Rabbi Mendy Chitrik Profile picture
Dec 14, 2021 27 tweets 11 min read Read on X
"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.
The they often quarreled:

Sefaradi Jews were learned and plenty; after all, the more religiously devoted and learned, the more desperate you were to leave the Iberian Peninsula to the Ottoman Empire where Judaism can be openly practiced.

The Ashkenazim and Romaniot were weaker.
Romaniot Jews, whose rabbis while maintaining distinct customs, were untill then often educated in Ashkenazi Yeshivas, have mostly integrated with the Sefaradim.

The Ashkenazim remained distinct - in no small part due to constant influx of Ashkenazi refugees from Europe.
European Jews on way to the Holy Land often stayed for years in Istanbul leaving their mark on the Ashkenazi Jewish community...

One famous example is one of my forefathers, Rabbi Naftali Katz, who died in Ortaköy in 1713. His grave still attracts thousands of visitors a year.
Others stayed for shorter periods of time, such as the Rebbe of Gur visit on 1934, reported in @cumhuriyetgzt and Pictured here next to his son, the Rebbe Simcha Bunem and then Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazi community Dr. David Markus...
Another famous Rebbe, Reb Baruch Rabinowitz of Munkacz, found refuge in Istanbul in 1944 as he ran away from Nazi controlled Budapest... His wife, daughter of the famed Minchas Elazar, gave birth and a record was left...
I already discussed previously on the #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip the Ashkenazi Rabbi Yitzhak Hakohen Rapaport who served as the Hahambaşı of Izmir...

There was also an Ashkenazi synagogue in Izmir, here in the stamp... (one day I'll post the fascinating story of this book...)
Back to Istanbul:

The Ashkenazi community today is quite small compare to the more numerous Sefardi community - thank God, we are all part of a united @tyahuditoplumu community which is an example to others...

The synagogue, which holds prayers on a daily basis is beautiful...
Holocaust memorial is held in our synagogue every second year... Here with Chief Rabbi Haleva of @tyahuditoplumu and world renowned cantor @cantorsi...
Our daughter Sarah practicing Oifen Pripetchik before the memorial...
The synagogue once hosted a @Chabad conference of Shluchim from around the world...
It was built, on ruins of an older Ashkenazi synagogue, by Austrian Jews and dedicated to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Jozef...
The Ashkenazi community of today was once called the 'United Ashkenazi Community' as it was a combination of fragmented Ashkenazi community, the Turk Ashkenazi Community and the Austro-Hungarian Ashkenazi community... It was united under the leadership of Rav Dr. David Markus...
Born in Poland, Rav Markus was a charismatic man who also established the Jewish school, which later became the Ulus Musevi Okulları, where my kids learn... He died in 1944 and was buried at the Ashkenazi cemetery...
Cantor Gershon Schaposchnik was the cantor of the synagogue for many years, his compositions are used by many cantors around the world...
There is so much more to say... And mayne I'll add to this thread later on... Meanwhile, I'll end with some pictures of the stunning synagogue...
Although tucked between shops in a the bustling Galata area - it is still a rare treasure of Istanbul...
This is an embroidered Parohet (curtain hanging in front of Arc)...
Not sure why there is a train on it... Maybe to symbolize the plight from Pogroms?
Other details are hard to capture, as this 117 year old Parohet is behind glass...
Architect was...
Really got to pick up your eyes to find it...
At a wedding the Ashkenazi Synagogue...

(Ashkenazi wedding rituals vary from Sefardi... Here you can see an Ashkenazi wedding held at the Neve Salom synagogue: )
And of course, Bar Mitzvahs - here is a short clip of @EliChitrik's Bar Mitzvah...

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More from @mchitrik

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
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
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
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
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
Aug 8, 2021
Day 14 of #TurkeyJewishRoadtrip:

Cappadocia...

Did you know that the Jews of #Cappadocia have an ever lasting impression on every Jewish home celebrating #Shabbat?

Rosh Hodesh Tov 😂

(enjoy the beautiful scenery while you read...) Image
You see, some Jewish communities of Anatolia left their mark etched in stone. Some left significant buildings, cemeteries, books (we will talk about that too), but some were so significant that the Talmudic scholars have enhanced Jewish law to accommodate their specific needs! Image
After the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70 CE, the great rabbis gathered in the city of Yavne, and collaborated in adopting Jewish law to a new situation, Judaism without a central Temple... Image
Read 17 tweets

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