Jews, Turks, and Ottomans: A Shared History, Fifteenth Through the Twentieth Century

Modern Jewish History

by Avigdor Levy (Editor), Daniel J. Schroeter (Contributor)

This book focuses on central topics, such as the structure of the Jewish community, its organization and institutions and its relations with the state; the place Jews occupied in the Ottoman economy and their interactions with the general society; Jewish scholarship and its contribution to Ottoman and Turkish culture, science, and medicine. Written by leading scholars from Israel, Turkey, Europe, and the United States, these pieces present an unusually broad historical canvas that brings together different perspectives and viewpoints. The book is a major, original contribution to Jewish history as well as to Turkish, Balkan, and Middle East studies.

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

Reviews

[Stan Murai · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of the Jewish communities in the Ottoman deserves to be better known; for much of the period between fifteenth and twentieth centuries, they occupied an important social and political position. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they had a prominent role in developing the Ottoman administration and economy. Jews performed services as government advisers, ambassadors, tax farmers,
financial agents, scribes, international and inter-regional traders in a wide range of industries. They made significant contributions in science, medicine,technology, culture and entertainment. As the Ottoman state declined, they also knew periods of material and spiritual impoverishment, but what made their experience unique is that Jews were never singled out for persecution because of their religion. In fact, for much of this period they were regarded as a favored minority., and Jews tended to be loyal, patriotic subjects, appreciating the position they enjoyed in a plural, multi-ethnic Ottoman society, where moslems were actually a minority through much of this period. Notably, the men from the Jewish community served in the military in large numbers and Jewish civilians were trusted to be given arms to defend themselves against invading forces. This may possibly be because they were not affected by the aspirations for a national state unlike other ethnic groups. Also Zionism also had little appeal for the Jews of the Ottoman Empire. This book consists of a number of papers describing the role of Jews in the Ottoman Empire and the early days of the Turkish republic.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology of historical essays on small topics.

Usually, anthologies don't read as well as actual unified histories, since they lack cohesiveness, and have different authors, with different agendas, telling different stories in shared space. But this one works remarkably well. The editors have arranged the contributions, almost entirely, to thematically flow from one to the next. The skips were less awkward then I feared and the whole works on its own comprehensive terms.

There's a lot to cover over the 500 year history of ottoman Jews and this covers a lot of it. Admittedly, many portions deal only with representative samples (say, telling the story of one period in Damascus, or Alexandria, and only suggesting parallels to the experiences of communities in Izmir, Istanbul, or Salonica). I wish there was more on the communities of the Balkans, especially on how they fared as the empire receded and all those avowed ottomanists found themselves as hated minorities in lands left behind. But there's a lot of good stuff here, covering the gamut from Mehmed's offer of refuge to the New Turks work to save Jews from the Nazis.

Anyway, I recommend the book, even if I'm fairly sure that I'm more susceptible to attraction to the topic than the norm.

[Corine · Rating 1 out of 5]

such a fascinating subject. such a dull book