This is a photograph of the clothes worn by the Izmir Rabbi. It is located in the Beit Hillel (Avraham Palache) Synagogue of Izmir, which may mean that it belonged to one of the members of the Palache family who served as chief rabbi. The outfit consists of a black robe whose sleeves are trimmed with a wide, bright pink cuff. The yoke of the robe is also made of the bright pink fabric and has gold embroidery. A long, gold, double-strand necklace is hanging around the neck and carries a gold depiction of the two tablets with the Ten Commandments. The hat is edged in bright pink and has a black decoration on top.
The Beit Hillel synagogue of Izmir was founded in 1840 by the Palache family. Rabbi Avraham Palache founded the synagogue in his home and named it Beit Hillel, but it is known in the community as the Avraham Palache synagogue. The synagogue’s roof collapsed making the building unusable, but the city of Izmir is planning on restoring the building as a museum.
Would You Like to Know More?
Jews of Izmir – Izmir, the ancient city of Smyrna, is located in western Turkey, on the shores of the Aegean Sea. Jews have lived in Izmir since the second or third century CE. Larger numbers of Jews began to arrive in Izmir at the end of the sixteenth century when Izmir became an important Ottoman seaport. Many of the new residents of Izmir were descendants of Jews who had left Spain in 1492 and made their way east to the Ottoman Empire. The seventeenth century was a period of growth for the Jews of Izmir, and they began to establish new institutions such as synagogues and a chief rabbinate. In 1626, Shabbetai Zvi, later known as the false messiah, was born in Izmir. Many Jews in Izmir, including one chief rabbi, believed in Shabbetai Zvi, and during 1665, when Shabbetai Zvi resided in Izmir, the city became swept up in messianic enthusiasm. His conversion to Islam around 1666 shook the community, and the ensuing divisions took many years to resolve. Many Jews were involved in the commercial life of Izmir, which flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This period, however, was marked by natural disasters such as earthquakes and fires which destroyed synagogues and other buildings. New synagogues were later built, and the community began to recover. The twentieth century saw the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Greco-Turkish War, and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, all of which made life more difficult for the Jewish community. As large numbers of Jewish community left Izmir, Jewish institutions began to close. Currently there are fewer than 2000 Jews living in Izmir.
Jews in Turkey – The story of Jewish settlement in Turkey began in the fifth century BCE, and mentions of Turkish Jewish communities can be found in the writings of the first-century CE Jewish historian, Josephus. Archaeological evidence from the ancient city of Sardis shows that Jews lived there from the fourth century. With the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the situation of the Jewish community depended on the particular Sultan who was in power. The Jewish community during the Ottoman times comprised Romaniote Jews, the community from the Eastern Mediterranean, a Karaite community. In the fifteenth century, Rabbi Yitzhak Sarfati, a leader of the Turkish Jewish community, wrote a letter to European Jewry, urging them to move to Turkey as it better to live among Muslims than Christians. The next wave of Jews to arrive in Turkey were Sephardi Jews who had been expelled from Spain in 1492. The Muslims in Turkey were interested in the skills that the Jews brought, especially in the areas of commerce and printing, and treated them with tolerance. The increase in size, prosperity, and influence enjoyed by the Jewish community during the years 1300–1600 saw a decline in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as Greek influence grew. By the beginning of the twentieth century, almost 200,000 Jews lived in the Ottoman Empire. With the end of the Empire and the beginning of the nationalist, secular state of Turkey, the Jewish population of Turkey declined. During World War II, Turkey remained neutral and many Jews escaping Nazi Germany traveled through Turkey on their way to other countries. Some Turkish diplomats, working independently, saved Jews during the Holocaust. With the creation of the State of Israel, many Turkish Jews immigrated to Israel. Turkey recognized Israel in 1949, making it one of the first countries to do so, and by 1951 nearly 40% of the Turkish Jewish community had moved to Israel. In 2012, 17,400 Jews lived in Turkey, almost entirely Sephardi and most living in Istanbul. In recent years, the situation of the community has declined, and the Neve Shalom Synagogue of Istanbul has suffered three terrorist attacks. These changes are due, in particular, to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the deterioration of the diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey. There are 26 active synagogues in Istanbul today, a Jewish museum, an elementary and secondary school, various social organisations, and a Jewish newspaper.
