Tag #127220 - Interview #97664 (Yasef Romano)

There is a synagogue in Edirne, it is demolished, I told the Grand Rabbinate, I am the only Jew left in Edirne, I am not able to do much of anything.  I gave the mayor’s office an ultimatum and I said you cannot touch this place as long as I am alive.  This is my legal right.  I told the Rabbinate in order to save it.  We cannot do it, they said.  This temple is a historical building.  Then I found a friend of mine who is a dean in the university.  The dean says o.k., we went and talked to the foundations, we turned it over to the university, I will do it, he said.  But the dean got scared, when there are so many  mosques, if they say the university is doing this, it would reflect negatively on me.  But let’s say the repair costs 100 liras, I will provide 99 liras, have your community pay the other one lira.  Let’s say the university and Jewish community are working hand in hand.  It might work if they say this is how it happened.  I went ahead and brought the great dean to Istanbul. The Grand Rabbi was Asseo then.  Of course he did not participate in the meetings, he had lawyers. The dean explains, I will have this synagogue built for Yasef’s sake, he says.  Do you know what the people there  answered?  “Do not ask for money from us, use our opinions and advice”.  The dean said, this, I have, I have the money too, I can build one hundred percent of it, but public opinion is important.  An event was done in Istanbul for the synagogue.  To fundraise, the people in Edirne came by buses, so money could be collected and used. But when nothing came from the community, it didn’t happen. In the end the building collapsed. I can never forget the day that building collapsed, how I was distressed.  In our community they only ask for money. No one took charge. They could have asked for a little support from outside.  So that at least the synagogue could stand erect.