We just enjoyed a wonderful entry and a few special experiences with the Izmir jewish community which has its own unique traditions (different even than Istanbul). They know of some Jewish settlement in the area (Izmir used to be called Smyrna) going back over 2000 years though the community was likely small until after the inquisition, really growing in the 17th century. We were told that the Ottomans even sent boats to try to rescue Jews being expelled from Spain but Spain wasn’t interested in allowing the Ottoman ships. One of the bimas of one of the synagogues is in the shape of the front on a ship recalling their arrival by ship to Izmir
Izmir at one point had 50 synagogues and we saw a street called the street of the synagogues with about ten synagogues on that street – some of which have been destroyed or are under repair. We were told the community used to be 50,000 Jews but us now only 1000 Jews and they rotate where they hold services to keep as many synagogues active as possible. The city has a Chazan but no rabbi with the Izmir rabbi having moved to Istanbul a number of years ago and was brought in for our wedding.
One interesting thing at many of the shuls we saw today is instead of seats, they had benches around the room facing each other with a bima in the middle. There were also special Eliyahu hanavi chairs for the Brit Milah. We saw women’s sections high up in balconies behind additional screens. Though they’re no longer in use and the women just sit in a separate section on the main level now that the shuls are not full.
It turns out that much of the wealthier parts of the Izmir jewish community vacation in the adjoining beach towns of cesme, Alacati and Ilinca for the summer and they even have a pop up shul that meets over the summer. The beach towns are an hour from Izmir and have a winter population of 25,000 and a summer population of one million.
I had a chance to go to pop up Shul for Shabbat services and a Shabbat hatan (special blessing of the groom). It’s a traditional sefardic davening and different people take turns leading tefilot, with everything done out loud. After each Aliya, the person having the Aliya had a chance to ask for special personalized blessings for different people (healing, joy to the bride and groom, well being for others). They also did a ceremony for the groom called avraham seer (which they didn’t explain nor was it in the Siddur so it was a bit hard to follow). The Siddur they used is from Istanbul so there are places they do things in a different order to reflect the Izmir tradition. The jewish community definitely tries to keep a low profile with no one wearing a kippah in public.
And for all readers who want to know about the food – we had a great Shabbat dinner in the bride’s parents backyard with fabulous sefardic traditional dishes including burek (burekas), stuffed peppers, rice with almonds, salads and fish. They had brought in a kosher caterer from Istanbul (who had driven the six hours at 5 am that morning) and special marzipan dessert which is a special Izmir jewish wedding food symbolizing sweetness and flexibility. And at the end of the wedding ceremony, marzipan in the shape of birds and birds nests were broken oven the head of the bride and groom by their female relatives and given to the guests to eat. More wedding details, from our most gorgeous and joyous wedding, can be found in Alexandra’s post about the wedding.
Two shuls in Izmir including the ship shaped bima