The neighborhood and around

What is Yom Kippur like in Turkey? Well, I decided to find a
synagogue on the Asian side since going across the channel takes more than twice as long. I found one that was built in 1800s and tried to find it. Finally I asked one
of locals and they gave directions to a place that was not clearly
marked. There was a guy outside who asked me some questions, then
another guy came out and took my ID, asked more questions and then I
was searched after they were convinced that I was there for services.
You can understand the concerns here: my cousin's temple was bombed
twice over the past years; they all have solid doors and walls, a
couple of layers you go through, before you enter. Wow, it really
wakes one up! My cousin's synagogue on the European side suffered several attacks. September 6, 1986, which resulted in the death of 22 Turkish Jews, this attacked was blamed on the Palestinian militant Abu Nidal.
March 1, 1992, which was a bomb attack and left no casualties, this attack is suspected to have been carried out by the the Lebanon-based Shi'ite Muslim group of Hezbollah.
November 16, 2003, the Synagogue was hit by one of the four car bomb attacks in Istanbul. Even though a local Turkish militant group, the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front, claimed responsibility for the attacks, police claimed the bombings were "too sophisticated to have been carried out by that group", with a senior Israeli government source saying: "the attack must have been at least coordinated with international terror organizations. So one really realizes what part of the world you are living in and the daily concerns.
The services were all Sephardic orthodox and interesting to watch but difficult to follow; I'm glad I did it, being
in my 'homeland' and all.

A description of the synagogue follows:
Hemdat Israel Synagogue, set in the quiet residential area of Yeldegirmeni Mahallesi on Izzettin Sokak at Süngertasi Sokak, was first used for prayers on September 3, 1899.
In the late 19th century, inter-ethnic strife was becoming common in the sultan's domains as ethnic nationalism gripped the various peoples of the empire. The Jewish community suffered most from attacks by Greek Orthodox factions, one of which maneuvered to have a military unit sent from the Selimiye Barracks to halt construction of the synagogue. Sultan Abdulhamit II discovered this injustice and had it corrected. In his honor the synagogue was named Hemdat, "He who is compassionate (to Israel)," a play on the sultan's name "Hamid," which means "compassionate."
The interior of the synagogue is a large, harmonious space rich with arabesque painting and a marble ark, all lit by large crystal chandeliers. The arabesque painting was renewed in 1990-91. On the north side of the synagogue is a lovely garden.

Istanbul on 19 Sept

Visit to the Levy family

My grandfather, Ezra Levy was from Istanbul as was my grandmother Elisa Cohen. Ezra was one of 5 or 6 children and he had a sister Luisa who married someone name Karako. My cousin Nedim Karako is the grandson of Luisa who was the only contact that I was able to make so far. Some of the relatives have died, others have moved to Israel.

On last Saturday night, the first night of Rosh Hashanah, we went to Nedim's daughter's [Irem] home for a wonderful dinner with all of four generations of family. Nedim, Irem, Cem [his son], Nedim's wife Meral and her sister and brother in law and parents, one of whom is 91. Irem and David have two young children, Etan and Natali. There are some other Levy relatives in Istanbul that Nedim contacted, but they have yet to email or phone us. We will post several photos if we can figure that out.

Needless to say, when you have very little historical knowledge about your paternal family's background, this was wonderful. We exchanged photos, many from my mother that I can't identify in terms of the people from the 1930s.

The relatives live on the European side, partly up the Bosphorus strait near the water. We had to make a ferry across to the Asian side and meet the last bus back to Yeditepe Univ. where I am working until the end of October.

Here we are

THERE ARE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS FROM TURKEY ON MY FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
Istanbul feels like my home; it is my roots and I cherish this a lot. To be able to visit with many of my living relatives here has been special. The city is amazing; however being divided by something called the Bosphorus is problematic as it takes a minimum of one hour to get to the other side by public transport assuming every connection was just a few minutes. It's a bus and a boat every time and the buses here are full day or night, even the last run at 11.10PM each night.

The views here are amazing; this is truly the San Francisco of the Middle East.

English is spoken, but clearly not by everyone, particularly those people who are serving you.