A Journey to Jewish culture and traditions through tales and stories on European Day of Jewish Culture

by Şeli Gaon/Pınar Kılavuz

The culture and traditions of Turkish Jewish community, the fading Judeo-Espanyol (Ladino) language spoken by Sephardic Jews and the Sephardic cuisine were introduced to visitors through concerts, documentaries, chat sessions, exhibitions and workshops at European Day of Jewish Culture. The goal of the event was to reveal and share the cultural and historical heritage of the Jews, their traditional music, art and customs with the people of this country.

The whole event was open to public and its diverse content took the visitors on a journey to the lifestyle of Turkish Jews.

Throughout the day, there were three different exhibitions at three different venues. ‘Anne Frank A History’ exhibition, Izzet Keribar’s photo exhibition displaying Jewish life, and ‘Centropa’, an oral history project that depicts a certain period were swarmed by visitors. The Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews was also visited by a huge number of visitors.

At the event, Suzet Herman and Seli Gaon talked about the history and etymology of Judeo-Espanyol language. Judeo Espanyol is a language that was spoken by the Jews who migrated from Spain and is still being spoken, although less and less everyday by Turkish Jews.

At this year’s ‘Come, Let’s Meet’ event, the young hosts answered all of the questions coming from the guests and gave information about Jewish traditions and customs. The event aiming to cast away any prejudice, provided an open platform where people could engage in one-to one dialogue.

Acclaimed author and historian Naim Guleryuz introduced his new book ‘Jewish Settlements in Thrace and Anatolia Throughout History’ and in his speech he mentioned various historic events.

At the ‘Let’s Cook Together: Samples from Sephardic Cuisine’ workshop, Gilda Kohen gave information about historical and gastronomical aspects of Sephardic cuisine while she together with the visitors cooked delicious Sephardic food.

At ‘I’m Telling a Tale to Myself’ chat session, Moris Levi talked about Jewish stories, tales, aphorisms and his insights about Judaism.

At ‘The Sacred, Values and Traditions in Jewish Culture’ chat session, Sara Pardo talked about Jewish holidays, Kashrut, Shabbat and rules about social life.

At ‘Old Istanbul’ chat session Yusuf Altintas talked about his childhood years in Haskoy where he was born and raised as a kid and the relations between neighbors, back then.

At ‘Bridges of Tales’ workshop, author Tamara Pur, opened the magical gate to reality from dreams with tales and music. Estella Kucukbarokas, who describes herself as a storyteller, in her workshop ‘Jewish Tales from These Lands’ read passages from tales and stories passed on from one generation to the next, tales and stories that begin with the story of Sephardic Jews coming to Ottoman Empire.

Salom writer and author Bahar Feyzan talked about her first novel ‘Love Passenger’ at a chat session.

Soloists Cenk Rofe and Ediz Bahar accompanied by Cefi Sağlamlar and Izzet Bana’s Estreyikas d’Estambol Choir gave a concert at Neve Salom Synagogue. The voices of Rofe and Bahar mesmerized the audience at the concert ‘A Journey from Pop Music to Musicals and Classics ‘.

Sara Pardo gave a detailed presentation about Jewish wedding ceremonies in Izmir. She explained the traditions and the unique rituals before and after the wedding ceremony. The visitors showed great interest in the theatrical representation of the wedding ceremony. Especially the ritual where a tray full of kezada (marzipan) is passed over the heads of the bride and the groom after the wedding ceremony was found very interesting by the audience. This ritual represents a long life as sweet as the marzipan for the newlyweds for as long as they live.

Throughout the day there were three documentary screenings. Deniz Alphan’s ‘A Fading Language, a Fading Cuisine’ documentary depicted the danger of extinction Judeo Espanyol language and Sephardic cuisine face, today.

The second documentary was ‘Kula 930’, a documentary by Alberto Modiano about the play ‘Kula 930’ which was first staged 40 years ago in Judeo Espanyol which is still the only play still being staged in Judeo Espanyol, today. The documentary depicts life in Kuledibi and Sishane neighborhoods aka Kula where Jews mostly lived in 1930’s, through the eyes of the play’s cast.  The third documentary was Eytan Ipeker’s ‘Lace Dealer’. The documentary is about Yasef Efendi, a lace dealer in Balat in late 1950’s who has strived to adapt to social changes in the country.

The all-day event with a record number of visitors this year – over two thousand – ended with Semes Karmiel’s dance performance.

We hope that this annual event which is being organized with the goals to bring people from all communities living in this country for over 500 years together, become an enabler of dialogue and enrich people’s life with new information, will continue to be organized for many years to come with more and more visitors each year.

Related News

28 March

Democrat Party (DP) Visited Şalom

18 March

Moris Karmona Declared War On Bullying With His Book "Morhis"

Moris Karmona´s book "Morhis" in which he wrote his life story, has been published.

1 March

82nd Anniversary of the Struma Disaster

The Struma Immigration Ship had sailed from Constanza, Romania to take the Jews desperate to run from the Nazis to today´s Israel, and was sunk by a torpedo from a Russian submarine after anchoring off the coast of Istanbul for weeks.

26 February

Jenisya Yaeş Came First in the 16th National Young Soloist Competition

Soprano Jenisya Yaeş, who is studying at the Dokuz Eylül University State Conservatory, Opera Art Major Undergraduate 3rd grade, has been deemed worthy of first place in the University Category of the 16th National Young Soloist Competition.

19 February

Are You Ready for the Adventures of "Penga and Menga"?

Penga and Menga are two penguins who live far away from our country and are different from each other as day and night. What unites them is their adherence to their Jewish identity and traditions. It is a heartwarming story that narrates the harmony of differences and the friendship that arises from this harmony. The creators of the characters Penga and Menga are Vivet Pitelon Sparkes and her son Jim Sparkes. Also, the illustrations in the "Holidays" series (consisting of 11 books) designed for children, belong to both of them. The stories are written and translated into English (from Turkish) by Vivet.

13 February

Şalom Now on Mobile App

Şalom´s mobile application has been launched on IOS and Android platforms.

8 February

The Great Loss of Turkish Literature

Mario Levi, the great author who had contributed many important works to Turkish literature, passed away. The famous author was bid farewell on his last journey on Thursday, February 1st, with a ceremony held along with his loved ones at the Acibadem Jewish Cemetery.

18 January

Sending Departed Hanri Benazus Off On His Last Journey

16 January

Hanri Benazus Has Passed Away

The investigative writer and businessman Hanri Benazus who owned the largest Atatürk photography collection in Turkey, passed away at 94.

9 January

UÖMO Middle School Students´ Success in the Innovation Competition

Ulus Jewish Schools Middle School´s young tech geniuses achieved great success in the 10th Başahşehir Living Lab Innovation Competition. In the competition where 220 projects from all over Turkey have competed with the "Innovative ideas are competing" motto, UÖMO students, standing out from their rivals with their "Natural Disaster Kit", came third in the middle school category.