21 November
Movie Review: Piece by Piece 
November 21, 2024 Movie Review: Piece by Piece
November 14, 2024 "Humor on the Margins: Cartoons in the Turkish Jewish Newspaper Şalom" by Rakel P. Meşulam
November 7, 2024 The "Ottoman and Turkish Ketubbot" Exhibition
November 4, 2024 TV Show Review: Nobody Wants This
November 1, 2024 The Irresistible Drunkenness of Reading Books
We should not be scared of opening out...
Yakup BAROKAS
We had lived a historical day at the re-opening of Edirne Synagogue, even though Turkish Jewish Community did not take part in the renovation process. We were very excited because other than government officials, nearly a thousand Turkish Jews attended the morning prayer at Edirne Synagogue.
Last week, Istipol Synagogue re-opened its doors for worship, after 65 years. Istipol Synagogue located in Istanbul’s Balat neighborhood was built upon Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s order, in 1694. After being severely damaged in a fire, it was renovated in 1899 upon the Sultan’s order. This valuable place, a religious and cultural legacy with its wooden architecture, oval windows and ornate glass details is a significant gain for our community who had restored it.
However, what made the re-opening of Edirne and Istipol Synagogues more valuable and emotional was the huge participation and interest shown by the members of the community. Historical places can maintain their lives as long as this interest continues.
The comments posted during the broadcast on Periscope such as “Are they Satanists? “I’ve never seen a Jew in my life!”, “What’s that black thing covering their heads, is this a ritual?” and other messages with gross insults are saddening and thought-provoking...
Another important event of last week was the opening ceremony of the Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews in its new home, Neve Salom Synagogue. The museum has been operating inside Zulfaris Synagogue since 2001.
Again during the live broadcast of the opening on Periscope, many comments were posted. However, this time the messages were different: “The Jews also have circumcision…” “Their Tevila is very similar to our ablution”, “They too believe there is One God.”, “So many similarities...” These comments demonstrated the positive perception created by the objects and information boards displayed in the museum.
Need I say more…The museum’s success will be much more when it reaches a broader audience and welcomes a larger number of visitors. A museum with only 5-10.000 visitors a year cannot achieve its goal even if it is very valuable for the Community. By keeping the bar high, we should try to open our doors to tens of thousands of visitors.
We shouldn’t be scared of opening out which is the opposite of ‘low profile’ just because there are a few discriminating reactions on social media. We are not trying to introduce ourselves to others, we are trying to contribute to the general community we live in recognizing itself with all its different colors. As long they don’t turn into hate speech, negative approaches should not discourage us…
A few days before the museum’s opening in Neve Salom Synagogue, I visited the Jewish Museum in Berlin designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. In order to enter the museum, visitors must go through an underground Baroque style corridor. There are three different routes inside the underground corridor. The goal is for the visitors to experience the anxiety to hide and the fear of straying. Each route has a different story. The first and the longest one leads up to the stair of continuity. The visitors reach the exhibition spaces once they climb these stairs. The second route leads to garden of Exile and Emigration. The third is a dead end: “Holocaust!”
An installation in the shape of a three clove garlic and a cleric standing on guard along with a woman holding a duck… Each clove represents Speyer, Worms and Mains regions in Central Europe where famous Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki aka Rashi gave lectures on Talmud, in 14th century. When the first letters of these regions are put together, the word “Sum” is formed which in Hebrew means garlic. I was inside the museum for five hours and this detail that caught my attention shows how in Judaism, social life and religious education are intertwined.
With its rather humble size, the new museum inside Neve Salom Synagogue has three floors. Apart from a store-like space where religious items and books on Judaism are sold, there is a space where the history of Turkish Jews is displayed through various boards with commentaries. The objects are displayed via an intelligent design whereas visitors can find for example Karambol Game, a game that dates back to Spain in a drawer or see various publications that has been published since 1842 scattered around.
At another space, different stages of life in Judaism including henna, tevila, Brit Mila, wedding ceremony, funeral rituals are displayed through authentic documents such as a wedding photo of Fortune Eskenazi and Aron Kancoudi dating back to 1908 or invitations from that period.
Aside from invaluable objects such as ‘Midras Teillim’ printed in 1511 when Sultan Beyazid was ruling the Ottoman Empire, the museum houses digital sections that add a contemporary dimension to the museum. The Director of the Museum Moris Levi states that despite the shortcomings, various events for broader audience will be organized in the Museum and a Café named after artist Habib Gerez will open, soon.
Congratulations...
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