Jewish community of Izmir

The Jewish community of Izmir (Smyrna) was one of the most important Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire. Jews from Salonika, Constantinople, and neighboring towns moved to Izmir because from the beginning of the 17th century it was a flourishing center of Mediterranean commerce. The local Jewish population included prosperous merchants and prominent rabbis. Many of Izmir's Jews were engaged in the manufacture of wool from goats' fleece. The leadership of the community consisted of two main bodies: the Beth Din who acted as a legal court and the Community Council that was responsible for the administrative functions of the community, including collection the taxes. In the second half of the 19th century, the community adopted more democratic methods of governance that lead to the introduction of some limits to the authority of the chief rabbi. At the end of the 19th century a general decline of Izmir Jewry set in and many of the Jewish residents moved to Greece, France and the United States. After World War I Jews emigrated to South America, and between 1948 and 1950 many emigrated to Israel. The collection contains materials from late 18th century to 20th century. There are records related to the legal status of the Jews as a minority and documents concerning the community's relations with the authorities, including correspondence with the authorities. The collection contains numerous materials regarding organization and management of the community: reports on the situation of the community; documents regarding elections to the community’s committee; minutes of meetings of the community’s committee; correspondence of the committee within Izmir, with foreign consulates and with other Jewish communities in Turkey and the world; documents regarding the financial conditions of the community; and records concerning real estate and construction. An important part of the collection is materials related to the Jewish religious life in Izmir including correspondence on providing matzah, approval for brit milah (1928-1929), ledgers of Aliyot to the Torah, letters and Pinkassim (Jewish minute books) of the Beth Din from the 19th-20th centuries. There are documents of vital data of the Jewish residents, materials on Jewish education, cultural life and welfare system of the community including providing of medical care. The collection also holds documents of Jewish organizations (Bnei Brit, Association of fabrics’ merchants), and various documents and letters belonging to the Ashkenazi family -- Read more