{"id":1267,"date":"2017-02-21T23:30:39","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T23:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjhblog.cjh.org\/index.php\/2017\/02\/21\/what-was-the-relationship-between-turkish-and\/"},"modified":"2017-02-21T23:30:39","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T23:30:39","slug":"what-was-the-relationship-between-turkish-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/2017\/02\/21\/what-was-the-relationship-between-turkish-and\/","title":{"rendered":"What was the Relationship between Turkish and Rhodesli Sephardim on the West Coast?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/font>This is my third blog
\npost in a series of three posts in which I discuss the theme of Sephardim in
\nthe West Coast in the 19th-20th century. In this post, I compare and contrast
\nthe relationship between Turkish and Rhodesli Sephardim in two cities: Seattle
\nand Los Angeles. In previous posts, I examined different aspects of Sephardim
\nin San Francisco. However, the issue faced in this blog post was not relevant
\nto San Francisco Sephardim during this time period. Most of them had been
\nliving in America for generations, so they had stronger ties to the US than to
\nany country that their families originated in. <\/p>\n

<\/font>\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>Seattle:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>Intermarriage between
\nthe Turkish and Rhodesli Sephardim was frowned upon by many people because of a
\ndivision between the two cultures that started soon after the Rhodesli
\nSephardim arrived in Seattle (Angel, 567). The first Sephardi man from Rhodes
\ncame to Seattle in 1904 (FitzMorris, 29). Calvo and Policar befriended him, and
\nwhen other Sephardim came over from both Turkey and Rhodes, the two growing
\ngroups decided to combine to form a synagogue. In 1907, all of the Sephardim
\nheld high holiday services together (Adatto, 64). Unfortunately, the Turkish
\nand Rhodesli Sephardim realized that their traditions were different, and they
\ncouldn\u2019t be grouped together. By 1908, they split (Adatto, 65) and two
\nsynagogues were created: Bikur Holim, which served Turkish Sephardim, and Ezra
\nBessaroth, which served Rhodesli Sephardim. These synagogues are still in use
\ntoday. A rift within the Turkish Sephardi community between Jews from Rodosto
\nand Jews from Marmara happened after Bikur Holim was bought from the Ashkenazim
\n(Adatto, 72) (See my second blog post for more information). The Marmara Jews
\nbuilt a synagogue called Ahavat Ahim in 1922 (Adatto, 89). This synagogue
\nclosed in 1940 (Maimon, 614) and ended up merging back with Bikur Holim
\n(FitzMorris, 30). <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>Sephardim from different
\ncountries didn\u2019t completely stop trying to unify, although their attempts were
\noften thwarted. \u00a0Sephardim of all
\nbackgrounds wanted a chief rabbi. Rabbi Aharon Benezra <\/i>was appointed in
\nthe fall of 1915, and some of the Sephardim hoped that he would unify Turkish
\nand Rhodesli Jews. However, disagreement between the communities reduced \u00a0Rabbi Aharon Benezra\u2019s role to mostly working
\nas a rabbi and a teacher. \u00a0Still
\nunimpressed by his performance, some Sephardim argued for his removal. Rabbi
\nAharon Benezra left Seattle towards the end of 1916 (Angel, 569). The second
\nchief rabbi that was hired, Rabbi Abraham Maimon, also failed at the mission of
\nunifying the Sephardim. He ended up as the rabbi of Bikur Holim (Angel, 570).<\/p>\n

<\/font>\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>Los Angeles:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>The first Sephardi
\nsociety in Los Angeles was called Sociedad Ahavat Shalom. This society served
\nall sects of Sephardim in the area. It met for services, and had charity
\nprograms to help the ill (Hasson, 384). Unfortunately, like in Seattle, the
\nTurks and Rhodeslis were not able to get along because their cultures were
\nperceived as being so different. The Rhodeslis left Ahavat Shalom in 1917 to
\nform their own society, Sociedad Pas y Progreso (Hasson, 384). Their synagogue
\nbuilding finally opened in 1934. The synagogue was called the Sephardic Hebrew
\nCenter. This congregation went to great lengths to try to protect the Sephardi
\nculture that people were trying to hide so they could assimilate. The synagogue
\neven published a newspaper called El Mezazero, which was written in Ladino
\n(Stern, 81).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>As
\ntime went on, the Turks and Rhodeslis made efforts to get along. In 1937, the
\nUnited Sephardic Organization was created for all types of Sephardim living in
\nLos Angeles to come together to help Sephardim in need around the world
\n(Samuels and Kramer, 427). In 1978, the American Sephardi Federation formed a
\nchapter in Los Angeles that served a similar function to the United Sephardic
\nOrganization. In 1993, the Sephardic Hebrew Center merged with Temple Tifereth
\nIsrael, which had originally been the Turkish synagogue (Hasson, 391). Turkish
\nand Rhodesli Sephardim living in Los Angeles were united in prayer once again.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>Tifereth Israel is now
\none of the largest Sephardic synagogues in America (Samuels and Kramer, 417).
\nIt works to maintain the unity that took the Sephardim so long to achieve by
\nnot classifying itself as Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox (Samuels and
\nKramer, 432).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>Bibliography<\/font><\/u><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>Adatto, Albert. Sephardim
\nand the Seattle Sephardic Community.<\/i> Seattle: U of Washington, 1939. Print.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>Angel, Marc D., Hasson,
\nAron, Kramer, William M., Maimon, Isaac, Samuels, Beth, Sidell, Loraine, Stern,
\nNorton B. Sephardic Jews in the West Coast States : An Anthology<\/i>. 1st
\ned. Los Angeles: Published for the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles by the
\nWestern States Jewish History Association, 1996. Print. Western States Jewish
\nHistory ; v. 28, No. 1-3.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font>FitzMorris,
\nMary K., and University of Washington. Spanish Portuguese Studies. Degree
\nGranting Institution. The Last Generation of Native Ladino Speakers?
\nJudeo-Spanish and the Sephardic Community in Seattle<\/i> (2014): Masters
\nAbstracts International 53-04(E). Print<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my third blog post in a series of three posts in which I discuss the theme of Sephardim in the West Coast in the 19th-20th century. In this post, I compare and contrast the relationship between Turkish and Rhodesli Sephardim in two cities: Seattle and Los Angeles. In previous posts, I examined different aspects of Sephardim in San Francisco. However, the issue…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[75,151,171,172,170,169,168],"class_list":["post-1267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post","tag-american-jewish-historical-society","tag-american-sephardi-federation","tag-interns","tag-leora-singer","tag-sephardic-jews","tag-sephardim","tag-west-coast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}