ISTANBUL – Neve Shalom Synagogue is tucked into a nondescript side street in what was once Istanbul’s lively Jewish neighborhood. Its façade is barely noticeable, dotted with black-suited security guards speaking into earpieces as they survey the perimeter.
“They try to keep a low profile,” said a security coordinator.
The synagogue was the scene of a number of terror attacks – most recently in 2003, when car bombs exploded here and at another Istanbul synagogue, claiming 27 lives.
Foreigners must submit their passport, pass through a security detector and walk through a maze of vault-like corridors before entering an almost empty prayer hall, where men pray powerfully to fill the thick silence.
Lara Hillel, a 26-year-old Istanbul native, recalls that attending services as a young girl at Neve Shalom, the city’s largest synagogue, was “always full of children and joy.” But on Yom Kippur this year, no more than a few dozen mostly white-haired worshippers were expected.
“For the Jewish people there is no life in Istanbul, but also I feel very Turkish and I want to live here all my life if it’s possible,” says Hillel, who was one of only three women at services on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.
Her ancestors, like most of Turkey’s Jews, sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire after expulsion from Spain in 1492. For centuries Turkey was a safe haven for Sephardic Jews, who thrived as merchants and traders.
“I think 500 years ago Turkey was more modern,” she says.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-features/.premium-1.618888
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