Selin KANDİYOTİ

Meet Sandra Abrevaya, of Turkish origin, born and raised in USA, a successful public servant, who met her soulmate Brian Wallach while both were working for Obama during his triumphant campaign for the 2008 US Presidential Election. The couple later exchanged marriage vows in Bodrum followed by a party that ended with all their guests jumping in the sea. They had two beautiful daughters, one of them a new born, to complete the perfect picture. But then the devastating news arrived the day they were leaving the hospital with their baby. Brian was diagnosed with ALS. It was terminal. Yet this ´power couple´ decided to take action and became champions for all ALS patients in the USA. Thanks to them there is now hope for cure all around the world.

Hanukkah, the festival of lights, was celebrated with the hanukiyahs (menorahs) lit all around Turkey on the first night of the Hanukkah. Just like last year, Ortaköy Etz Ahayim Synagogue in Istanbul, connected live to 10 synagogues in Anatolia and 34 different locations in Istanbul, and let thousands of people experience the joy of Hanukkah, while revealing the vibrant and rich life of the Jewish community in Turkey.