Day 9 of #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip:
Ayvalık/Troy/Çanakkale/Dardanelles Strait
Waking tp to the view of the Agean sea and #Cunda was quite amazing - not to say pretty relaxing... We are going to Çanakkale!
Last night me and Chaim were walking in Ayvalık - a coffee shop owner noticing the Kipah on Chaim's head walks over:
- "Are you guys Jewish by any chance?" - "Of course!" we say.
- "Let's have coffee, its on me. Last year I got stuck in Israel for 8 months during the pandemic."
He was excited to see Jews walking on the streets of his hometown, and is planning on opening an identical coffee shop in Tel Aviv...
Leave a comment if you prefer the Sunset over Sunrise...
Back to Çanakkale...
The Mekor Hayim (Source of Life) synagogue of Çanakkale...
The Midraş of Çanakkale - in the Turkish Jewish tradition, the Cheder Sheni, or Small synagogue usually used during the weekdays, is called Midrash.
I assume because that is also where people gathered to study or listen to Derasha/Speech...
Mekor Hayim is currently used on the occasion that travelers like me and Chaim, or the occasional Kosher supervisor stops in to pray (we prayed Minha there) - ans during the once a year pilgrimage of former Çanakkalis from Istanbul...
However it is open every single day!
The synagogue is on the corner of Eski Havra Sokak (Old Synagogue Street) and across the Yaşar Yohay Sokak. Yaşar (Aşer) Yohay was a much loved Jewish citizen of Çanakkale...
Some more pictures of this meticulously kept Mekor Hayim synagogue of Çanakkale...
We also visited the old Jewish cemetery of #Çanakkale... Sad to see 😢
We couldn't just pass Çanakkale without visiting the #Troy Museum... And if you ever drive through, you must see it! - My grandfather was a Jeweler - but these exquisite hand work from thousands of years ago are unbelievable!
"This is Emperor Hadrian" I tell Chaim as soon as we see this sculpture... "because he is the only emperor with a beard!"...
Of course not counting the one we found last week in Ephesus...
But we are leaving this Trojan horse behind us and crossing the Dardanelles...
Crossing to Gelibolu or #Gallipoli and seeing the "Dor Yolcu" signage and you know you are entering hallowed grounds...
The Şehitler Abidesi, commemorating the fallen in the Gallipoli Campaign/Çanakkale Savaşı - between 17 February 1915 to 9 January 1916...
But wait for this...
Jews too fought at the Gallipoli Campaign... On both sides of the trenches...
The fallen Jews who fought for Turkey are mostly interred at the Acibadem Jewish cemetery (picture below from the net).
I figured that some of the Jews who fought for the Allied are buried right here, in Gelibolu...
It took us some time - but we were able to say a Jewish prayer for E. Judell who died right here, in #Anzac, at the young age of 24...
The post above about praying at #Anzac and at the Şehitler Abidesi - really underlined to my friend Hayati that "It is unbelievable how much Jewish history we have in this country"...
And where will we be tomorrow?
Laila Tov!
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