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Kemeraltı Market, Izmir, Turkey

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Kemeraltı Market

While there has been a Jewish community in Izmir for over two millennia, the population exploded in the 16th century, after the expulsion of Spanish Jews.² It was during this time that the Kemeraltı market became the de facto Jewish quarter of Izmir, home to communities of Spanish, Portuguese, Eastern European, and Greek Jews.³ Many of these Spanish and Portuguese Jews arrived in Izmir from other places across the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and Italy, where they had initially fled to from the Inquisition.⁴ The majority of the Jewish population living in the Kemeraltı area worked as artisans and traders, selling their work in the narrow streets of the market area.⁵
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Jewish families began leaving the Kemeraltı district for more fashionable areas, such as Alsancak, a more centrally located neighborhood, as well as leaving Izmir all together for Greece, France, Israel, and the United States.⁶ Today, Izmir’s Jewish population at 2400 is the second largest in Turkey, but according to community leaders, is dwindling fast as young adults are leaving in larger and larger numbers.⁷ Despite this, the Kemeraltı market is still home to a number of Jewish artisans, including the Levi brothers, Yehyu and Dogan who have worked as jewlers for their entire lives, and nine synagogues in various degrees of repair.⁸

Kemeraltı’s Synagogues

The former Jewish quarter remains the center of religious life for Jews in Izmir. Hidden behind shops and empty buildings are nine synagogues, some of whom are still open for prayer today.⁹ These synagogues are a testament to the long history of Jewish life in Kemeraltı, and reflect the multi-ethnic community that has found a home here.
Among the nine synagogues, five have been destroyed by various disasters, including the multiple fires that claimed many buildings in this historic district.¹⁰ One of these, Beit Hillel Synagogue, has been the focus of various restoration efforts in the last decade, and is in the process of being transformed into a museum.¹¹ However, the other four are in states of almost complete destruction, except Etz Hayim, which is presumed to be the oldest still-standing synagogue in Izmir, predating the arrival of the Sephardim and is still standing, with restoration plans on hold indefinitely.¹² The three remaining synagogues are Los Foresteros Synagogue, whose name means “foreigners”, indicating that it was perhaps home to an immigrant community who arrived after the first waves of Sephardic Jews; the Portugual Synagogue, which was the center of a messianic movement that swept the Jewish world in the seventeenth century; and the Hevra Synagogue, which was considered one of the most beautiful synagogues in Izmir before it fell into disrepair.¹³
The four open synagogues are all open for Saturday morning services, and the Señora (also Seniyora) Synagogue is open to visitors all week long.¹⁴ These synagogues have some unique features, such as the teba (bimah) in Shalom Synagogue that is designed to look like the bow of a ship, symbolizing the journey the Sephardim took from Spain to safety in Turkey [2], the basement of the Bikur Holim Synagogue, that served as both a hospital and a prison during its long history, and the lack of a women’s balcony in Algazi Synagogue, which was removed, according to local stories, after a cantor winked at a woman during a Yom Kippur service.¹⁵
Despite the exodus of Jews from the Kemeraltı market neighborhood, every Saturday, many families make the journey to attend services in one of the remaining synagogues along the narrow streets.¹⁶ After the closure of Jewish schools, hospitals, and clubs, these synagogues in the old Jewish quarter, as well as the few others scattered around the city, are the last remaining Jewish community structures in Izmir.¹⁷

Izmir, Turkey

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