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The last Jews of Ankara: a once-thriving community is near extinction

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Published: 14 October 2017

Last updated: 4 March 2024

“THE JEWS OF ANKARA are so far and few between that I can fit them all around my dining room table,” says Israel's ambassador to Turkey, Eitan Na’eh, as he surveys the congregants for Yom Kippur services in the nearly empty synagogue.

Located in Ulus, the tumbling old quarter of Turkey’s capital, the synagogue dates back to the 19th century and was radically refurbished by an Italian architect in 1906. Na’eh is surrounded by a sea of little carpets that are laid out on the synagogue benches, which remain unoccupied throughout the holy day.

FULL STORY Community struggles to make a minyan on Yom Kippur (Haaretz)

Photo: Davide Lerner

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