Tag #127364 - Interview #98039 (Izak Sarhon)

I cannot tell you about the population at the time, but Ortaköy was quite crowded.  There were a lot of Jews living there, too.  There was a “normal” [with all the necessary institutions] Jewish community there.  There were two “shohet” [shochet] s in my family.  I remember that all sorts of meat we ate had to have been slaughtered by the “shohetim” [shochetim].  The community also had a “mikve” [mikveh], Talmud Tora [talmud torah], Yeshiva [yeshivah], etc...  We had everything.

The Jews lived in various places in Ortakoy, not in a specific area only.  Jewish areas were according to “district” only in Istanbul.  For example,  Galata, Balat, Haskoy, Kuzguncuk and Ortakoy of course.

The Jews who lived in Ortakoy all had different jobs.  There were careers of every kind: bankers, grocers, greengrocers, all sorts...