Foreword
Ottomans, Turks and the Jewish Polity:
A History of the Jews of Turkey
Daniel J. Elazar
The question of the place of the Sephardim in Israel is one of
the two great domestic social questions which regularly gain
public attention in the Jewish State and abroad, along with the
religious issue. One consequence of that public interest is the
generation of considerable comment not grounded in solid
knowledge or research. Much of that comment is based upon sheer
misinformation, yet it has become part of the conventional
wisdom, to the detriment of all. A proper resolution of the
Sephardic-Ashkenazic issue, like others, requires proper
understanding of it and its components.
When the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs came into existence,
it inherited an interest in this issue which had led this writer
to study and publish in the area, beginning in the 1960s. hence
it was natural for the Jerusalem Center to establish a program
within its framework dealing with Ashkenazim and Sephardim. That
program includes several dimensions, both academic and applied.
Walter Weiker's study of the Jews from Turkey in Israel is part
of its academic effort to bring greater understanding to public
consideration of the issue.
Dr. Weiker has made a signal contribution in developing an
understanding of the middle group in Israeli society, between
European Ashkenazim and North African Sephardim, in which the
Jews from Turkey are among the most prominent. In this volume he
studies the Jewish immigrants from that country in their Israeli
setting, in depth. What emerges is a picture of a group which is
the utter opposite of virtually every stereotype about Sephardim
that has become part of the conventional wisdom. It is a
population that has established itself well in Israel and ranges
across the entire socioeconomic spectrum, albeit concentrated in
the middle. It does not engage in political protest or indeed is
much involved in political activity. It is a population moving
along with the Israeli mainstream in almost every respect; yet
also one that maintains close connections with Turkey, a country
which they left not so much under duress as because of their
shared religio-Zionist vision. As Weiker says, "I am not aware
of another community which seems to combine so many of the
[characteristics] which we might call 'positive.'" He concludes
that the Jews "from Turkey have been among the 'best' at
integrating and adjusting."
The Jews from Turkey are unique in another way. they are the
only group that has come to Israel from within Israel's own
region that was not part of the "exchange of populations" with
the Arab states, but from a country to which Jews can return to
visit or to live. Hence connections between those who have
emigrated and those who have stayed are easily maintained at
short distance. This, too, has influenced their development in
Israel.
This book may profitably be read in conjunction with the Center's
previous study of The Balkan Jewish Communities: Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, especially the
chapter by Adina Weiss Liberles on "The Jewish Community of
Turkey." For the larger context, see this writer's The Other Jews: The Sephardim
Today, a comprehensive overview of the position of the Sephardim
in Israel and the diaspora. We at the Jerusalem Center are
pleased to add this book to our growing list of publications on
Sephardic Jewry.
