkey and came from a Sephardic Jewish familythat lived for several centuries in the Old Ottoman TurkishEmpire, following their ancestors expulsion from Spain in 1492.Amado emigrated to the United States from Turkey in 1904 wherehe settled in New York and, upon his retirement, resettled in LosAngeles in the 1950s.

Amado was in the tobacco trade business, at first working forStandard Commercial Tobacco Company until he left to work forhimself. With the proceeds from his profits in the tobacco busi-ness he became a successful financier and investor. He was mar-ried to Rose, who had a high-end dress business in New YorkCity. Although Rose had a son from a previous marriage, they

never had children.

Amado was a very cultured man. He taught himself English byattending lectures and speeches in New York City. He read agreat deal, mainly philosophy and kept a large library in hishome. He was also an excellent conversationalist.

He was extremely close to his nephew, Raphael Amado, who hadfive children. These children and their descendents have andcontinue to serve on the Maurice Amado Foundation Board ofDirectors which he established in 1961. Prior to establishing theFoundation he began his charitable work giving funds to aSephardic congregation in Los Angeles. This congregation even-tually merged and became the Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel

located on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles.

He established a scholarship fund at the Temple for the childrenof Temple members. His Foundation also funded both capitalprojects and programs at the Temple for several decades.

As one of the Foundations most lasting charitable gifts, theMaurice Amado Foundation established an endowed chair atUCLA to support research and teaching in Sephardic culture andhistory by a distinguished scholar in any of the disciplines asso-ciated with the broadest range of Sephardic concerns. Thisencompasses the entire historical and geographical scope ofSephardic culture and religion from its beginnings as a regionalphenomenon in the Iberian Peninsula to its development as awidespread manifestation of Jewish social and intellectual expe-rience throughout the world.

1900 of Rabbi Chilebi NissimCodron in Rhodes

(Source: Rhodes Jewish

Museum)


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24 TurkofAmerica

At the end of lunch, the old guy looked into the youngmans eyes and told him: You have to do it. The yo-ung man couldnt turn the older one down and he accep-ted his offer by saying,Yes, I have to do it.

The old man, Leon Levy, who served as president from1982 to 2001, convinced David Dengoor to become thefifth president of American Sephardi Federation in 2003.

Leon Levy was born in Seattle, Wash. to Sephardic Je-wish parents who emigrated from Turkey. He believedthat the history of Jews in Turkey was an essential one.Under his leadership, the American Sephardi Federationhad very tight relations with Turkey.

Currently president of the federation, David Dangoorwas born in 1949 to Jewish parents who emigrated fromTehran to Sweden. Before moving to Tehran, the mem-bers of his families had lived in Iraq many years. His gre-at-grandfather was chief rabbi of Iraq in 1900s. His mot-hers side is Austrian Sephardic Jews.

In 1922, when Iraq was created by British, the Jewishcommunity protested it. The Dangoor family was amongthe Iraqi Jews who protested to the British: You have noright to make us Iraqis. We are Turks. How can you takeour Turkish nationality and convert us into a country inwhich we have no stake?In 1922, approximately 120,000 Jews, accounting for one

third of Baghdads population, were living in Baghdad.

The Jewish population in Iraq was 148,000 in 1948 and itdecreased to 35 in 2004. Now it is counted at less than 10.

Dangoor says that these Jews were not Iraqis. Just like to-day, when you ask a Kurd in Iraq where he is from, he ne-ver says that he is Iraqi; he says he is a Kurd. It was the sa-me in the Jewish community in Iraq as well, he adds.

Where did the Iraqi Jews come from? According to Mitc-hell Bard, director of the Jewish Virtual Library, theworlds most comprehensive online encyclopedia of Je-wish history and culture, in 722 B.C.E., the northern tri-bes of Israel were defeated by Assyria and some Jewswere taken to what is now known as Iraq. A larger com-munity was established in 586 B.C.E., when the Babylo-

nians conquered the southern tribes of Israel and ensla-ved the Jews.

WHEN DID THE FIRST SEPHARDIC JEWS ARRIVE IN THE

UNITED STATES?

According to sources, the first Sephardic Jews arrived inthe U.S. in 1654. There are between six and seven milli-on Jews living in America today. First Sephardic Jews we-re originally Portuguese and they came by way of Brazil.In that time a big section of Brazil belonged to the Dutch,but the Dutch lost this territory to the Portuguese. SoJews moved from Portugal to Brazil. 23 Jews ended up inNew Amsterdam, a 17th-century Dutch colonial settle-ment that later became New York City. They started to

establish the first Jewish congregation.

David Dangoor:

Turkey saved a big

chunk of the Jewish

religion when the

Jews came from

Spain. God knows

what would have hap-

pened to them if they

had no place to go.

AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATION

Davd Dangoor, Presdent of

Amercan Sephard Federaton

The Ottoman Mentalty WasAlways An Educated One

Davd Dangoor, Presdent of

Amercan Sephard Federaton

The Ottoman Mentalty WasAlways An Educated One

One of Dangoors remarkable pieces ofwork is still on the wall of The Center for

Jewish History building.


27/68

TurkofAmerica 25

him how it was to be a prisoner of war of the Ottomans. He said: My lifeas a prisoner of war was much better than my life as King of Sweden.

The third reason for Dangoors affection is that he grew up in Sweden in

the 1950s and 1960s where there was always a strong Turkish presenceTurkey in terms of diplomatic relations. In that time, there were not manyMiddle Eastern people in Sweden. When his father came to Sweden in1949 for the first time, he had a picture of front page of a newspaper thatannounced that Middle Eastern businessmen had arrived in Stockholm.

In the 1950s and 1960s, when Turkish ambassadors came to Sweden,there were no people to help facilitate their stay. Dangoor says: So theyalways found my father. So I grew up with every Turkish ambassador,participated in every event at the Turkish Embassy. My father was actu-ally the man who helped the Turkish ambassador in 1965 to find a housein Sweden which is now the Turkish Embassy.

At the time, the Turkish ambassador to Sweden was Mehmet Benler.

Dangor still keeps in touch with his son, Hasan, who live in California. Hesays the Federation has several members who are Turkish and his bestfriend is a Turkish Jew, zak fienbahar, the president of the developmentfirm Alexico Management in New York City.

In addition to holding the presidency of the Federation, Dangoor runs hisown consultancy company in New York. The reason he moved to the U.S.was because he joined Philipp Morris in 1976. He worked for the companyin Switzerland, Germany England, Canada, then the U.S. He held an im-pressive array of executive positions. His wide and diverse interests inc-lude directorships of a Swedish biotech company, the Swedish-AmericanChamber of Commerce and the New York City Ballet.

When asked when his term as president of the Federation will end, hereplies with a smile: My term will end when I find someone. The reasonI become president was that the previous president was getting older. Hewas begging people. One day we had a meeting. He looked at me andtold me, you have to do it, and I looked at him, such a nice guy, and I toldhim Yes, I have to. Now I am looking for someone whom I will look in theeyes and say he has to do it.

PRESIDENTS OF AMERICAN SEPHARDI FEDERATIONSimon Nessim (1952-1968) (remained inactive until 1972)

Prof. Daniel J. Elazar (1973-1975) (AFS officially organized)

Liliane Winn Shalom (1975-1982)

Leon Levy (1982-2001)

Mike M. Nassimi (2001-2003)

David Dangoor (2003 Present)

Dangoor says that actually the first Jew came to the U.S. with ChristopherColumbus in 1492: The navigator was a Jew. Its very strange that theyleft in the morning of the execution (of Spanish King Ferdinands order).The ship was full of Jews. If you go to any Caribbean island, you will see

signs of Jewish communities from that time. So the Jews went two waysin 1492. They went west to find another way to India and Latin America,and a very large chunk of them went to Turkey.

For Dangoor, today the biggest problem with Sephardic Jews is that theyassimilated. They consider themselves Jewish, but they are less active inJewish life, he says.

Under Dangoors leadership, American Sephardi Federation, along withSephardic House, has published a new magazine, The Sephardi Report.Working hand in hand with the Director, Esme Emmanuel Berg, they ha-ve succeeded in making the American Sephardi Federation, with Sephar-dic House, an increasingly important partner and representative of Sep-hardic history and heritage at the Center for Jewish History.

One of Dangoors remarkable pieces of work is still on the wall of TheCenter for Jewish History building, on 16th street between 5th and 6thAvenue in New York City. On the second floor wall inside the building, the-re is a huge map of Spain. Next to the map there are quotes from KingFerdinand and Sultan Bayezid. The Sultans quote is: You call Ferdinanda wise king, he, who by expelling the Jews, has impoverished his countryand enriched mine!

Engraving Sultan Bayezids quote on the wall was Dangoors idea. Meh-met Samsar, Turkish Consul General to New York, participated in the un-veiling ceremony of the engraved quote on the wall.

He empathizes that the Ottoman mentality was always an educated oneand he adds: The saving of the Spanish Jews was a very positive influen-ce that the Ottoman Empire had on the big Jewish communities that stillexist all over the Middle East. Turkey saved a big chunk of the Jewish re-ligion when the Jews came from Spain. God knows what would have hap-pened to them if they had no place to go.

TRIPLE AFFECTION FOR TURKEY

Dangoor said he had a triple affection for Turkey. The first one owes to thefact that though he was born in Sweden, his family called themselvesTurks. The second one is for a famous Turkish dish, cabbage dolma (stuf-fied cabbage). This is a Swedish national dish as a result of Charles XII,King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718, staying in stanbul for five years as aprisoner of war. Dangoor says there is a very famous quote in Sweden

that when the King came back from Istanbul after five years, they asked

David Dangoor (at left) with Gwen Zuares, Morrie Yohai, Stella Levi atJewish Costumes in the Ottoman Empire exhibition on March 31st, 2004.

(Courtesy of The American Sephardi Report magazine)

David Dangoor, Carole Basri and Hy Harary at 9thInternational Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.

(Courtesy of The American Sephardi Report magazine)


28/68

In 1492 medieval Spain expelled the last of its Je-wish citizens in an effort to purify the Iberian Pe-ninsula. An estimated 150,000 to 250,000 SephardicJews sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire. Throughthe centuries, waves of Jewish refugees from otherparts of Europe also escaped to Turkish lands, upthrough the greatest persecution of them all, the Ho-locaust. The Ottoman Jewish community became notonly the largest but also the most prosperous Jewishcommunity in the world. Today the Jewish commu-nity of Turkey is the largest in any former Ottoman

lands, except for Israel itself.

The Ottoman Empire boasted an estimated populati-on of 45.4 million people, which included 15.5 mil-lion European Christians, 10.7 million European Mus-lims, 10 million Anatolians, 8.7 million people in theMiddle East and Africa.

The Ottoman Empire did not define minority by eth-nicity. While more Turks composed the ruling elitethan any other ethnic group, the elites also includedArmenians, Greeks, Slavs, Albanians, Arabs and ot-her ethnic groups. Ottoman law required only thatmembers of the elite share in the same political cul-ture of the family dynasty, including the Islamic reli-gion. In other words, only Ottoman citizens whowere born Muslim or who converted to Islam eithervoluntarily or through the Devsirme system partici-pated in the elite class and gained political positi-

ons. In 1856, however, the Ottoman Empire revo-ked the religion requirement.

The Ottoman Empire defined minority by religion.The Muslims constituted the majority, while the Jewsand Christians were the minorities. In order to facili-tate coexistence between the different ethnic and re-ligious groups and maintain political support, Sul-tans Mehmed II (1451-1481), Beyazid II (1481-1512),Selim (1512-1520) and Suleyman (Suleyman theMagnificent) (1520-1566) evolved the millet system.The millet system organized the Ottoman society in-to communities (millets) based on religion and allo-wed these communities autonomous self-govern-

ment under their respective religious leaders.

In sum, the millet system allowed people to mainta-in their own religions, traditions, cultures, customsand languages, without interference; it allowed eachto operate its own courts, schools, charitable institu-tions, hospitals, and even community governments;it insulated people of different religions from eachother and thus attempted to prevent the kind of in-ter-communal conflicts which have become so com-mon in the Middle East since the Ottoman Empire di-sappeared.The Ottoman Jewry

Sultan Mehmed encouraged the emigration of Jewsfrom Europe to his Empire to live under the sameconditions of tolerance and freedom that had favo-red the lives of Jews in Muslim Spain. Indeed, du-ring the next 500 years, Jewish culture, intellectuallife and prosperity flourished brighter in Ottoman ti-mes as in the greatest days of Islamic Spain.

In stark contrast to Byzantine rule, the Jews enteringthe Ottoman Empire were allowed to practice wha-tever profession they wished, engage in trade andcommerce without restriction, and own real propertyanywhere in the Ottoman Empire. In return, they pa-id a percentage of their revenues to the state as tax,

though the Chief Rabbi and other servants of the

In 1492,

Columbus sailed theocean blue. And so

goes the fairy tale

rendition of our glori-

ous past. But beneath

the big blue sky,

Christopher sailed

from the small

Spanish port of

Palos, because the

major ports of Cadizand Seville were busy

committing one of

the greatest religious

trespasses in

A MODEL IN DIVERSITY

THE TURKISH JEWRY:

A MODEL IN DIVERSITY*

By Gunay Evinch

Foto by Izzet Keribar26 TurkofAmerica


29/68

an languages, and their contacts with fellow Jews in most Europeantrade centers, helped the Ottoman Empire develop intense commer-cial relations with the west. Ottoman Jewish bankers implementeda sophisticated system of bills of exchange honored by Jewish ban-kers and merchants in different countries to transfer funds in a man-ner that their competitors were not able to do. Finally, Jews did notcopy the Greek and Armenian Ottoman subjects who assumed fore-ign citizenships to take advantage of the Capitulations, thus addingto Muslim suspicions. On the contrary, Ottoman Jews invited their fa-mily members who were still European nationals to manage the fa-mily business so they could take advantage of the Capitulations wit-hout betraying the long-standing Jewish loyalty to the Empire.

In turn, the Ottoman Jewish elite utilized their high positions to pro-tect Jews within and without the Empire from Christian and Arab en-croachments, as well as to nurture the intellectual, cultural and eco-nomic health of the Ottoman Jewish community. For example, in 1530

local Armenian priests and notables in Amasya spread a rumor thatJews slaughtered an Armenian child and used his blood at the Passo-ver feast. In the following days, Armenian mobs attacked Jews anddestroyed the Ottoman Jewish neighborhoods. Armenian notablespressured the Ottoman officials to arrest, torture, and hang severalJewish leaders. Later the child who had been supposedly murderedwas found. The Ottoman officials punished the Armenian accusers.During these incidents, Moshe Hamon (1490-1567), an Ottoman Jew,was the physician of the sultan. Following the ritual murder attackson Jews at Amasya, he secured a ferman prohibiting provincial andlocal officials and judges from being involved in any such cases inthe future, and in punishing Jews accused of ritual murder crimes,and requiring that all such cases he brought before the Sultan.In another example, the banker, Dona Mendes, used her political inf-

luence in 1556 to convince Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent to inter-vene with Pope Paul IV on behalf of Jews who had been imprisonedin Ancona. She secured their release by getting the Ottomans to boy-cott Anconas Mediterranean trade until the Jews were freed. Later,Dona Mendes joined forces with her nephew Don Joseph Nasi to fi-nance the rise to power of Sultan Selim II in 1566 in opposition toPrince Beyazid who was supported by a rival Greek party. Once Sul-tan Selim secured power, Don Joseph encouraged the Ottoman con-quest of Cyprus in 1570, with the idea of making it into a place of re-fuge for Jews arriving from Europe. As the Jews preferred the HolyLand, the island was settled by Turks and Kurds.

The Ottoman Jews greatly enhanced the rich intellectual mosaic of

the Empire. The intellectual elite among the Jewish exiles of Spainand the rest of Europe included Talmudists, philosophers, jurists,doctors, poets and writers. While at first they planned to continue onto the Holy Land, when they found the Ottoman Empire to be an asy-lum of tranquility and security, free from the prejudices, strife andclamor of Christian Europe, with a myriad of resources enthusiasti-cally supported by the government, they remained. Istanbul becameknown as the the city of scholars and scribes. Salonica becameknown as the metropolis of Israel, city of righteousness, loyal town,mother of the Jewish nation like Jerusalem in its time.

The Ottoman Jewry experienced a temporary decline in the sevente-enth and eighteenth centuries. According to Professor Shaw, it allbegan with the decline at the top of the Ruling Class. The Ottoman

Ruling Class had comprised a mixture of Turks, other Muslims, and

synagogues were exempted. Under these favorable conditions, theJewish population of the Ottoman Empire increased in sharp contrastto that of the Byzantine Empire.

The Ottoman Jewish community comprised four groups. The Jewswho had remained under Roman and then Byzantine rule constitu-ted the Romeniotes or Greigos, who spoke Greek and consideredthemselves the aristocracy of Judaism. The Jews of the eastern pro-vinces constituted the Arabized, who spoke Arabic. The OttomanAshkenazi Jews came from Western, Central and Northern Europe.Constant persecution in Europe had forced the Ashkenazis to live inpoverty and isolation in ghettos, compelling them to seek refuge inand adopt the strict observance of all the old Jewish laws and rituals.Finally, the Jews from Muslim Spain and Portugal constituted theSephardic Jews. Unlike most of the other Jewish groups, the Sepha-rads had been wealthy nobles and businessmen, as well as leadingintellectuals. In their assimilation to Spanish culture, they had gre-

atly modified their Jewish practices, but to the disgust of the Ashke-nazis in particular.

Unlike the centralized governmental order that the Greek and Arme-nian millets chose, the Ottoman Jews implemented a system thatallowed for local autonomy. At the grass roots level, the OttomanJewish millet was divided into kahals, which were communitiescreated according to national, provincial and sometimes city originsof their constituents and which managed communal activities accor-ding to their individual customs and traditions.

It was to the Jews that Sultan Mehmed II turned primarily to help re-vive trade, industry and commerce in his capital. The Jews not onlyoffered the economic and financial skills, which had attracted them

to European leaders despite great religious prejudices, but they alsohad an aversion towards Christian Europe. Furthermore, Mehmedplaced the Ottoman Jews in a position where they could dominatethe Ottoman Christians financially and economically, in order to ma-ke sure that the latter would not use their wealth to undermine theEmpire, as they intended to do so.

In contrast from Christian Europe, Jewish physicians in the OttomanEmpire were free to indulge and divulge their research without fearof being accused, tortured and executed for heresy. The OttomanJewish physicians developed the sciences of anatomy and surgeryfar beyond what was practiced in Western Europe at the time. Theymade the Ottoman Empire a leader in the medical sciences and he-

alth care, providing Ottoman subjects of all religions with a superiorlevel of medical treatment to that provided in Europe.

Ottoman Jews were just as effective in the fields of business, bankingand commerce. First, the Jewish elite influenced one another to bringtheir capital to the Ottoman Empire from Christian Europe. Forexample the Sultans physician, Moshe Hamon, persuaded DonaGarcia Mendes (Benbanaste) a major European banker, to transferall her wealth from Venice to the Ottoman Empire in 1553. Dona Men-des gained great economic power by creating a consortium of Jewsand Muslims in international trade.

The Ottoman Empire gained profitable and far-reaching enterprisesin trade, commerce, and banking, within and outside the Empire. Je-

wish knowledge of European banking methods and the main Europe-

TurkofAmerica 27


30/68

conquered non-Muslim peoples who had been recruited and trainedthrough the Devsirme system. The two major governing groupswhich advised the Sultan were the Turkish aristocracy and the Dev-sirme. Late in Sultan Suleymans reign, the Devsirme dominated theOttoman government, over the Turkish aristocracy. Soon the Devsir-me men were assassinating and replacing Sultans as they wished.

It was during this period that the Patriarchs insisted with great agi-tation that they, instead of the Chief Rabbis of Istanbul, should ha-ve precedence in official Ottoman ceremonies. This objective was fi-nally achieved in 1697 as a result of French and English pressure inthe Ottoman court. It was during this period that Ottoman Christi-ans commenced the persecution of Jews in the Ottoman Empire.Christian subjects were bitter at the imposition of Muslim rule inlands which had for centuries been

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