18.01.2011                     13.Shevat, 5771

Feature:

Where a good Jew is an anti-Zionist Jew

In 1927, Turkey's Jewish community numbered 81,872. Eighty years later it had dwindled to somewhere between a quarter and a fifth of that number. It’s not hard to see why.

Turkey’s Jewish community is one of the few remaining Diaspora communities in a country with a Muslim majority. For any researcher or journalist seeking information about this community and its current state, two of the most important accessible sources are the community’s sole remaining paper, the weekly Salom, and the community’s lay and religious leadership.
If such a person were to peruse Salom for the cultural activities held by the community’s various organizations and speak with the lay leaders and the Chief Rabbinate, the impression he would receive is that, despite its relatively small numbers, Turkey’s Jewish community is extremely dynamic and has even been undergoing a certain cultural renaissance in recent years….