Jewish Istanbul - cruise excursion
JEWISH
ISTANBUL
- Full Day
with Lunch
We will start our tour
of the city first with a visit to the 500 Anniversary Foundation, Turkish-Jewish Museum
commemorating the migration of Jews en mass from Spain & Portugal during
the Inquisition in 1492. The museum
is housed in a beautiful old Synagogue, the Zulfaris Synagogue dating back to
the second half of the 17th century.
Following the visit to
the museum we will then drive along the shores of the
Golden Horn and visit some of the major Jewish Heritage sites of Istanbul.
The first among these will be the
Ahrida Synagogue in the Balat
district of Istanbul where most of the old synagogues of the city are located.
Balat originally was a zone between the most pious Moslem district of
Eyup on one side and the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox
Church in Fener.
The area was a hum of activity when the middle and upper middle class
Jewish families were leaving here, while the really wealthy preferred the more
modern parts of the city like Galata /
Pera on the other side of the Golden Horn.
It was here in Balat that the Jewish Communities established the
divisions between the Romaniote
(Byzantine), Sephardic (from
Spain
and Portugal)
and the Ashkenazi (from central and
eastern Europe) and the
Italian Jews.
‘Yet in the early
Ottoman period the neighbourhoods of
Istanbul
were organised in a different fashion.
During the 15th-17th centuries certain
neighbourhoods, (Balat, Hasköy and Kuzguncuk) were so predominantly Jewish that
they were locally recognised as “Jewish Neighbourhoods”, (Yahudi mahallesi).
The 19th century saw a shift to the district of Galata as a
major focus of Jewish life. All in
all, Jews lived in most of the neighbourhoods of the city.
The Jewish neighbourhoods that did witness a large influx of Jews were
not by any means European style “ghettos”.
Jews tended to flock together for reasons of both social and religious,
but there was never any pressure, either political or governmental, to isolate
their presence in the city.’
The
Ahrida Synagogue is the oldest and
probably the most beautiful of all the Jewish synagogues of the city.
Named after the city of
Ohrid in Macedonia
and built by the Romaniote Jews of Byzantine in the early 15th
century it dates back to pre-Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453.
The Synagogue is also well known due to the rather devastating incident
for the World Jewry, when in the 19th century, when
Shabetai Zevi announced his
Messianic Mission to the local Jewish community.
The building underwent its last major restoration in 1955 but due to the
500th Anniversary Celebrations considerable restoration also took
place in the early 1990’s. The
Synagogue can seat almost 500 people.
The following Synagogue
will be the Yanbol Synagogue, named
after the Bulgarian city of Yanbol
and again built in the Byzantine period.
The building was restored in 1875 and is open only during the festivities
of Succoth.
We will then
visit the Jewish Community Hospital ‘Or-Ahayim’,
located not so far from the Synagogues, and built in 1899 with both local and
foreign donations. There is a
little synagogue inside the hospital and is named after the
Kadoori family from
Iraq
who had donated generously for the building of the hospital.
Though originally built by and for the Jews, today it serves a
predominantly a non-Jewish population.
Following the hospital
we will try to visit the oldest of all the Jewish cemeteries in Constantinopolis.
Originally again dating back to the Byzantine period it ceased to be used
as a cemetery since 1939. We do
have historical records that the first Chief Rabbi of
Istanbul
under the Ottoman rule of Mehmet the Conqueror,
Moses Capsali, was buried here in
1499.
Following the visit to
the cemetery we will cross the Golden Horn to
its northern shore and come to Haskoy.
Once a very predominantly Jewish neighbourhood with almost 11,000 strong
in the 17th century. The
area was a almost a terminus for waves of Jewish immigrants arriving from all
over the world then. Together with
the already existing Romaniote Jews of Byzantine to whom a group of Ashkenazi
Jews from Frankfurt
were added in 1483 and the prominent
families of Iberian Jews earlier, Haskoy became one of the main points of Jewish
culture and heritage in Istanbul.
‘The story of Haskoy is
in fact the story of Golden Age of Istanbul Jewry.
Under the charismatic leadership of Jews such as
Moshe Hamon, personal physician and
advisor to Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, it was in this neighbourhood that the
timeless character of the Jewish community first crystallised.
The most and
foremost among the places worth a visit is the
Old-Age Home of Haskoy,
Moshav Zekinim.
This building originally was the famous
Camondo Institute between the years
1858-1889 and was considered as the best Jewish educational establishment in the
old capital. The Institute also had
a separate branch with the sole purpose of training rabbis.
In 1970’s the building was converted to the Old-Age Home.
There are approximately 60+ elderly residents served both by professional
medical help and volunteers from the community.
The area also houses
some important synagogues especially of the once flourishing
Karaite
Jews of Crimean Peninsula in southern Russia.
Once the Russians conquered Crimea, in
the late 19th century, many of the Karaite Jews immediately found
refuge in Istanbul
thus making the region as the centre of Karaite Jews in the Balkans.
This Karaite synagogue is called the “Bnai
Mikra”. As all of the Karaite
Synagogues are this one is also is underground.
The principle of this practice originated from the Old Testament (Psalms
130:1) “From the depths I called to thee, O Lord”.
Following the visit to
the synagogue we will continue and move into the more modern parts of Istanbul, where the Jewish
community of Istanbul
has flourished. The general history
of Galata /
Pera or
Beyoglu, in Turkish dates back to
the Byzantine times when this northern tip of the Golden Horn was a dynamic
commercial centre and where the Genoese
merchants of Italy had formed a rich mercantile community among which Jewish
elements had an important role.
This particular aspect of this trading colony was continued by the Ottomans
after the conquest in 1453 as it
also served their imperial interests and the Jews served loyally and faithfully
as a conduit between the Moslem Ottoman Empire and the world at large.
Later on in the late 17th century and onwards the district
became the part where all the foreigners residing in the Ottoman capital,
including all the corps diplomatique with their lavish ‘chancelleries and
residences’. Then in the 19th
century, the area started to play another important role in the Imperial
designs. First home to many modern
ideas and tools the Pera district
became the European face of Istanbul at the time, allowing the initial ideas of
political, economic and social reform being discussed in its cafes, restaurants
and clubs. It was in this mood that
the Tunel ‘tunnel’-first ever metro
outside Europe was opened in 1875, the
Pera Palace Hotel served the likes
of European kings, princes and princess’.
When the old defensive walls of the Genoese settlements were torn down
the Buyuk Hendek Street came into
existence and this was the centre of the Jewish quarter of the city.
By the late 19th century Pera had over a dozen Jewish owned
banks and some very prominent families such as the
Camondo family.
Obviously the most active of the Jewish synagogues today in
Istanbul
is the Neve Shalom Synagogue.
The building we shall be visiting was built in
1952 but a synagogue of the same
name is said to have existed since the 15th century.
Unfortunately the Neve Shalom Synagogue became the focus of international
news in 1986 when Arab terrorists attacked it on September 06th
Sabbath morning killing 21 worshippers and the elderly shamash.
The massacre shocked the Jewish and
Turkish communities the same condemnation of all levels of Turkish society
followed.
The region also has
other several synagogues such as the Italian (1887), that served the Italian
origin Jews and later also the Bulgarian Jews who banded together against the
more traditional main segment of the Jewish community.
Another is the Edirneli (Adrianopolis) Synagogue that served Jews who had
settled after their move to Istanbul, the Ashkenazi Synagogue which still is a
functioning institution and for some the most beautiful and well-preserved
synagogues of the city.
Rates on
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All sites included in the program are
under the security control of the Istanbul Chief Rabbi’s Office and are visited
only on an appointment basis therefore, the clients are encouraged to book in
advance. Copy
of passport
is required to be submitted.
Please
note, this is a sample itinerary and will be
customized on request to add more sightseeing. Our partners in Turkey
have strong connection with the
Jewish community , with advance notice, visit with Jewish community can also be
arranged. There are some kosher restaurants which serve kosher meals. Groups are
welcome!
Jewish Heritage Tours
Index
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