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Rabbi Mendy Chitrik Profile picture
@mchitrik
Aug 2, 2021 • 10 tweets • 7 min read • Read on X
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Day 8 of #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip:

Bergama (Pergamon)

Guess who rebuilt this beautiful synagogue of #Bergama? Image
This is of course the beautiful synagogue of Bergama... Just a few years ago it was used as a barn, after most Jews have left the city.

While my friend Selim Ozturk was arranging the synagogue to open, @ChaimChitrik and I went up the acropolis to see the ruins of #Pergamon Image
The ruins of this once major city are still quite impressive now! But we were waiting for the keys of the synagogue to arrive... Image
Finally, Abdurahman and Mehmet from the Bergama Kaymakamlık bring the keys and bif smiles "Hoşgeldiniz" welcome to Bergama they say... ImageImage
They explained that the @bergamabel with support of @TCKulturTurizm have taken on this project - to restore the ancient Bergama Yabets synagogue to its former glory!

jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2015/01/11/syn…
Here you can see how it looked like just a few years ago... and how it looks now...

Teşekkür ederiz! And as we say here: Hazakim Beruhim! ImageImage
The Midraş right next to the Yabets synagogue was restored as well, and is used as a cultural center where people today learn about the unique Hand woven Ruggs of Bergama... ImageImage
Your messages of support and concern are very moving. Continue retweeting snd sharing these threads of #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip - to all. Together we will show friendship to the world!

As I mentioned @selimthe4th - I want to thank him for being so very helpful for the past 8 days!
As became customary on #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip we went to pray at the Jewish cemetery of Bergama on 2. Fabrika Sokak (across the police station).

Place needs better fencing (some of it was knocked down).

Thank you @bergamabel for the trees and your great work showing diversity! ImageImageImageImage
Where will we be tomorrow?! Image

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More from @mchitrik

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik Profile picture
Dec 17, 2021
Aron Kodesh, or Holy Arc, is where the holy Torah is placed in a synagogue...

'Arcs of Turkey' - from synagogues of @tyahuditoplumu in the following thread.

Enjoy and Retweet!

Shabbat Shalom!

Starting with the oldest one, from Sardis, an 1800 year old Aron Kodesh:
Rabbi Izak Peres in front of the Aron Kodesh at the Tiferet Yisrael - Yenikoy Synagogue of Istanbul
Rabbi David Sevi in front of the Aron Kodesh at Bet Yisrael Şişli, İstanbul
Read 20 tweets
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik Profile picture
Dec 14, 2021
"Are there Ashkenazi Jews in Turkey?!"

I hear this question often after I introduce myself as the rabbi of Istanbul's Ashkenazi community - after all, Turkey is the bastion of Sefardi Jews!

So what's the story of the Ashkenazi community of Turkey? Thread 🧵👇
When Sefaradi Jews found refuge in the Ottoman Empire after the Spanish expulsion of 1492 and Portugal 1497 - and trickles of Anusim, former converts, in the centuries after - They were welcomed by the two local Jewish communities:

Romaniot and Ashkenazim.
Romaniot Jews are the Jews of the Roman Empire - who lived under Byzantine rule since antiquity. They spoke Greek and were often call Gregos by other Jews.

Ashkenazi Jews came from Central and Eastern Europe, after 1250. Yiddish speaking, sometimes called Ungaros, for Hungary.
Read 27 tweets
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik Profile picture
Oct 25, 2021
An interesting find in a heirloom book...

Thread 👇for #Judaica lovers...

This book, Responsa by Rabbi Yosef Colon, known as Maharik, (Sadiklov 1834) belonged to my Great-great-grandfather, Rabbi Nathan Gurary of Kremenchuk, Ukraine...
Confiscated in 1920' with his huge library when the communist regime nationalized his tobacco factory - it ended up in a flea market in Odessa, when his son in law, my Great-grandfather Rabbi Eliezer Karassik saw it en route to Istanbul...
My grandmother, Rivka Chitrik, told me that upon seeing the familiar name stamped on the books - her father dumped all their cloths, filling the suitcases with the books instead... As many as they could... Eventually the books came, via Istanbul, to their home in Tel Aviv...
Read 10 tweets
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik Profile picture
Sep 17, 2021
The Mikve (Ritual Immersion Bath) at Bet Yisrael synagogue in İstanbul

Thread👇
It is customary for men to immerse in a Mikve before Yom Kippur - for lack of time on the eve of Yom Kippur - here is a little bit about Mikve's of Turkey...

When we visited Kilis on the #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip at Mehmet and Büşra's house we were told about the Mikve in the Hamam:
The 500 year old Eski Hamam served all inhabitants of Kilis - including the Jewish population, who used the Mikva, located in a dedicated room, in specific hours of the day...

See here about our #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip visit to Kilis:
Read 13 tweets
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik Profile picture
Aug 9, 2021
Night 15 of #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip:

Adıyaman

I usually share a day post, but meeting with Metropolitan Gregorios Melki ÜREK of Adıyaman and conversing with him in Aramaic, deserves a special thread...
Metropolitan Gregorios looks over a small, dwindling community in the Adıyaman area - a community that is native to this region, as he explains "We are Arameans, we are from this region, so we speak, write and read in Aramaic. This is our home".
The Metropolitan and I walked around the streets of Adıyaman, he wearing his usual bright red clerical clothing, me wearing my Kipah, and it seems that everyone knows him "we love the people" he says, and they sure reciprocate in kind...
Read 8 tweets
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik Profile picture
Aug 9, 2021
Day 15 of #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip:

Kayseri

Did you know that Kayseri, aka Mazaka,
the capital of the Kingdom of Cappadocia, was in antiquity home to a very significant Jewish community?
The Talmud, discussing the laws of mourning over great tragedies, writes that King "Shavor Malka" killed in Mezget Kayseri 12 thousand Jews! But never the less, Shmuel, one of the great sages and confidant of Shapur did not mourn upon hearing the news!
The Talmud goes on to explain that it is because "they brought it upon themselves!" - it wasn't a real 'tragedy' - because somehow they deserved it...
Read 6 tweets

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