Sephardi Jews

By George Gilson

When 44-year-old Leon Saltiel was growing up in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest, the Jewish community, which once constituted the majority group, remained introverted and did not talk about their Jewishness, even 40 years after the city's Jews were deported and 95 percent of them were exterminated in Auschwitz.

By George Gilson

When 44-year-old Leon Saltiel was growing up in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest, the Jewish community, which once constituted the majority group, remained introverted and did not talk about their Jewishness, even 40 years after the city's Jews were deported and 95 percent of them were exterminated in Auschwitz.

After nearly four decades, Jews in Turkey came together at the Ankara Synagogue to "revive their memories."

Isaak Haleva, the chief rabbi of Turkey's Jews, as well as several members of the Jewish community, joined the event in the capital Ankara.

In a speech on the occasion, Haleva said the preservation of synagogues is important for his community in Turkey.

Some 2,000 Turkish Jews have applied for Portuguese citizenship after Portugal's government decided to grant nationality through naturalization to the descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Portugal and Spain in the 15th century, Portuguese Ambassador to Ankara Paula Leal da Silva has said.

"Liparidas!"… Remembering the word, her face instantly lights up with joy. She travels back to her childhood in Ortaköy, a neighborhood once densely populated by Jews in Istanbul. One could apparently see that she feels the taste, too. This is one of the highlights of the delightful documentary by Deniz Alphan shown at the special screening section of the 36th Istanbul Film Festival this year.

The Athens Concert Hall presents the Academy of St Martin in the Fields led by Murray Perahia on Sunday, December 4. The British ensemble will perform Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Op 62, Piano Concerto No 2, Op 19, and Piano Concerto No 4, Op 58. Starts at 8.30 p.m. Admission ranges from 16 to 60 euros.

The Jewish Museum of Greece is in a pretty, salmon-colored neoclassical building with gray shutters on Nikis Street, which links Syntagma Square and Plaka in central Athens. I had passed it many times without entering. I finally did so to see the exhibition "FORM/Less" by young artist Maria Fragoudaki. "I was invited by Saranna Biel-Cohen, an American curator who works with the museum.

A band plays lively music on İzmir's Kıbrıs Şehitleri Street, a smaller version of Istanbul's İstiklal, in front of the Alsancak Bakery.

Ladino music interpreter Yasmin Levy will be once again in Istanbul for a performance as part of the Good Music in Town Concerts series organized by IEG Live and Piu Entertainment on May 5 at Zorlu Center PSM. 

An updated and modernized version of the Museum of Turkish Jews has opened at the Neve ?alom Synagogue in IstanbulThe Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews has opened at Istanbul's Neve ?alom Synagogue with updated content that makes the most of state-of-the-art technology.