"Now would be a good time to study at Jewish School"

I start wandering around the school. One of the unique privileges of being a UOMO graduate is that no matter how long it’s been since you graduated, your paths cross with your school at one point. 

I am excited to stride the corridors of my school. However, I can’t find the group at either Amram Auditorium or Alber Levi Amphitheater. I come across my teacher Veysel Bey. When he sees me he says, “Wow, my interpreter.” Even if time flies by, some feelings stay the same. When I ask him where the American guests are, he tells me they’re at Noah Auditorium. When I give him a blank look like in the old days when I was his student, he starts explaining. “Mois, remember the place where you take the stairs below the place you used to play football, we built an auditorium and two labs there.” I quickly climb down the stairs deploring how I haven’t realized all these new additions.  Seeing me waiting outside, Jewish Culture and Education Coordinator Sami Levi and PR Manager Greta Mizrahi invite me inside. 

When I arrive at Noah Auditorium, another surprise awaits. I’m thinking to myself, “Either Veysel Bey tricked me or sent me to another school, or this wasn’t the school I graduated from.” The last time I heard such fluent English was when I went to Home Coming with my parents or joined a business conversation with my Koc University graduate friends. The students are giving our guests information about our school and answering their questions. Mrs. Rone, noticing my presence joins me and sits next to me. When I listen to the young students sitting in the middle of the stage answering questions, I pray that no one asks me anything. The night before, when I took our guests from the airport, I told them proudly, “I am a Jewish School graduate. You will be visiting my school tomorrow.”  

My prayers are answered and no one asks me a question. Indeed, our students take initiative and they start asking questions. One of them asks the guests, “What do you expect from this visit?” The questions start pouring in, challenging our guests. At the end of the meeting, the excitement and pride in our teachers’ eyes turns to a smile. The event ends with Cem Kaston singing his own composition, ‘Hallelujah’. Note this kid. I first listened to him at the Public Hanukkah Celebration in Ortakoy. He is a promising artist. When he finishes his song, he gets a standing ovation. I once again recite our slogan. “In this school, productive individuals are raised in a creative environment.”

The meeting ends. This time we are together with my teacher, Mrs. Rone at lunch. I remember the days when my friend Hay EytanYanarocak and I used to give other students’ school numbers to the cafeteria admission desk to sneak into school cafeteria. We remember those days and smile. We wonder where some of my friends are today and what they are doing. Neither Mrs. Rone nor my other Science teacher Mrs. Esra changed in all those years. When I graduated and left this school with strange feelings, my teacher Esra Sari was giving a lecture with the same patience as if it was her first day explaining chromosomes. 

Our American guests get into the busses with their gift books, “100th Anniversary of UOMO” in their hands. A gentleman in a sleek suit is seeing us off. Even though I haven’t officially met him, I learn from his badge card that he is Izi Askaner, Co-President of UOMO Foundation. 

I remember Rafael Torel’s legacy, the details of which I shared last night with the guests when I was asked why I was working as a volunteer in the Jewish Community. The main goal of all the voluntary work I do for the Jewish Community is to pay my school back for their significant contributions which made me who I am, today. As the bus leaves Ulus and rides through the narrow streets of Balat, I once again tell myself, “Now would be a good time to be a student at Jewish School.” 

Whether you like the current Jewish Community or not, there is one issue on which I agree with them. Studying at Ulus Private Jewish Schools is the right of every Turkish Jew. We should work hard to always improve the quality of education at UOMO while being prepared for a future where everyone who wants to study at UOMO even if they do not have the financial means can study at UOMO. 

Dear Funda Kara, Musa Karaca and all the other teachers whose names I cannot remember, I will be visiting you too, soon. 

Hoping for a future where we’ll see many more UOMO graduates who contribute both to our country and to our community… 

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