Day 7 of #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip:
Ephesus, Priene, Milas.
Most people heard of Ashkenazi, Sefardi or Mizrahi Jews. Not many heard of Romaniote Jews:
Roughly translated as Jews of the Roman/Byzantine Empire - the Romaniote community preceded the Ashkenazim (est. 1250) and Sefardim (est. 1492).
Romaniote Jews lived, for thousands of years, in Asia minor - Anatolia - some Jews in Izmir and Istanbul are their descendents.
In day 4 of #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip we visited the #Sardis Romaniote synagogue, together with Imam @OsmanDe07800433
Today we went to see #Ephesus and Priene...
Jews have lived in Ephesus in antiquity. Although the synagogue has not be excavated (yet) - we know from Josephus that Jews were granted the rights to build a synagogue, to donate to the Jerusalem Temple, to keep the Shabbat and the Kosher dietary laws...
Apparently a Jew in Ephesus also experimented in olden day graffiti and etched in stone for eternity a Menorah on the steps of the great Celsus library...
If you have not been to #Ephesus yet, you should definitely put in on your touring/vacation schedule... The impressive ruins, the massive theater, the agora... Here are just some sample...
Who's statue is this?!
An hour's drive from Ephesus and we arrived in #Priene... Priene was a deep water port at some point in history - until the Maeander/Menderes river silted up...
Impressive ruins - Chaim isn't much into archeology, especially at 43° centigrade - Eliezer however was full of suggestions on how to get these massive boulders one on top of each other...
But #Priene's jewel for me is of course the synagogue... Built in the 4th century and served the Romaniote Jewish community for close to 500 years.
Some more pics of the Priene Synagogue... I think the last time anyone prayed Minha therewas last year on my visit with @EliChitrik...
Another hour on road and we arrived in #Milas. This very ancient charming city was really fun to walk around in...
We headed first to the Jewish cemetery. After a few wrong turns - we found the place! A big part of the cemetery is really looked after very nicely thanks to a wall built around most of the cemetery by the local authorities @muglabsb @MilasBelediyesi
At the cemetery we saw headstones dating 1710 (and some maybe earlier) up until 1987...
Some headstones are very ornate, and some are just a slab of concrete...
For the most part, this part of the cemetery is well kept....
Unfortunately beyond the walls of the cemetery there is construction in preparation of a new housing project and a new road - it was sad to see that some graves were violated and human bones were crushed...
Eliezer and Chaim volunteered for the Mitzva and tried to bury the human bones that we found...
It would be great if the @muglabsb and the @MilasBelediyesi would take more caution in respecting the souls of the Jewish citizens of #Milas...
On the topic of cemeteries: I will, inşallah, dedicate a special thread for our visit to the holy Gürçeşme Cemetery of Izmir - that cemetery deserves a thread for itself (I know that still have to talk about Shabtai Tzvi, I will get to that as well ınşallah).
Jews believe that a grave is "bought" for eternity - and disturbing the dead, is taking from someone whom we cannot pay back to, (helal edemiyor ve etmiyor)... This is why I feel it is important to visit these holy sites when possible...
We went to look out for the synagogue... After some inquiries apparently the synagogue of Milas was torn down a few years ago, and an education center was built above it...
However, just around the corner we found this house...
It's current residents didn't appreciate us intruding...
However the previous owners left their mark right above the door! "Yosef De Abuahav of Milas 5640 (1880)" it says in Hebrew...
Eliezer and Chaim snuck in, after which I reluctantly did the same... and found thag the slanted nails marks for where a Mezuza was once placed are still there...
A worried neighbor came out and warned us of ghosts, spirits, scorpions and snakes that reside in the abandoned house... So we quickly got out (who wants to mess with any of these?!)...
"Jews were always here" tells us the 'Teyze' - "They were very good people, we love Jews very much" she said after telling us about her 93 year old neighbor and his children...
See, #coexistance of Jews and Muslims isn't just a slogan for conferences, it is and was reality.
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