When we are alone with my wife, we sometimes talk in Judeo Espanyol, and sometimes in French. We talk either Turkish or Spanish with our friends, and Turkish with our daughter.
- Traditions 11756
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Major events (political and historical)
4256
- Armenian genocide 2
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- First World War (1914-1918) 216
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
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- 151 Hospital 1
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- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 25
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Holocaust
9685
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Communism
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- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 493
- Israel / Palestine 2190
- Zionism 847
- Jewish Organizations 1200
Displaying 41941 - 41970 of 50826 results
Jak Rutli
Today our communication with the Jewish community hass lessened. We are not members of any society or club, we cannot take part in any activity but we continue applying our religion as before. We try to go to the synagogue on holidays but it is now difficult for us to go from here.
We would talk about the subjects of Judaism and Israel among our friends. We talked a lot. For example, I do not allow talk against Israel, I react.
We did not have the opportunity to do aliyah there. I worked at Becker for 10 years. It was a big firm based in London. You know, Unilever, same firm, they are part of a group. Becker decided to import and to work as representatives, they will close the other departments and they left. They told me let’s place you in Unilever. I said I don’t want to be in an office, I want to be out in the market. I told the manager, you are leaving these firms, then put them in my name. We were 3 employees who left Becker, we opened an office and became the representatives of these firms. The ones I remember were British firms like Rank Taylor Hopson,Edwards High Vacuum, and Baird & Tatlock ltd. They were big firms. Becker did not work with little firms. If it wasn’t for this job maybe I would have gone to Israel. But I could not go after taking on this work.
But among our acquaintances, the older and younger brother of my wife left. My mother and older sister left.
But among our acquaintances, the older and younger brother of my wife left. My mother and older sister left.
We were delighted with the birth of the Israeli nation. There was our rabbi in Taksim.
Rabbi Saposnik. Saposnik was Austrian. He was a cantor in reality. When there was no loudspeaker in the synagogue in Yüksek Kaldirim, his voice reverberated there. Later on he changed to Israeli citizenship. When the first Israeli embassy opened in Taksim, I remember, the daughter of Saposnik, I don’t remember the name, had raised the flag. The Jews all congregated there. Later on the embassy moved.
Rabbi Saposnik. Saposnik was Austrian. He was a cantor in reality. When there was no loudspeaker in the synagogue in Yüksek Kaldirim, his voice reverberated there. Later on he changed to Israeli citizenship. When the first Israeli embassy opened in Taksim, I remember, the daughter of Saposnik, I don’t remember the name, had raised the flag. The Jews all congregated there. Later on the embassy moved.
We heard about the Thrace events [10] but I don’t remember much. The ones from Edirne know about it.
Also about the 20 military classes [9], at the time they took the men into the military, there were no young men left. The women had to go out to the streets and sell lemons and such in Kuledibi, in Şişhane, because there were no men. I went as a bakaya [new conscript who, because they were not present at their first muster, are charged with desertion] to the 20 military classes because I did not go when I should have. I did 3 years of military service. But I was comfortable. I was giving German lessons to the officer who I was an orderly for. Later my older brother came. He came the third time. He stayed for 7 months because he was old.
We were soldiers when the Wealth Tax [8] was implemented during wartime. They did not impose it on me but they did to my older brother, the one who married Mayer. We even went to the mayor, my older brother asked for time, he said let me finish my military service and then pay. They did not accept it. He had a big apartment in Beyoglu, on Sürterazi sokagı (street), Mayer Apartment. At the time it was registered for 350,000 in the registrar’s office. They sold it with foreclosure for 110,000. A wealth tax of 256,000 liras came. And they said, “thank your lucky stars that you are a soldier, otherwise you were going to go to the military”. That is how he was saved.
During World War II, a boat full of Jews came to Istanbul, they had run away from the Germans. They kept them here. The community intervened, as far as I can remember, they took them to Barinyurt [old people’s home], it was Goldschmith school then. And everyone went there to visit them. But they did not allow meeting them. There was the police. But I gave a sweater to a child.
I don’t know if this boat was the Struma [7] or another boat. Later they returned all of them to the boat, we heard later on that it went under while leaving Çanakkale. But was it Struma, or another boat, I cannot know.
I don’t know if this boat was the Struma [7] or another boat. Later they returned all of them to the boat, we heard later on that it went under while leaving Çanakkale. But was it Struma, or another boat, I cannot know.
I remember the first time we heard about what was being done to the Jews in Europe. Of course, now even today, I do not wish to see Germans because of this. The Germans took and killed 3 siblings of my father-in-law. One was in Lyon, the other in Marseille, and one more in Paris. They took all of them, sent them to camps, which camp I do not know. But one of them returned. He returned to France weighing 40 kilos (88 lb.s). They gave him food slowly, little by little, cookies and such, because the stomach became smaller. He also had a large number on his arm.
About the war, we were afraid in general during that period. Stalingrad comes to Russia and what will happen and so on. We were in Bandırma then, we built 3 plazas on the hill and 2 Jewish soldiers had a fight between themselves for whatever reason. One sergeant said the non-Muslims have rebelled. When we were getting up in the morning, all of a sudden, don’t move, we are surrounded, a load of soldiers have circled us with machine guns. Then they looked, nothing is happening, they retreated.
I was a soldier when the Holocaust was taking place in Europe, from 1941-1944. and Anatolia was in the dark. The lights would be out in Kayseri, in Malatya [two cities in the central section of Turkey called Anatolia], there was no electricity at night. We were 550 non-Muslims in the military, Greeks, Armenians and Jews, ten corporal sergeants and one officer. They gave us blue uniforms for the airport, then an order came, they removed the Armenians, they gave them brown uniforms, to build roads. We went from town to town and were discharged from Canakkale [the Dardanelles]. I did not encounter antisemitism during this time. There wasn’t any in Istanbul either.
There were no “donme”s [5] from Salonika among our friends and relatives, only an acquaintance where I worked was Karay [6], Levi. We worked together in Becker pharmacy. When Becker imported drugs, we needed a pharmacist to import the drugs, and that was Levi. I thought he was Spanish, but he was Karay. He spoke Spanish better than me. He later opened a pharmacy in Tophane. The Karays resemble our Sephardim, only they believe in the Torah, they do not believe in the additions of the rabbis. I learned Spanish from my wife and my friends.
, Türkiye
When I was little, I liked Passover the most because my mother cooked delicious dishes, our foods. There was Lorkes, Kugels, Matzo balls, Gefilte fish. Gefiltefish: You buy one big striped mullet and one mackerel. First you clean the scales, then you remove the skin especially from the mullet without tearing. Then you remove the bones of the fish and the flesh of the fish is ground with a meat cleaver. Then it is mixed with a sauce made from eggs, salt and pepper and refilled into the skin that was removed from the mullet and cooked. After it is cooked, it is sliced. The meat that does not fit into the skin is made into meatballs. My father used to love Passover a lot, he did not want it to end. He would say I wish it continued for another month.
We had the bar-mitzvah in the synagogue, at the Schneider Temple. There were no balls or such outside then, 80 years ago. I remember reading a lecture, one rabbi even gave me a book, a bar-mitzvah book and shoes as a gift. I don’t remember if we did anything at home.
When my father went to the synagogue sometimes I accompanied him. Again my father would pray on the day of the Sabbath at home with wine, and we would listen.
, Türkiye
Currently I still go to the synagogue on Rosh hashana, on Yom Kippur. There are now only about 100 families left as Ashkenazim.
I would go to the Ashkenazi synagogue in Yüksek Kaldirim when I was little. I used to go to Heyder (after school Hebrew classes) for two years, after school. They would give classes to prepare for bar-mitzvah every day in Yüksek Kaldirim. There was the rabbi Segal, there was Rav Shapira. Usually Yiddish was spoken, the reading was in Hebrew. We translated the Hebrew we read to Yiddish. When my father died, I went to temple every morning for 11 months. Kaddish is very important for us. When my father died, it wasn’t like it is now, a rug used to be placed on the floor and we would sit on the floor for 7 days, that is how it needed to be done for mourning. I was working then, there was a boss, Hamburger, he was Ashkenazi too, he was on a trip. I was alone in the office, I would sit on the floor. But 2-3 days later, I had to go and see if there was mail or telegraphs, so they put ashes but thin ashes into my shoes so I could not walk comfortably, I had to be sitting for seven days.
, Türkiye
Rebeka Evgin
I had two children named Sara and Sami. There is 18 months’ difference between them. They were two very cute kids. Sara’s grades were always very good. She first attended St. Pulcherie, and then Notre Dame de Sion [French Catholic schools]. She got engaged when she was a senior in highschool.
Our happiness was sealed with the birth of Sami. His circumcision was done in the French Hospital. Cake and lemonade, chocolates and mint liquor was offered at circumcisions then. I was resting in my bed with the nightgown that Sara the embroiderer had prepared. Sami’s bar-mitzvah lacked luster. Father and son went to the temple and put on tefillim, then there was a brunch. My son finished St. Benoit Highschool [French Catholic school]. He graduated from the electrical engineering department in the university. He worked in Netas, a big firm, for long years. He retired from that firm, now he continues in commerce.
Our happiness was sealed with the birth of Sami. His circumcision was done in the French Hospital. Cake and lemonade, chocolates and mint liquor was offered at circumcisions then. I was resting in my bed with the nightgown that Sara the embroiderer had prepared. Sami’s bar-mitzvah lacked luster. Father and son went to the temple and put on tefillim, then there was a brunch. My son finished St. Benoit Highschool [French Catholic school]. He graduated from the electrical engineering department in the university. He worked in Netas, a big firm, for long years. He retired from that firm, now he continues in commerce.
When we started this marriage, when I took the first step by getting engaged, I had a condition, we would move into my older sister’s house too when we got engaged.
A house with the back rooms overlooking Halic [the Golden Horn], linoleum floors and no bathroom. Husband and wife, my mother, myself and my fiance, we started living together. This time, a machine belonging to the workplace of my fiance came home. There were handkerchiefs that were sold in Anatolia then. You would sew the edges of those handkerchiefs. This stitch was called “bibila” [Judeo Spanish term]. Every day a roll of cut fabric would come and I would stitch the edges.
We were happy, we were truly very happy. 6 months after the engagement, we had the civil marriage, we were living in the same house with my fiance nonetheless, it seemed more proper to us to be civilly married. I still have no dowry. One morning my fiance got up and took me to the market. We bought black fabric for a coat, green fabric for a coat, black for a dress, green for a dress, blue silk fabric for a nightgown and a nightdress, bed jacket and a lot of other necessities. My fiance paid for all of it and he said to me “this is the payment for a year’s worth of work, you worked and you earned it and you bought it”.
I was really very happy. We gave my nightdresses and nightgown to Sara, the embroidery expert. Nightgowns and nightdresses were an important part of the dowry because brides greeted the family members coming to visit on Sabbath mornings with a nightdress, nightgown and bed jacket. We married in Sisli synagogue too. My wedding gown was rented from Eliya Pardo, too. The only difference with my older sister was that I left the house of a relative as the bride [according to tradition a bride cannot return to the house she left in a wedding gown, this is not considered lucky, if she is returning to her own home, she leaves another house as a bride]. We did not have the luxury of having an evening reception.
In this way, two sisters, we became sisters-in-law. According to Georgian traditions, a bride’s virginity is important. The mother of the girl waits through the night and without fail sees the bloodied sheets. She takes those sheets home, and offers stuffed grape leaves with yoghurt and sweets made with walnuts to the family [recipes at the end of the interview]. The mother-in-law is called, this is called “yuzgorumlulugu” [a present given by the bridegroom to his bride when he has unveiled her for the first time and seen her face]. Offering stuffed grape leaves with yoghurt means we delivered our daughter pure. Even though we lived in the same house with my fiance, and even though we had the civil marriage quite a while before the wedding, my mother waited at the door of the bedroom till the morning. And I gave her the sheets. She wanted to see it because we lived in the same house. She wanted to prove that even though we were married civilly, my husband and I did not have a sexual relationship before the wedding. My husband was so respectful that I don’t remember him holding my hand once while my mother was present.
A house with the back rooms overlooking Halic [the Golden Horn], linoleum floors and no bathroom. Husband and wife, my mother, myself and my fiance, we started living together. This time, a machine belonging to the workplace of my fiance came home. There were handkerchiefs that were sold in Anatolia then. You would sew the edges of those handkerchiefs. This stitch was called “bibila” [Judeo Spanish term]. Every day a roll of cut fabric would come and I would stitch the edges.
We were happy, we were truly very happy. 6 months after the engagement, we had the civil marriage, we were living in the same house with my fiance nonetheless, it seemed more proper to us to be civilly married. I still have no dowry. One morning my fiance got up and took me to the market. We bought black fabric for a coat, green fabric for a coat, black for a dress, green for a dress, blue silk fabric for a nightgown and a nightdress, bed jacket and a lot of other necessities. My fiance paid for all of it and he said to me “this is the payment for a year’s worth of work, you worked and you earned it and you bought it”.
I was really very happy. We gave my nightdresses and nightgown to Sara, the embroidery expert. Nightgowns and nightdresses were an important part of the dowry because brides greeted the family members coming to visit on Sabbath mornings with a nightdress, nightgown and bed jacket. We married in Sisli synagogue too. My wedding gown was rented from Eliya Pardo, too. The only difference with my older sister was that I left the house of a relative as the bride [according to tradition a bride cannot return to the house she left in a wedding gown, this is not considered lucky, if she is returning to her own home, she leaves another house as a bride]. We did not have the luxury of having an evening reception.
In this way, two sisters, we became sisters-in-law. According to Georgian traditions, a bride’s virginity is important. The mother of the girl waits through the night and without fail sees the bloodied sheets. She takes those sheets home, and offers stuffed grape leaves with yoghurt and sweets made with walnuts to the family [recipes at the end of the interview]. The mother-in-law is called, this is called “yuzgorumlulugu” [a present given by the bridegroom to his bride when he has unveiled her for the first time and seen her face]. Offering stuffed grape leaves with yoghurt means we delivered our daughter pure. Even though we lived in the same house with my fiance, and even though we had the civil marriage quite a while before the wedding, my mother waited at the door of the bedroom till the morning. And I gave her the sheets. She wanted to see it because we lived in the same house. She wanted to prove that even though we were married civilly, my husband and I did not have a sexual relationship before the wedding. My husband was so respectful that I don’t remember him holding my hand once while my mother was present.
My father did not live long after that. When he passed away, I was in middle school. My older sister Sara was in the institute. My stepbrother Avram Babaoglu took us under his wing and told us that it was imperative for us to come to Istanbul. The year is 1949, I am 14 years old, I left Adana with my mother and my older sister Sara, ending an era, and moving towards a new adventure. It was time for me to say goodbye to beautiful Adana where I spent my childhood years and my youth.
We boarded the train in Adana. It was midnight. My mother had thought of making big quantities of citrus, orange and pumpkin jams, and tomato and pepper sauces, and bring them to Istanbul. I settled on the window seat and watched the road in awe. First we came to Eskishehir [a city in central Anatolia]. My mother had prepared some stuff to eat. We took them out in the compartment. We put it between bread slices and ate. In the morning we arrived to Istanbul. It is December of 1949, there is knee-high snow on the ground, and it is snowing in big flakes, and I am seeing snow for the first time in my life. I am imagining Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace [touristic spots in Istanbul, the former being the residence of the sultans, and the latter the residence of the first president of Turkey, Ataturk] in my mind. I am very excited because I will get to see Istanbul.
Haydarpasa [The last station in Istanbul for all the trains coming from Anatolia. It is both a train station and a dock for boats. You can cross from the European side to the Asian side with the boats taking off from there. In this regard, Haydarpasa is where Istanbul’s heart beats. Both the dock and the station are like historical treasures] seemed big and magnificent to me. We disembarked from the train, and boarded a boat. I did not understand what the boat was. I thought we had arrived home. First we came to Karakoy [a neighborhood on the shores of the opening of the Bosphorus to Marmara sea], then we took a taxi and came home. It was the first time for me in a taxi then. Istanbul was empty then, there were no houses on its hills. There was no trace of the crowds of now.
We started living with my uncle but we absolutely need money. My uncle took me to Karakoy every day. I learned handywork there. After a while, my uncle started frowning upon my going to work. I was an attractive girl even though I was young. There could be people hitting on me during the commute from home to workplace, in those conditions. It wasn’t easily acceptable for a girl to go and come from work. Just like the mentality that the books I read would be detrimental to me, going to work was considered a potential to change my mindset.
This time, a machine was bought for the house. They bring the merchandise home every day, I sew it and send it back. They bring rolls of fabric home. They pick it up sewn in the evening. I had to help with the family budget. In the meantime I was dreaming of going to Israel. I was only 15 years old. I started corresponding with my older brother. I was torn between my mother, my older sister, and going to Israel, I was constantly crying. My uncle told me that my older brother was telling me to stay there in his letter. I was devastated, was my older brother giving up on me? While all these developments were happening, my brother-in-law’s brother Mordehay Murat asked for my hand. Mordehay Murat was a prospect approved by the family. For what it’s worth, the older brother had married my older sister Sara. I would get to preserve the family ties by agreeing to this marriage, and my mother was going to stay with us.
Mordehay Murat was a handsome young man. He was respectful. Even though later he seemed to be an authoritative father in his relations with his children, he doted on them. His philosphy in life was honesty and living with your principles. He paid a lot of importance to his children’s education. He wanted his son to obtain a career and his daughter to study in a foreign school no matter what. When we started this marriage, when I took the first step by getting engaged, I had a condition, we would move into my older sister’s house too when we got engaged.
We boarded the train in Adana. It was midnight. My mother had thought of making big quantities of citrus, orange and pumpkin jams, and tomato and pepper sauces, and bring them to Istanbul. I settled on the window seat and watched the road in awe. First we came to Eskishehir [a city in central Anatolia]. My mother had prepared some stuff to eat. We took them out in the compartment. We put it between bread slices and ate. In the morning we arrived to Istanbul. It is December of 1949, there is knee-high snow on the ground, and it is snowing in big flakes, and I am seeing snow for the first time in my life. I am imagining Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace [touristic spots in Istanbul, the former being the residence of the sultans, and the latter the residence of the first president of Turkey, Ataturk] in my mind. I am very excited because I will get to see Istanbul.
Haydarpasa [The last station in Istanbul for all the trains coming from Anatolia. It is both a train station and a dock for boats. You can cross from the European side to the Asian side with the boats taking off from there. In this regard, Haydarpasa is where Istanbul’s heart beats. Both the dock and the station are like historical treasures] seemed big and magnificent to me. We disembarked from the train, and boarded a boat. I did not understand what the boat was. I thought we had arrived home. First we came to Karakoy [a neighborhood on the shores of the opening of the Bosphorus to Marmara sea], then we took a taxi and came home. It was the first time for me in a taxi then. Istanbul was empty then, there were no houses on its hills. There was no trace of the crowds of now.
We started living with my uncle but we absolutely need money. My uncle took me to Karakoy every day. I learned handywork there. After a while, my uncle started frowning upon my going to work. I was an attractive girl even though I was young. There could be people hitting on me during the commute from home to workplace, in those conditions. It wasn’t easily acceptable for a girl to go and come from work. Just like the mentality that the books I read would be detrimental to me, going to work was considered a potential to change my mindset.
This time, a machine was bought for the house. They bring the merchandise home every day, I sew it and send it back. They bring rolls of fabric home. They pick it up sewn in the evening. I had to help with the family budget. In the meantime I was dreaming of going to Israel. I was only 15 years old. I started corresponding with my older brother. I was torn between my mother, my older sister, and going to Israel, I was constantly crying. My uncle told me that my older brother was telling me to stay there in his letter. I was devastated, was my older brother giving up on me? While all these developments were happening, my brother-in-law’s brother Mordehay Murat asked for my hand. Mordehay Murat was a prospect approved by the family. For what it’s worth, the older brother had married my older sister Sara. I would get to preserve the family ties by agreeing to this marriage, and my mother was going to stay with us.
Mordehay Murat was a handsome young man. He was respectful. Even though later he seemed to be an authoritative father in his relations with his children, he doted on them. His philosphy in life was honesty and living with your principles. He paid a lot of importance to his children’s education. He wanted his son to obtain a career and his daughter to study in a foreign school no matter what. When we started this marriage, when I took the first step by getting engaged, I had a condition, we would move into my older sister’s house too when we got engaged.
Adana Jews were not affected much by the policy of “Citizen, speak Turkish”. [9] Turkish was always spoken anyways. Even though we spoke in Georgian between ourselves from time to time, we always spoke Turkish on the street.
We were very happy when we heard about the establishment of Israel. We listened to the news on the radio. It was a happy event for us.
When the events of the Second World War broke out, we were all scared. Our friends in Adana took us under their wings, and said nothing would happen. My stepbrother who lived in Istanbul came to Adana to check on us. The rumor that there were even ovens being prepared in Istanbul [referring to the gas chambers used to kill Jews during World War II due to Hitler’s politics, mentioned by the Jews living around Balat] struck terror in our hearts. During those days, our elders who were policitically savvy said “Don’t be afraid, Ismet Pasha [8] is going to get out of this with the minimum amount of damage”. Truthfully, Turkish Jews were spared the horrors of the second World War with the attitude of Ismet Pasha.
My father was sick during the Wealth Tax. He was in bed. The only thing I remember was his bronze bedframe. And he was in no shape to pay the tax that was demanded of him. When the officers came, they registered that bronze bedframe among the furnishings that could be taken. My siblings were around 16-17 years old. They were doing odd jobs. They did not demand a high tax from my oldest brother. But the younger one suffered quite a bit. My oldest brother was working with a hardware store owner named Salamon Benyesh, and they took on this tax.
The younger one of my older brothers, Simon was a somewhat lazy young man, he was very smart but used to act lazy. He would fill small bags with lemon salt and sell them. He appeared like a merchant and got his share of the Wealth Tax. My older brother came home one evening, he looked quite worried. My mother gave money and underwear to my older brother Simon. When we heard from him the next day, he had crossed the border already. With the help of a prison guard on the road, he went to Damascus, and later to Israel. He attended the police academy in Israel, he improved himself, overcame his laziness like this; the officer education changed the course of his life.
The younger one of my older brothers, Simon was a somewhat lazy young man, he was very smart but used to act lazy. He would fill small bags with lemon salt and sell them. He appeared like a merchant and got his share of the Wealth Tax. My older brother came home one evening, he looked quite worried. My mother gave money and underwear to my older brother Simon. When we heard from him the next day, he had crossed the border already. With the help of a prison guard on the road, he went to Damascus, and later to Israel. He attended the police academy in Israel, he improved himself, overcame his laziness like this; the officer education changed the course of his life.
The Sephardic Jews and the Georgian Jews lived together in Adana. Georgian Jews were weaker culturally than Sephardic Jews. Georgian Jews spoke Georgian amongs themselves without fail. My father used to go to the synagogue on Saturday mornings. The synagogue was a rented house that had been converted to a synagogue anyways. There would be extensive work for the holiday of Passover. Coffee beans would be boiled, dried up and ground in a special way. Rice would be rinsed, dried, and filled in bags. Since there was no matzoh, bread would be baked with yeastless flour and salt, and that bread would be eaten throughout those 8 days. My mother would make orange marmelade at home and it would be offered to guests on silver trays along with water. There were no chocolate or other types of candy then. It was a tradition to offer sweets like this. During one Passover, one of our Muslim neighbors came to visit us. They did not grasp that they had to use a spoon to eat the jam my mother was offering this way. They started eating it from the bowl. After a few spoonfuls, they apologized saying they couldn’t finish the bowl. This practice is quite special.
My uncle would translate the Passover Hagadah into Georgian after reading it, so that the children could understand it. The Hagadah was in Hebrew. My uncle would translate the Hagadah that was in Hebrew instantly, to enable us to understand. In this way, we comprehended Passover. White candy [made with sugar. Mastic, oranges, milkfat, almonds could be added to it. This candy that needs to be mixed with a wooden spoon after bringing to a boil, is quite difficult to make], charoset, and homemade wine were specialities of Passover. On the second night of Passover, we would drink a special soup with rice [recipe at the end of the interview].
We would not eat the dried fruit distributed during Purim right away. We would put those dried fruit under our pillows, and sleep like that till the morning. There was poverty and shortages. This dried fruit that was offered to us, seemed like a blessing. From a child’s perspective, we ate them slowly so we would not run out. We even put them under our pillows to protect them. There wasn’t the abundance of today. Those bags were like blessings for us. Candy, dried fruit were not stuff that was bought usually. My mother would rinse the seeds of a watermelon, salt them, dry them up in the sun, and then bake them, and we would munch on them with a lot of pleasure. In Adana, where holidays were celebrated in the true sense of holidays, relationships between friends were as strong as family.
There was no synagogue in Adana, a house had been converted into a synagogue. This was a rental house. And a lot of effort had been put into converting it into a synagogue. This house did not belong to a Jew. Jews were not able to own a lot of real estate then. A lot of them were foreign nationals anyways, and legally foreigners could not own real estate. The community was connected to each other in Adana. The president was Gaston Mizrahi. Gaston Mizrahi had spent a lot of effort to convert this house into a synagogue. And they would invite us to their home on Passover evenings. The Mizrahi family was a wealthy family. They had an optical business. The Mizrahi family had four sons named Isak, Moiz, Albert and Metin. These children also worked for the Jewish community in Adana.
My uncle would translate the Passover Hagadah into Georgian after reading it, so that the children could understand it. The Hagadah was in Hebrew. My uncle would translate the Hagadah that was in Hebrew instantly, to enable us to understand. In this way, we comprehended Passover. White candy [made with sugar. Mastic, oranges, milkfat, almonds could be added to it. This candy that needs to be mixed with a wooden spoon after bringing to a boil, is quite difficult to make], charoset, and homemade wine were specialities of Passover. On the second night of Passover, we would drink a special soup with rice [recipe at the end of the interview].
We would not eat the dried fruit distributed during Purim right away. We would put those dried fruit under our pillows, and sleep like that till the morning. There was poverty and shortages. This dried fruit that was offered to us, seemed like a blessing. From a child’s perspective, we ate them slowly so we would not run out. We even put them under our pillows to protect them. There wasn’t the abundance of today. Those bags were like blessings for us. Candy, dried fruit were not stuff that was bought usually. My mother would rinse the seeds of a watermelon, salt them, dry them up in the sun, and then bake them, and we would munch on them with a lot of pleasure. In Adana, where holidays were celebrated in the true sense of holidays, relationships between friends were as strong as family.
There was no synagogue in Adana, a house had been converted into a synagogue. This was a rental house. And a lot of effort had been put into converting it into a synagogue. This house did not belong to a Jew. Jews were not able to own a lot of real estate then. A lot of them were foreign nationals anyways, and legally foreigners could not own real estate. The community was connected to each other in Adana. The president was Gaston Mizrahi. Gaston Mizrahi had spent a lot of effort to convert this house into a synagogue. And they would invite us to their home on Passover evenings. The Mizrahi family was a wealthy family. They had an optical business. The Mizrahi family had four sons named Isak, Moiz, Albert and Metin. These children also worked for the Jewish community in Adana.
In 1956, the Seyhan Dam was opened on the Seyhan river. Life in Adana was revived by the opening of the dam. I remember the opening ceremony of the dam very well. Foreign guests had arrived. And they had put on a ceremony with a lot of hoopla. We used to go on picnics next to the dam. We would prepare everything at home because the rules of kashrut were meticulously observed. Outings to the dam were an important type of entertainment for the people of Adana. Miryam Zade’s spouse liked me a lot, they would take me everywhere they went. There were public houses [It was an organization operated by the Education Ministry and the municipalities to ensure the wide acceptance of Ataturk’s principles and revolutions. Its goal was to organize cultural events, and to elevate the public’s cultural level], Turkish style casinos [restaurants with Turkish style music played]. They would take me to such places.
There were no opportunities to swim in Adana. Adana is not a city bordering the sea. You could only swim in the Seyhan river. But you had to know how to swim very well to be able to go into the river in the environment we were in. Frankly, swimming in the river was not looked upon in a positive manner. To swim in the sea, we would go to Mersin [A city bordering the Mediterranean. It is famous for its citrus groves] in the summer months.
One day I was at a friend’s house. My friend took me to a room. The room was full of sesame seeds. She said that her father sold sesame seeds. A room full of sesame seeds, it was a sight I had never seen before. When I was finishing elementary school, we had a teacher named Mr. Ata. I loved him a lot. When I was going to take my final (for a while, in order to graduate from elementary school, you had to take the final for each subject separately. The teachers would evaluate the students and give the diploma accordingly), Mr. Ata said to the other teachers: “Rebeka has a very pretty voice. Let’s have her sing us a song”. I was very embarrassed, my grades were very good. I was not afraid at all, but I turned red. I sang the folk song “Do birds land on the telegraph wires” (it is a very famous folk song). All the teachers clapped and they did not ask me another question. My involvement with music did not go further than being a good listener. If I had grown up in Istanbul, rather than in the conditions of Adana, I would definitely be a student of conservatory.
Yet I could not find the same tolerance level from every teacher as I found with Mr. Ata who loved me, at the finals for elementary school. One of our teachers often asked this question: “Tell me Rebeka, how many churches and temples are there in Adana?”. And I always blushed even though I was not embarrassed while answering this question that was asked so unabashedly. “There is one church in Adana. There is one synagogue in Adana, my teacher”. She would be content with the answer, and ask me the same question a couple of days later as if there would be some new development. The children on the other hand would ask a question like “how many feet does the cat have?” I have not grasped the meaning or the answer to this question even today. I was only able to attend elementary school in Adana. I was not able to continue my education after we came to Istanbul. If it were possible, I would have liked to attend the conservatory. I would have liked to develop my musical talents.
Yet I could not find the same tolerance level from every teacher as I found with Mr. Ata who loved me, at the finals for elementary school. One of our teachers often asked this question: “Tell me Rebeka, how many churches and temples are there in Adana?”. And I always blushed even though I was not embarrassed while answering this question that was asked so unabashedly. “There is one church in Adana. There is one synagogue in Adana, my teacher”. She would be content with the answer, and ask me the same question a couple of days later as if there would be some new development. The children on the other hand would ask a question like “how many feet does the cat have?” I have not grasped the meaning or the answer to this question even today. I was only able to attend elementary school in Adana. I was not able to continue my education after we came to Istanbul. If it were possible, I would have liked to attend the conservatory. I would have liked to develop my musical talents.
My school years were colorful. All the holidays were celebrated in our school. We would wear black uniforms with white collars, and take part in parades. We would get in line according to height. Turkish Independence day on October 29th [7], National Independence Day and Children’s Day on April 23rd (The anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Parliament by Ataturk. Ataturk gifted this holiday to the kids, and created the first children’s day in the world in this way) would be celebrated with exuberance. The love of Ataturk had been instilled in all of us. We had very innocent relationships with our friends. We would go to each other’s houses. We would kiss the hands of our elders and our teachers on religious holidays.