Sephardic Jews from Turkey and Former Ottoman Lands in the United States
By Selin Senol -
On March 4, 1992, Turkish Jews celebrated at the Neve Salom Synagogue in Istanbul the 500th anniversary of their ancestral acceptance in Ottoman Turkey under Sultan Beyazit II, after the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Sephardic Jews (who refused to convert to Christianity) by Spain in 1492. Hearing about the eviction, the Sultan issued a welcoming decree for the Jews, purportedly commenting that the Spanish King must have ‘lost his mind’ for expelling his ‘best’ and ‘wealthiest’ subjects.
- Published in Case Studies
- Written by Admin TOA