GÜLERYÜZ, Naim Avigdor. ‘Glimpses of Jewish life in Ottoman and Turkish society’. Jewish Migration: Voices of the Diaspora. Raniero Speelman, Monica Jansen & Silvia Gaiga eds. ITALIANISTICA ULTRAIECTINA 7. Utrecht: Igitur Publishing, 2012. ISBN 978‐
90‐6701‐032‐0. SUMMARY This contribution starts from the Jewish immigration under the Ottoman sultan Beyazit II, who had welcomed the Sephardic Jews in his Empire. Less known is the fact that his predecessors Osman, Orhan and Mehmet Fatih, had protected and favored them in their capitals of Bursa, Edirne and Istanbul. The three centuries after the expulsion from Spain in 1492 are marked by the highest creativity and influence of the Ottoman Jews, not rarely in the Sultan’s service as diplomats or physicians. Various protagonists of Jewish history are remembered, some of which are analyzed in other essays of this volume. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish Republic distinguished itself by its protection of Jewish citizens and by Atatürk’s invitation to German Jewish intellectuals menaced by the Nazis to come to Turkey. Turkish diplomats’ efforts to save Jewish lives from the Holocaust are not left unmentioned. The contemporary Jewish presence in the Republic’s economy and culture is illustrated, among others, by the role played by the Museum of the Turkish Jews (Türk Musevileri Müzesi), established by the Quincentennial Foundation (500. Yıl Vakfı) that has contributed to strengthen the relations between Jewish and other Turkish citizens. KEY WORDS Ottoman Jews, Sepharad, Immigration, Jewish Community, Turkey  The authors The proceedings of the international conference Jewish Migration: Voices of the Diaspora (Istanbul, June 23‐27 2010) are volume 7 of the series ITALIANISTICA ULTRAIECTINA. STUDIES IN ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE, by Igitur Publishing. ISSN 1874‐9577 (http://www.italianisticaultraiectina.org).
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GLIMPSES OF JEWISH LIFE IN OTTOMAN AND TURKISH SOCIETY Naim Avigdor Güleryüz Researcher ‐ Writer We are in Istanbul, the city that has been the capital of two big Empires: the East Roman‐Byzantine and the Ottoman Empire. As the only city in the world (besides Çanakkale) lying on two continents, Istanbul is situated at the crossroads between West, in an area where Europe meets Asia. Thus Turkey creates a bridge and a link between these two civilizations. Istanbul is also the only city where mosques, synagogues and churches have stood side by side, in continuous use, in harmony, during seven centuries. And this is not a lapsus. In fact it is not easy to squeeze seven centuries in ten pages, so I will present just a few glimpses of that long adventure. On the midnight of August 2, 1492 when Columbus embarked on what would become his most famous expedition to the new world, his fleet departed from the relatively small seaport of Palos, because the shipping lanes of Cadiz and Seville were clogged with Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain by the edict of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Most of the Jews, forced either to convert to Catholicism or to leave the country, left their homeland, property, belongings, all that was theirs and familiar to them, rather than to abandon their beliefs, traditions, their spiritual and cultural heritage. Some first went to Portugal, from where they would be expelled four years later. And, at a time in which almost no European country (with the exception of the Protestant Dutch Republic and England) accepted those refugees. But, in the faraway Ottoman Empire, one ruler extended an immediate welcome to these persecuted Jews, the Sephardim. He was Sultan Bayezid II, who ordered the governors of the provinces “not to refuse the Jews entry or cause them difficulties, but to receive them cordially”. 1 Although in 1992 we celebrated in Turkey the five‐hundredth anniversary of the welcome extended to the Sephardim, the history of the Jews in Anatolia started many centuries before that migration. Sepharad, what does it mean? Sepharad is the Hebrew name for Spain, but it is a little known fact that this word is found in Tenach (the Holy Scriptures), in Obadiah 1:20 and applied to a region around Izmir where Jewish exiles were deported after the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, in the sixth century before Christ. The name was later applied to Spain. The historian Flavius Josephus relates that Aristotle “met Jewish people with whom he had an exchange of views during his trip across Asia Minor”. 2 Ancient synagogue ruins dating from 220 before Christ and traces of 64
other Jewish settlements have been discovered near Bursa, in the southeast and along the Aegean, Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. When the Ottomans captured Bursa in 1326 and made it their capital, they found a Jewish community oppressed under Byzantine rule. The Jews welcomed the Ottomans as saviors. Sultan Orhan gave them permission to build the Etz Ahayyim (tree of life) synagogue, which remained in service until 1940. Thus, our common history starts in fact in 1326, almost seven centuries ago, or 684 years to be exact. Early in the fourteenth century, when the Ottomans had established their capital at Edirne, Jews from Europe, including Karaites, migrated there. Similarly, Jews expelled from Hungary in 1376, from France (expelled by Charles VI in September 1394), and from Sicily in the early fifteenth century, found refuge in the Ottoman Empire. When Mehmet II “the Conqueror” took Constantinople in 1453, he encountered an oppressed Romaniot (Byzantine) Jewish community which welcomed him with enthusiasm. Sultan Mehmet II issued a proclamation to all Jews, saying: “To ascend the site of the imperial throne, to dwell in the best of the land, each beneath his vine and his fig tree, with silver and with gold, with wealth and with cattle”. 3 In a letter sent around 1465 to Jewish communities in Europe, Rabbi Yizhak Sarfati (Chief Rabbi of Edirne) “invited his co‐religionists to leave the torments they were enduring in Europe and to seek safety and prosperity in Turkey”. 4 In 1470, Jews expelled from Bavaria by Ludwig X found refuge in the Ottoman Empire. Over the centuries, an increasing number of European Jews, escaping persecution in their native countries, settled in the Ottoman Empire. In the years after 1541 the Jews expelled from Apulia (Italy) after the city fell under Papal control, in 1542 those expelled from Bohemia by King Ferdinand found a safe haven in the Ottoman Empire. In March of 1556, Sultan Süleyman “the Magnificent” wrote a letter to the Pope Paul IV asking for the immediate release of the Ancona marranos. Over the centuries an increasing number of European Jews, escaping persecution in their native countries, settled in the Ottoman Empire. Immanual Aboab attributes to Bayazid II the famous remark that “the monarch Ferdinand [of Spain] was wrongly considered as wise, since he impoverished Spain by the expulsion of the Jews, and enriched Turkey”. 5 The arrival of the Sephardim altered the structure of the community and the original group of Romaniote Jews was totally absorbed. The Sephardim bring with them the knowledge of the Golden Age in Andalusia, science (medicine, chemistry, algebra, philosophy, etc) as well as arts (work of the copper, silk, leather, dying of textiles, etc.) and the printing press. For 300 years following the expulsion, the prosperity and creativity of the Ottoman Jews rivaled that of the Golden Age. Four Ottoman cities: Istanbul, Izmir, Safed and Salonika became the centers of Sephardic Jewry. Most of the court physicians were Jews. Ottoman diplomacy was often carried out by Jews. Joseph Nasi, appointed Duke of Naxos, was the former Portuguese 65
marrano João Miques. Another Portuguese marrano, Alvaro Mendes, was named Duke of Mitylene in return of his diplomatic services to the Sultan. Salamon ben Nathan Eskenazi arranged the first diplomatic ties with the British Empire. Jewish women such as Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi La Seniora exercised considerable influence at court. One of the most significant innovations Jews brought to the Ottoman Empire was the printing press. In 1493, (or 1503, according to some sources) David & Samuel ibn Nahmias established the first Ottoman‐Hebrew printing press in Istanbul. In the tolerant atmosphere of the Ottoman Empire, Jewish literature flourished: Joseph Caro began to write his great work the Beit Yosef in 1522 in Edirne (Andrinople). 6 Shlomo Halevi Alkabes composed the Lekhah Dodi, a hymn that welcomes the Sabbath according to both Sephardic and Ashkenazi rituals. Jacob Culi began to write the famous Meam Loez, the ‘encyclopaedia’ of the Oriental Jews. On October 27, 1840, Sultan Abdulmecid issued his famous ferman concerning the “Blood Libel Accusation” saying: “and for the love we bear to our subjects, we cannot permit the Jewish nation, whose innocence for the crime alleged against them is evident, to be worried and tormented as a consequence of accusations which have not the least foundation in truth”. 7 Under Ottoman tradition, each non‐Muslim religious community was responsible for its own institutions, including schools. In the early nineteenth century, Abraham de Camondo established a modern school, La Escola, causing a serious conflict between conservative and secular rabbis which was only settled by the intervention of Sultan Abdulaziz in 1864. The same year the Takkanot haKehilla (By‐laws of the Jewish Community) was published, defining the structure of the Jewish community. An important event in the life of Ottoman Jews in the seventeenth century was the schism led by Sabetay Sevi, the pseudo‐messiah who lived in Izmir and later embraced Islam with his followers. It is known that several Sepharad families, such as Camondo, Nisan, Eskenazy, began to settle in Vienna at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Those who mostly had Ottoman roots were living in much better conditions compared to other Austrian Jews, under the clauses of the 1720 Pasarofca Treaty which allowed free residency and trade for those in business. However, the tranquility and peace did not last long. Mose Lopez, the president of the Sephardic Jews who learned about the Austrian Empire’s plans, influenced by the fanatic church, to expel Jews from the country in 1742, managed to receive the support of Ottoman Sultan Mahmud I. Empress Maria‐Theresa could not risk rejecting the memorandum of the Sultan and gave up her decision. The Ottoman Jews in Vienna always protected their Ottoman identity and remained under the authority of the Sultan. They were given the name of Turkish Jews as they formed a congregation called Türkisch‐Israelitische Gemeinde (Turkish Jewish Community), officially recognized by the Austrian authorities by a decree published on 17 June 1778. When the synagogue, built in 1868 in the place of the previously enlarged one from the year 1848, did not serve any longer the needs of 66
the growing Ottoman‐Jewish population of Vienna, it was decided to demolish the existing one and replace it by a large and new house of worship. This synagogue, which had Turkish and Austrian flags swaying by its door, was officially inaugurated on Sunday 17 September 1887. Prayers in Judeo‐Spanish (Ladino) were read followed by the Anoten, blessing for the permanence and success of the country and the head of state, on behalf of Franz‐Josef I and Abdulhamid II. This synagogue was destroyed and burned down by the Nazis on Kristallnacht, 9‐10 November 1938. World War I brought the Ottoman Empire to an end. In its place rose the young Turkish Republic. Atatürk was elected president, the caliphate was abolished and a secular constitution was adopted. Through the difficult days when Anatolia was under occupation, Turkish Jews in all occupied areas kept their loyalty to the motherland and refused to collaborate with the occupying forces. Recognized in 1923 by the Treaty of Lausanne as a fully independent state within its present borders, Turkey accorded minority rights to the three principal non‐Muslim religious minorities (Greeks, Armenians and Jews) and permitted them to continue to run their own schools, social institutions and funds. In September 1925, on the eve of Turkey’s adoption of the Swiss civil code, the Jewish community renounced its minority status on individual rights. During the tragic days of World War II, Turkey, by its policy for Peace at Home Peace in the World, 8 managed to maintain its neutrality. Numbers of prominent German Jewish professors fleeing Nazi Germany settled in Turkey. These scholars contributed a great deal to the development of the Turkish university system. During World War II, Turkey served as a safe passage for many Jews fleeing the horrors of the Nazis. Whilst the Jewish communities of some neighborhood countries were almost completely wiped out by Hitler, Turkish Jewry remained secure. Several Turkish diplomats spent every effort to save Turkish Jews in Nazi occupied countries from the Holocaust. Mr. Salahattin Ülkümen, consul general at Rhodes in 1943‐1944, was recognized by the Yad Vashem as a righteous gentile (hassid umot ha’olam) in June 1990. Today, Turkey continues to be a shelter, a haven, for all those who flee dogmatism, intolerance and persecution. The present size of the Jewish community is estimated to be around 20.000 to 21.000 people. The vast majority lives in Istanbul, with a community of about 1.500 in Izmir and other very small groups located in Adana, Ankara, Antakya, Bursa, Çanakkale, and Kirklareli. Sephardim make up 96% of the community, with around 500 Ashkenazim accounting for the rest. There are about a hundred Karaites, an independent group which does not accept the authority of the Chief Rabbi. Turkish Jews are legally represented, as they have been for many centuries, by the Hahambashi, the Chief Rabbi. Synagogues are classified as religious foundations. There are twenty‐one synagogues in use in Istanbul today. Three are in service in the Prince Islands – which serve as local holiday resorts – only during the summer. Some of them are very old, especially Ahrida and Yanbol in the Balat area, which date from 67
mid‐Fifteenth century. The fifteenth and sixteenth century Hasköy and Kuzguncuk cemeteries in Istanbul are still in use today. Jews speak Turkish as their native language. A conscious effort is made to preserve the heritage of Judeo‐Spanish (Ladino) as a link with the past, a bridge with Spanish speaking countries around the world, and out of nostalgia. A modern school complex, from elementary classes to college, is at the service of Jewish students. For many years since 1843, Turkish Jews have had their own press. Now one newspaper survives: Shalom, a weekly in Turkish, with one page in Judeo‐Spanish, and El Amaneser, its monthly supplement, entirely in Judeo‐Spanish. A Jewish hospital founded hundred years ago, the Or Ahayim in Istanbul, still serves the community. There are also homes for the aged and several welfare associations to assist the poor, the sick and needy children. Social clubs containing libraries, cultural and sports facilities, discotheques, give young people a chance to meet. Traditionally, a number of families adopted as a surname the name of the locality their ancestors left in Spain or Portugal. Cordova, Toledo, Geron, Navaro, Saragossi, Soria, Calderon, Calahora, Mayor, Taragano, Molinas are just few of them. The Jewish community is of course a very small group in Turkey today, considering that the total population – 99% Muslim – exceeds 70 million. However, in spite of their number, the Jews have distinguished themselves. There are quite a number of Jewish professors teaching at the universities of Istanbul and Ankara, and many Turkish Jews are prominent in business, industry, the liberal professions and journalism. I am delighted to have been the initiator of the Museum of the Turkish Jews, (Türk Musevileri Müzesi), established by the Quincentennial Foundation (500. Yıl Vakfı) of which I am the president (www.muze500.com). A new addition to Istanbul’s cultural heritage, it has been inaugurated in November 2001. Its objective is to promote, both within the country and abroad, the story of 700 years of amity between Turks and Jews, to show how the two cultures influenced each other over 700 years and to display the humanitarian spirit of the Turkish nation as an example to humanity. The Museum also collects, preserves, exhibits, interprets and disseminates knowledge about the cultural heritage of the Turkish Jews. For long centuries, due to a lack of tolerance, the world has been shaken by racism, xenophobia, religious discrimination, ethnic cleansing and other manifestations of intolerance which have frequently resulted in conflicts and wars. Every religion and all ideologies must provide a path of fraternal love and tolerance towards other beliefs in order to avoid the entrenchment of hatred and violence. Commonalities rather than differences should be emphasized, and for this, tolerance is the keyword. During long centuries Turkey has been a land of refuge not only for Jews, but for all who had to flee bigotry, persecution, religious intolerance without distinction of race or religion. 68
To end on an optimistic note, I dare to hope that globalization will serve as a universal platform to bring together all the grandchildren of the same ancestor, whether he be called Abraham, Abram or Ibrahim. NOTES Yossef Daath. El Progresso 4 (1889) as mentioned in Franco 1897. 1
Josephus Flavius, Contra‐Apionem, 1‐176. 2
Galante 1941, 3. 3
Lewis 1984, 135. 4
Poliakov 1981, 205. 5
Werblowsky 1971, 195. 6
Galante 1931, 158‐159. 7
A motto stated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on April 20, 1931, which became the basis of the Turkish foreign policy. In turkish: “Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda Sulh”. 8
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