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Portuguese Synagogue, Izmir, Turkey

Description

Jews in Smyrna:

The Jews have an ancient history in Smyrna (modern day Izmir). The New Testament refers to them in Revelations, indicating that a sizeable community must have existed in antiquity.¹ However, the Jewish populations of antiquity were driven away by Byzantine invasions, and it was not until the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th that the Jewish population in Smyrna began to rise in earnest.² At this moment, the city was gaining prominence for its mercantile economy. It attracted two distinct groups of Jews: those from Anatolia and other parts of the Ottoman Empire; and Spanish and Portuguese Jews who were fleeing the Iberian peninsula due to persecution and expulsion. It was the latter group that founded two of the earliest post-antiquity synagogues in Smyrna. The earliest of these was the Portuguese Synagogue.

Portugal Synagogue:

It is unknown what year the Portuguese Synagogue was constructed. It was one of six synagogues that existed in Smyrna as early as 1621, which would indicate an even earlier date of consecration. Some reports say that all the synagogues in Smyrna burnt down in a great fire in 1772.³ Others claim that the building did not burn to the ground until 1964.⁴ Whether it happened in 1772 or 1964, the destruction of the synagogue means it’s impossible to know exactly what the Portuguese Synagogue looked like, inside or outside. The building has since been reconstructed for use as a factory, though three walls and its original marble entrance arch still remain. Of the interior, there is almost no remaining evidence.⁵ 

What is known about the Portuguese Synagogue is that it stood through years of great tumult for the Jewish community in Smyrna. Both Iberian and Ottoman Jewish populations of Smyrna came fleeing bad conditions. The Jews who came there from the Iberian peninsula were taking great risks to avoid persecution. They were giving up their lives and livelihoods to avoid giving up their faiths. This religious passion may help to explain the abundance of Iberian synagogues in Smyrna. Meanwhile, the Jews who came to Smyrna from elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire were often fleeing blood-libel, persecution, and cramped conditions. They came to Smyrna to build new lives.⁶

Conflict in the Jewish community:

These two communities did not happily coexist. The Portuguese Synagogue is so-named because Iberian and Ottoman Jewish populations in Smyrna rarely shared the same house of worship. Schisms plagued the Jewish leadership of Smyrna. The conflict devolved so much that, at times, the position of chief rabbi was held jointly to ensure that both communities were adequately represented. This was the case in the late 1600s, wherein Hayyim Benveniste and Aaron Lapapa jointly held control of the Rabbinate.⁷ The Jews of Smyrna, like Jewish populations across the Middle East and North Africa, were staunchly faithful but fiercely divided.

Sabbatai Zvi:

It was at this moment that Sabbatai Zvi came to prominence. His roots were obscure. All that is known is that his father was a merchant who came to Smyrna in 1630. Zvi himself obtained a religious education, and was ordained as a rabbi at eighteen years old.⁸ Throughout the 1650s, he traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire, speaking of his visions which proclaimed him as the “savior of Israel”. By the 60s, news of Sabbatai Zvi had spread widely, reaching from London to Cyprus, and beyond.⁹ Zvi began making wilder and wilder proclamations, including proclaiming that the Sabbath would be moved from Saturday to Monday. Zvi’s following complied.

In Smyrna, the reaction was divided. Aaron Lapapa, the leader of the Portuguese congregation, was enraged by Zvi’s activities. But many of his congregants were Zvi’s followers, and conflict over Zvi further divided the community.¹⁰ Finally, in 1665, Hayyim Benveniste, Smyrna’s other chief Rabbi became a convert to “Sabbatianism”. Perhaps this conversion was a genuine act of faith, or perhaps he had ulterior motives. The result of Benveniste’s decision, however, was a schism that removed Aaron Lapapa from power, making Benveniste the sole chief rabbi of Smyrna.¹¹ At this point, Zvi’s movement had reached a fever pitch. Opposition to his movement in Smyrna had been temporarily quashed, and his followers were fully prepared to believe Zvi’s prophecies and ordinances. Zvi and his followers broke down the doors of the Portugal Synagogue, and there Zvi held court like a Sultan.¹² Smyrna was the center of a maelstrom that was engulfing the Jewish world.

But that world kept turning. It did not end in 1666 as Sabbatai Zvi predicted. Zvi was forced to convert to Islam, and many of his followers did the same. Some of his followers did not. Many had never followed him, and were happy to see him go. All these people probably still attended the same little Portugal Synagogue. Some dedicated Dönmeh would follow the teachings of Zvi long into the 18th century. But for the most part, the Sabbatian fever died out, and left behind the Jews of Smyrna – no more and no less divided than they had ever been before.

Izmir, Turkey

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