The Kohens Del De Campavias: A Family's Sweet and Sour Story in Ottoman and Republican Turkey (Analecta Isisiana: Ottoman and Turkish Studies) 9781617190834, 1617190837

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The Kohens del de Campavias

Analecta Isisiana: Ottoman and Turkish Studies

Collections of thematic essays focused on specific themes of Ottoman and Turkish studies are brought together in Analecta Isisiana. These scholarly volumes address important issues throughout Turkish history, offering in a single volume the accumulated insights of a single author over a career of research on the subject.

The Kohens del de Campavias

A Family's Sweet and Sour Story in Ottoman and Republican Turkey

Elli Kohen

T h e Isis Press, Istanbul

pre** 2010

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2010 by The Isis Press, Istanbul Originally published in 2004 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of The Isis Press, Istanbul. 2010

o

ISBN 978-1-61719-083-4

Printed in the United States of America

Mother and son 1941

This book is dedicated to Dahlia, Sean, Viviane, and Salvo,

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowlegements Introduction I. II.

The Ancestor, the Patriarch The Duel Betwen the Lion (Eliya Kohen) and the Fox (Grand-Rabbi Nahum) III. The Enigma of Admiral Elias Cohen Pasha Surgeon General of Sultan Hamid's Navy IV. Sons and Daughters V. Estella Campavias. Extravagant, Whimsical Princess. Fata Morgana of the Family VI. Atatiirk's Style Elementary School in Chalcedonia ... All Seems Well, But VII. Journey to Hell and Then ... Bonbons from Istanbul VHI. From Charybdes to Scylla IX. On the Way to Healing: Recovery of Paradise Lost-But ... a Few Relapses Family Epilogue General Perspective Appendices Sources Illustrations Mother and Son 1941 Father Joseph in Gallipoli Aunt Estella riding a horse The family Belle, aunt Estella de Campavias Mother Victoria The author in uniform of lieutenant

7 9 13 23 33 35 51 59 73 91 101 123 131 137 165 4 41 54 55 116 119

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author acknowledges gratefully the outstanding help of Emeritus Professor Joseph G. Hirschberg, Dr. Albert de Vidas, Professor Robert Perry Lee, Becca McNeely and Dr. Phyllis Evelyn Deutsch (Executive Editor, University Press of New England), in reviewing and editing this book.

INTRODUCTION I have intended for a long time to write our family history, that of the Kohens del de Campavias. It is highly exciting but a tremendous challenge if one wants to reconstruct it all in its authentic flavor, color and folklore. My daughter who has a doctorate in Clinical Psychology took a look at the beginning of the first appendix on Yehezkiel Gabay el Baghdadi, the patriarch of a collateral branch. She got lost in the maze of details and the cascade of events with Pashas (Governors of large provinces), old-fashioned bankers, viziers and fur merchants appearing or disappearing from the scene in dazzling succession. She gave me a few advices which I will try to follow. Of course the cloak and dagger intrigues of Ottoman Baghdad may have been too much for a modern American woman. However looking at current events, things may not have changed that much after all. My daughter gave me a few pieces of advice: Clarify, simplify, explain, do not assume that the reader will know who all of these personages are. Do not write like an erudite but boring historian, be yourself and write as if you were just speaking. When you speak about the events in Baghdad or elsewhere I understand what you say and it becomes interesting, but not the way you write about it! There are not too many histories of Sephardic families in the period from the last Ottoman years to modern Republican years recorded in books. A prototype in this field is Lidya Kastoryano's Quand Vinnocence avait un sens (When innocence had a meaning) and Hrol Haker's Once upon a time Jews lived in Kirklareli. The Story of the Adato Family. Both books are published by the Isis Press of Istanbul. There are many Kohen lineages in Istanbul and certainly their proof of authenticity cannot be traced back to the House of Aaron in the Exodus and his priestly line. In Hebrew ways, there was a complete separation of spiritual powers held by the House of Aaron and temporal powers held by the royal line of David. Terrible retribution awaited kings like Uziah who crossed the forbidden line! We know that through the ages there have been many claims to the House of David in many places and times under various names, i.e. Rosh Galut (Exilarch), Nasi, Naguid (Prince), Rex Judeorum (King, see Zuckerman). There are similarly many authentic, or fictitious claims to the House of Kohens. Our family, the Kohens of Haskoy, cannot be traced further back than my great grandfather Yussef, the Banker of Haskoy.

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We, the Kohens of Haskòy are a little luckier on the collateral branch of our cousins, the Gabay, who can be traced as far back as the 1830's with the legendary but somewhat terrifying figure of the Banker Yehezkiel Gabay el Baghdadi under Sultan Mahmud II. About the Kohens of Haskòy it can be said that the best known of them in later Ottoman times was my grandfather of many names: Elie Cohen, ílyas Kohen Efendi, Elia Kohen, Eli Kohen, lawyer, journalist and lecturer of law at the collège Saint-Michel. It happened that in his Haskòy days my grandfather used to hang around everywhere with a certain distinguished señor Campavias. Their personalities became so connected in the eyes of the Haskoylüs that they were almost indistinguishable. My grandfather ended by being El de Campavias. Finally each time one of my family members, for example my mother, wanted to make an allusion to my grandfather Kohen it became easier to say El de Campavias. Then everybody would know for sure which Kohen it was who was being mentioned. There is a lot to say about my grandfather Elie-ílyas-Elia, but a look at his background is called for to place in the proper perspective the KohenCampavias family. So why not start with the greater than life figure of our own terrible Turk, the Notorious Yehezkiel Gabay, El Baghdadi. From the collateral branch of the Gabays the story will move to the Kohens del de Campavias per se, and so down the generations to my own life in Turkey as I experienced it on the threshold of World War II, during the war and after. Whether we attribute it to an extrinsic influence such as Fascism, or an intrinsic one such as renascent and exclusivist nationalism, or both, Turkish Jews experienced a many-faceted crisis during the war. I know from Moslem Turkish friends and intellectuals that there is a recent and healthy prise de conscience about these events. I have been asked questions... Curiously some aspects of the World War II story with regard to Jews in Turkey have remained unknown, even among well-informed and wellintentioned Moslem Turks. Probably they were never or barely mentioned in the press and obviously not by officialdom. Everybody knows about the excessive taxation of the Varlik (Fortune), but there were other happenings... My own childhood and early teen years were vastly affected. I shall speak of those years in two ways: through direct personal experience, and also how in my more mature years I came to better understand such events.

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Some of my reviewers have asked if this book is to be a "Family Story" or an "History of the Jews in Later Ottoman Turkey and Modern Turkey". I would say the book is a Family history in the context of rather extraordinary historical events 1 lived through (and one I experienced by hearsay) which have deeply affected my personal life and sensitivities. I believe I have overcome these events, moved beyond them, and in the course maintained for Turkey a deep affection and nostalgia, whatever the endearing virtues and occasional "warts" ... The book will tell about my cousin who has gone through the same experiences and ended up with similar conclusions. Sometimes there are conflicts in your family, but this does not mean that you love less your family. At the end of the book my general perspectives will tell more on these feelings.

I. THE ANCESTOR, THE PATRIARCH

Yousef was the "ancestor" of the Kohen family in the Jewish quarter of Haskoy on the northern shore of the Golden Horn, not very far from the European Sweet Waters of Siitliice. The ancestor was a Master of Probity. His reputation extended through the full realm of Jewish Haskoy. He owned a home-operated bank and deposits with Yousef were as safe as the treasures guarded by Cerberus... but Yousef had another asset, his extreme kindness and friendliness. A t home the nicest banker of Haskoy was a Patriarch. When the family sat around the diner table "throned" by Yousef, nobody would dare to get up until Yousef had given the sign that the meal was terminated. His son Elia (ilyas) grew to become a celebrity in the journalistic and legal circles of Constantinople. Elia was lawyer, journalist and professor of the college level class at the French brothers' Lycée Saint-Michel. Elia was short-bodied with a very impressive stature and face, his eyes scintillating with intelligence, his mouth always ready for the next bon mot. Along his career, Elia had to move from Mediator at Public Offices to Lawyer certified by the Sublime Porte. In Elia Kohen's times lawyers did not have to graduate from the Law School of the University of Istanbul. Elia however with his fine legal knowledge and his keen sense of litigation, was more than an içbitirici

(sort of intermediary who would help for a fee those

having to deal with state officials and bureaucrats to expedite their affairs). In time, licensing codes were tightened... B y the time Elia had developed a flourishing legal practice, he had to pass a certification examination through the Office of the Sadrazam (Prime Minister, Grand Vizier). He passed with flying colors and his practice further extended... Elia had many Bon Mots. He was famous for his sense of humor and his stories were quite extraordinary and exhilarating. One of his favorite stories was about Duhuliye

(Entrance) and Huruciye

(Exit). It was lunch recess

around the Court House. A group of Turkish Moslem lawyers, Elia's colleagues on many litigations notice Elia passing by. They say among themselves "Let us play a trick on the Yahudi

(the Jew)". They told him

"Hey! Elia Efendi, why don't you take us to lunch?" Very compliant, Elia said

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"Buyurun" (With pleasure, you are invited most graciously to come with me; Reader notice how a single Turkish word can tell so much and so beautifully). Enthusiastically Elia adds Duhuliye benim (Entrance is mine). They enter the restaurant and they all partake in a most delicious and plentiful meal. When the meal is ended, more a banquet than a meal, Elia gets up ready to leave. The colleagues scream: "Elia Efendi, what about the hesap (the check). Imperturbable, Elia answers: "Beyler (Gentlemen) Duhuliye benim, Huruciye sizin, the Entrance is mine, the Exit is yours". Grandfather Elia was often skeptical about my medical studies which he found too long. He would say: "By the time you will be medical doctor, there will be no patients left in the world". He used to make jokes, calling me in Judeo-Espagnol doktor de matasano, a doctor who kills the healthy. He also had his own theory about medical doctors. He thought that doctors should be paid not when we are sick but when we are healthy. The doctor's duty was to keep us healthy; and pay should be withdrawn when we are sick. Elia in his old years had quite a temper and if unhappy with the treatment or the doctor's style he would not hesitate to lift his cane threateningly. He even dit it once with one of the Great Masters of Jewish medicine in Istanbul, also Surgeon General of the Turkish Prisons (as the francizied Sephardim said Docteur des Prisons). Elia did not like the way the grand Tabip (doctor, toubib as the French say) was treating his wounded leg. Grandfather Elia also told a story about Maimonides (he called him Rambam) and Sultan Saladin (the Great Saladino, Salahaddin Eyubi of the Turks). Saladino highly appreciatd the medical skills and tremendous knowledge of his physician Rambam. He told him one day: "My good Rambam, why don't you become a Muslim?" Rambam knew that although generally magnanimous and tolerant, at times Saladin, as every all-powerful potentate, could become irascible if opposed or contradicted. Better for R a m b a m to reach the Ayoubite sultan from his magnanimous side. He answered: "O Sultan! I highly respect and admire your offer. Please only in your kindness remember that our ancestors were here before yours, and in all humility we owe them our faithfulness to their tradition!" Saladin touched on his magnanimous side was understanding. Many years later in Miami an American Professor told me a different version of the same story. Saladin offers Maimonides to convert to Islam. Maimonides answers: "O Sultan allow me to tell a story: 'A father had two

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sons he treasured, but even though he loved both so much, one of the sons was his favorite. The father owned a single but very valuable diamond. Instead of the favorite son, the father bestowed the diamond to the other. Intrigued, the favorite son asked his father: You often told me I am your favorite son. Why then did you bestow the diamond on my brother? The father answered: Son, a diamond is only a diamond, but to you I have bestowed something much more valuable than the diamond; my greatest love!'" Maimonides continues: "O Sultan your religion is most precious like the diamond of religions. Only please understand us, our love of our ancestors keeps us attached to the tradition of our own religion." Sultan Saladin understood. This was grandfather the teller of stories, the fierce defender of the meek at court, the brilliant litigant and the superb teacher of law in impeccable French at the College of Saint-Michel. He was also an excellent orator. My father recounts that once Elia was to deliver a speech at a certain function in the city of Izmit (Nicomedia). He had written the text of the speech and put it in the pocket of his jacket. He arrives at the assigned forum. The audience is there ready. Grandfather checks his pocket. Nothing... Elia did not lose his composure. He just improvised a new speech and all went very well. Grandpa made largesses at the image of the Sultan. Elia was quite generous with his family. Sometimes in the morning he would dip his hand in his pocket, grab a fistful of silver coins and distribute these among his sons. A large part of his active life was spent during the reign of Sultan Hamid. Maybe grandfather was getting his inspiration f r o m the sultan. Moving through the streets of his capital in the imperial carriage the sultan was highly known for his largesses to the poor. A long trail of coins thrown to the indigent followed the passage of the imperial carriage. Hamid was feared as a bloody tyrant, the Red Sultan, but to the Jewish population of Istanbul he was a benevolent monarch, protector of his subjects, magnanimous in character. Strangely the Jews of Turkey under Hamid felt more secure than the Jews in Europe. France, the country of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité was tarnished by the Dreyfus affair and the virulent antisemitism of Drummond; Germany even with an almost Zionist Kaiser, had the most obnoxious cartoons on the Jews; the czars except for Alexander II, were generically antisemites and Tsarist Russia had the Kichinev pogrom plus many others. Austria's Franz Joseph could be called a philosemite, but each time he tried to bestow a nobility title on a Jew he had to go through an intricate set of maneuvers. Even in the United States there were all sorts of numerus clausus establishing a quota for admission of Jews to the universities. In Ottoman

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Turkey the Jews as subjects of the Sultan and beneficiaries of the Giilhane charter from Mecid's time were under the Sultan's protection. The only problem arose with the rise of Zionism. When Theodore Herzl came to obtain a charter from Hamid for settlement in Palestine, in exchange for the assumption by World Jewry of the Turkish Duyunu umumiye (Foreign Debt), Hamid was almost compliant (Bein 198-201, 354-358; Herzl 144-172). But Hamid was deeply superstitious and he got quite a scare when the Sheikh-ulIslam, the highest Moslem authority in the Ottoman empire after the SultanCaliph himself, told him, the gates of the Cennet (Paradise) would remain closed to him if he ever granted to the Jews a concession in the Holy Land. The Matriarch of the Kohen de Campavias was Elia's wife Allegra, Baruch by her maiden name, one of seven brothers and sisters, a high class lady with an aristocratic face, "un peu collet monte" (affecting gravity, class consciously proud), generous, compassionate, totally illiterate (before the Alliance families did not bother to educate their daughters) except for being able to read the time on a clock. Husband Elia tried to teach the alphabet to Allegra. At the time both the Judeo-Spanish alphabet (in strange Hebrew script called Soletreo) and Turkish alphabet (in Arabic script) were quite complicated. It is unknown if Elia, who was perfectly fluent in French, also tried the Latin characters... Soon Elia lost heart at it... Anyway Allegra was too busy with her chores, considering the huge household... Learning the alphabet was not one of her primary concerns... Grandmother Allegra and my mother could share a laugh when I started to wear eye glasses at age ten and a half. It was my mother's idea, but grandmother and probably my aunt Tante Corine, agreed: they all thought that I looked like an actor popular at the time, Sesu Hayakawa. In the last years of his life grandfather's temper took a turn for the worst. He was continuously quarreling with Allegra and the quarrels turned violent. I remember grandfather screaming and threatening grandmother with his cane. They could not live anymore under the same roof. So the family had to separate them. Grandmother went to live with aunt Estella and her first husband Pierre. Grandfather who needed more care remained with the most compassionate of the daughters, Aunt Corine. As to myself, despite the fact that my grandfather had used his cane to threaten doctor as well as wife, I had a special attraction for the cane because of its horsehead-shaped bone holder. It was also the very cane grandfather used for his daily journeys from North to South Istanbul.

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On the side, Elia was a notorious ladies' man. There is little his wife Allegra could do about it, because in those days it was fashionable for a powerful and successful man like Elia to be a ladies' man. So the best Allegra could do was to ignore Elia's peccadilloes... Elia continued to be a lady's man till his very old age, and one could see him in his very senior years strolling through the streets of Pera, smilingly leaning with galanterie towards a lady companion... A word about Elia's journalistic activities. Elia was in 1909 owner, publisher and chief editor of the twice weekly newspaper Relampago (the Lightning), a one-man operation... It was quite impressive to watch Elia working nights to run by himself la mise en page (lay out)... What was remarkable was that Elia did all the work alone. According to Shaw among all Jewish newspapers Relampago's run was exceeded only by El Tiempo. The biweekly's importance laid according to Shaw "in its bringing together of many Judeo-Spanish folk traditions and stories in the popular language which placed Spanish archaisms and popular neologisms side by side while adding numerous Turkish, Hebrew, Greek and French words which were finding their way in the popular vocabulary". Relampago became a lightning rod for the anti-Grand Rabbinate group opposing the dictatorial methods of Grand-Rabbi Nahum, who when he assumed office had been thought to be a fervent democrat. I have tried to obtain at least a few or even one issue of the Relampago. This is certainly possible for a contemporary paper El Tiempo. So far for the Relampago my trials at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library (New York), the Hebrew Union College Library (Cincinnati, Ohio), Bibliothèque de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle (Paris) and Hahambaçilik (Grand-Rabbinate, Yemeneci Sokak, Istanbul) have not been successful. There is also information that archives from the years the Relampago was in press, have not been well preserved. A possible repository could be the world famous Library of Beyazit, next to the similarly named Mosque and tower, and the University of Istanbul. This library is known to have a unique collection of Judeo-Spanish texts and it has been a source of information for many world scholars. However I hear from my cousin Viviane in Istanbul that after the earthquake of a few years ago the installations there are not very functional. Another possible site of search would be Milli Kiituphane (National Library) in Ankara. The controversy between Grand-rabbi Nahum and Elia Kohen will be related in the next chapter. Grandpa lived through the vicissitudes of the Balkan War, World War I and the Armistice which followed. At the end of World War I which was

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disastrous for the Ottoman Empire, following the Armistice of Mondros, the armies of the Entente disembarked in Istanbul. Soon the units of the Entente with British, French, Italian and Greek contingents and high commissioners would enter Istanbul. For the first time since the fall of Constantinople, Greek insignia appeared in Istanbul as the symbol of a participant in the conquering team. As if it was "Woe to the vanquished". The most egregious entry was that of the French General Franchet d'Esperey, who believing he was back at the time of the IVth Crusade, entered Constantinople as a conqueror on his white horse and staged what he thought was a magnificent show, but what appeared to the Turks as an offensive display of bad taste which created great antagonism and revulsion (Qetiner 7779); Yerasimos 180-181)... Franchet d'Esperey may have thought of upstaging Mahomed the Conqueror and reversing the trends of history. Under the title Beyaz atli §imarik General (the White Horse Riding Spoiled General), the last sultan Vahdettin's biographer Qetiner writes that in the first week of the month of February 1919, the people of Istanbul were faced with a scene which sad, sad, sad as it was, appeared almost comical. A French General named Franchet d'Esperey, commander of the occupation forces, boarded a launch to come ashore on the quay, after the battleship he was on had set anchor off Salipazan (Tuesdays' market). He was received with military honors, band and music all in place; the whole harbor and the ships in the harbor had been decorated with all kinds of flags. The Greeks, Armenians and other minorities were making delirious demonstrations. Franchet d'Esperey in his uniform embroidered with silver and gold threads and his chest studded with medals, started to move towards the Europeanized quarter of Pera (Beyoglu) .. .Hundreds of French soldiers were marching in front of and behind the general; on each side two soldiers were holding the stirrups of his white horse... The general who wanted to imitate the Triumphal Marches of Ancient Rome, was in the meantime making bizarre movements and gestures!... The crowd of minorities and Levantines filling the Pera avenue carried Greek and French flags, and was throwing flowers on the general and his soldiers. The Moslem Turkish population was in true mourning, and remained in seclusion at home... In those days Sultan Vahdettin who was suffering from a toothache had been unable to leave his harem quarters, and he had not even attended the

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traditional Friday prayer of the Selamlik. But neither the military commanders of the Occupation Forces nor the civilian administrators of the Occupation were intent on leaving in peace the Hiinkar (Sultan, the Beloved of his People) who was trying to avoid seeing from his palace in Dolmabahge the enemy fleet. The French general's entry to Istanbul in the midst of victory celebrations had crushed the illusions of the Ottoman intelligentsia, because all of them held great sympathy for French culture and French civilization. France had also come to embody the whole of Europe and of the Western world. And now this insensitive display had erased and washed away all these feelings!... A Turkish officer, graduate from a French military school, maybe with a suggestion from the Palace, went to visit the French general at his headquarters. In superb French he said in effect: My General, do no take seriously the clamors of the Armenians, Greeks and other minorities you are seeing. The Turks are very ancient friends of the French. The sentiments of the Turkish intellectuals are with the French. The enmity of this last war can be removed in short time. The ancient historical bonds can be restored. The proud French general answered that the French were not enemy of the Turks. Only they wanted the Turkish government to be strong and hard working. They did not care who were the Turkish ministers, and who was the Sadrazam (Prime Minister). All the French wanted was that the war criminals be punished in the shortest time possible! The General paused for a moment and then he complained that the security in Istanbul and in Anatolia was totally insufficient! A way to correct this situation had to be found immediately. It should not be forgotten that the interior and exterior of Turkey was full of enemies who do not like the Turks. If what the General was saying was done without loss of time, Turkey would not regret it! This conversation with the French general was reported the next day to Sultan Vahdettin. The British, the French, the Italians all of them, each one by one were saying the same things, repeating the same demands. But, undoubtedly there was a great competition between them to come closer to the Palace and the government, and to take them under their influence. The Padishah was openly praising the British, and wanted to play the different occupants one against the other!

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In the end probably the most useful contribution of Franchet d'Esperey was that he gave his name to the French hospital, which was to become quite successful among the Istanbul elite. Because of the general's bad name the Hospital was later designated as Hopital Pasteur, a name more likely to arouse Turkish sympathies... My mother often spoke to me about the wonderful care offered at the Franchet d'Esperey hospital—she remained accustomed to call by its original name. My father recalled the arrogance exhibited by the French military police. He was once riding the ferry which shuttled between IstanbulAsia and Istanbul-Europe. The ferry had benches where passengers used to face each other. The French MPs circulated in the ferry whip at hand. If a passenger, a little too comfortable on his seat, would venture to stretch his legs over the midline between face-to-face benches, the French MPs were ready with a stroke of the whip! Imagine the proud Osmanlis whose army and navy had protected French King Francis the First from being wiped out by the Habsburg Charles V humiliated under the French whip! During the occupation by the forces of the Entente, separatist minority groups paraded in the streets of Istanbul with their distinctive flags: the Greeks with their Megalo Idea of restoring the Byzantine empire, the Armenians with a dream inspired by the fourteen points of the Treaty of Versailles and also the American President Wilson. What about the Jews? There were some Zionist groups parading with the flag of the Maccabi, a Zionist sportive organization (Shaw 180-182). The British, while already starting to set up obstacles to the Zionist dream in Palestine, did stir up some Zionist movement of the Maccabists in Istanbul. I do not know how strong were the Zionist feelings of Grandfather at the time. My father told me that he did have some Zionist sympathies, but how far they went I cannot tell. After the victorious tstiklal harbi (War of Independence), the British occupants departed. The French occupants had left much earlier. To the acclaim of the Turkish population, the nationalist army entered Istanbul under the command of Refet Pasha even before the last British contingents had departed. It seems that Mustafa Kemal who was somewhat sore to the city refrained for a while to enter triumphally. Revolutionary tribunals of Independence (tstiklal mahkemeleri) were set. Grandfather, as a journalist probably, was investigated by the tstiklal mahkemesi, but as I can reconstruct not for long. All charges were dismissed. Within a few years Kemalism would bring the linguistic reform and grandfather was to be victimized by the change from Arabic cursive to Latin

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characters. Grandfather's business had continued to prosper until then. However so flourishing in the Turco-Persian-Arabic Osmanli language spelled in Arabic character, and so fluent in French Latin texts, yet grandfather never came to be really at ease with the Latinized Turkish alphabet. Since the new Latinized spelling had to be decided almost instinctively it was pathetic to see the neo-Turkish spelling of such a learned man as grandfather. He could not even spell the word hafta (week) and I remember a legal report by him in which he wrote afta, which unfortunately looks laughable for any reader of modern Turkish. The business of Elia went rapidly into decline. Unconcerned about the future, grandfather had spent a fortune to establish various businesses for his children. He had not saved much and when need arose the sons and daughters helped some, but they did not respond with the same unlimited generosity. In later years grandfather would spend most of his time reading the daily paper, or with game cards spread on a chair in front of him, playing a kind of patience game. We now come to the terminal phase of hobbies and vicissitudes of the old age. Grandfather was somewhat of a diabetic, but a rather well balanced one. Once he stepped in a coffee house into an opening left by an uncovered trap door. He sustained a fracture of the hip. The doctors first predicted that he would never walk again normally. Strangely he recuperated in full and set a memorable routine. He lived in the apartment of his daughter Corine in the locality of §i§li, a fashionable district in North Istanbul. From there every day he took his cane. Moving straight south through Taksim where stands Ataturk's Victory Mausoleum then through the Pera district, he reached the Tunnel area and further down through the stepped road of Yuksek Kaldirim he went to Karakoy, near the harbor of Istanbul, he crossed the Galata bridge of old memory attaining the Old or Byzantine Istanbul with its famous Egyptian Spice Market (Misir £ar§isi); he finally ascended the height of Mahmud Pasha (Mahmud Pa§a Yolaqu). It was a two-hour walk with final destination the silk textile shop of his nephew Jacques. Grandfather rested there for some hours, and then he was on the path of return, walking again for a couple of hours. At dinner table grandfather Elia must have remembered the days of the Patriarch Youssef when nobody could rise from the table before the Patriarch gave the sign... but these were now less disciplined, less patriarchal times... and Elia was not anymore the giant he had been... but a rather sad and

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irrelevant figure. He could not hold an audience breathless anymore by his wit, stories and jokes. Conversations went forth at the table, largely ignoring the patriarch. Elia had developed a special taste for strawberry or rose jam and he wanted jam everywhere, in his soup, in his rice. If they neglected his wish, he would furiously bang his spoon on the table until they obliged. 1 In his older years other occupations of grandfather were backgammon playing in Turkish coffee-houses or once a week always with his British sonin-law Edwin. I remember the Sunday lunches during World War II. As the horrors of the war were unfolding, grandfather used to summarize these in a single French word; Terrible! Terrible! (same meaning as in English). During War World II grandfather had become quite a celebrity in Turkish coffee houses because of his strange resemblance to Churchill; so they ended up calling him Churchill. Strangely enough Elia's son-in-law Edwin also was thought by many to resemble Churchill, but a Churchill in his younger years. One word about these special Turkish coffee houses. They are very different from the Paris cafés. They are not chic like those on Boulevard Saint Germain or Boulevard Saint Michel. They are never attended by women. They serve Turkish coffee in little cups out of a special container with a long arm (ibrik) balanced on a swinging tray designed to remain horizontal so that the coffee will not spill while being carried (cezve). The coffee is served in three ways: sade (no sugar); orta (medium or little sugar); bol $ekerli (lots of sugar). During the hardship years of World War II, people had to be content with an ersatz coffee made of burned findik (hazelnut powder). In some coffee houses the luxury of a lokum (Turkish delight) may be added. Coffee houses also provide the special attraction of nargile, water-pipe smoking of a special tobacco called tómbeki. Until now I could not recall Grandfather ever smoking the nargile. However my cousin Viviane, told me on the phone from Istanbul, that Grandfather enjoyed smoking the nargile at the kahvehane. At the coffee house, tea also may be served in little sometimes colorful glass cups with a waist.

1 Curiously I met an analogous situation in my scientific contacts in Sweden. There was a famous Nobel Prize winner in Stockholm who had to have his strawberry cake with his four o'clock tea every afternoon. If you would like to get some scientific advice for your research, that was the moment to ask him. And he did give good advice... Thanks to such advice, with a little tip he gave me in connection with my living cell fluorescence research, I think I hold the world record for fifteen successive micro-injections into a microscopic tiny living cell, each one getting a luminous signal from the cell, as an expression of its metabolic activity. Also, if, in spite of the general lack of interest, you did by any chance pay attention to some of the things grandfather was saying during such dinners, you might have acquired material to put one day in your book of family recollections.

II. THE DUEL BETWEEN THE LION (Eliya Kohen) AND THE FOX (GrandRabbi Nahum)

His Eminence Grand-Rabbi Nahum, had started as a notable scholar, a show-case of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in its move to promote "Frenchified" culture. Beyond his mastery of French culture, Nahum was also an orientalist with his own study of the Ethiopian jews, the Falashas (d'Abbadie, Halévy, Luzzato, Rapoport). He was the ideal prototype GrandRabbi for the Government of the Young Turks who had just started as reformers. Nahum was equally the candidate of choice for the Alliance Israélite Universelle, trying to promote French culture among the Ottoman Jews. In 1908, a wind of unbridled freedom stirred by the constitutionalists was in the air. On January 24, 1909 (2 Shevat 5669), 86 delegates gathered at the Zulfaris Synagogue to select a new Grand Rabbi. Nairn Nahum was elected Grand Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire. The young Nahum had first studied Hebrew and Arabic at the yeshiva of Tiberias, and then continued in Istanbul at the faculty of Islamic Law. In 1891, he went to Paris to complete his rabbinical studies. In 1906, the Alliance Israélite sent him to Abyssinia to perform research on Beta-Israel (Falashas) the putative Black Jews of Abyssinia. He was received by Emperor Menelik and honored with a decoration bestowed by his Majesty. Nahum's inquiry mission in Ethiopia was a disaster for the Falashas, with effects, the aftermath of which has continued until our days. Shortly before, in 1904, Edmund de Rothschild and the Grand Rabbi Zadok Khan of Paris had financed Jacques Faitlovitch's trip to Ethiopia's mountains of Semien. Nahum and Faitlovitch rendered contradictory verdicts. Faitlovich's conclusion was: "See, the Falashas really are Jews. They have the same aspirations as we; like us they believe that the future of Israel is ours... They are an active people, intelligent, ethical and possessed by a great force for learning." All Faitlovitch's efforts were annihilated by Rabbi Nahum's report. He categorically affirmed that the Falashas had no Jewish blood, that they were happy where they were, and it was not worth the trouble to teach them modern Judaism. THERE WAS NO INTEREST IN HELPING PRIMITIVE BLACK JEWS (sic)!

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Nahum's verdict not only canceled Faithlovich' scholarly work, it also annihilated the results of previous studies on the Falashas by worthy scholars, i.e. D'Abadie, Luzzato and Halevy. It resulted in the abandonment of the Falashas for several decades, even discouraged their immigration to Israel and their settlement there; their acceptance by local religious authorities was also made much more painful. In this conclusion by Nahum, one may discern the elements of opportunism, possible snobbery and a certain lack of commitment to worldwide Jewish causes which may partly explain the circumstances that brought Nahum to head-on conflict with the journalist Elia. When Elia entered the controversy against Nahum he had to cross lances with a man who was a giant in his own right... one thing is evident however; instead of siding with the mainstream of Jewish revival started by the first immigrants from Russia the Bilu (Beth Yaakow Lehu ve Neleha, House of Jacob let us go and go) and Herzl's movement, Nahum ended up as the irrelevant Grand-Rabbi of Egypt over a remaining tiny Jewish community under Nasser. Back from Paris, Nahum rapidly became Secretary of the Jewish Community; he was also teaching at the Imperial School of Artillery where he made many friends among the Jeunes Turcs (Rodrigue 123-124). Among his students were high ranking members of the Turkish General Staff (Cabasso 1984, 215). In the struggle for the Grand-Rabbinate Nahum prevailed against his father-in-law. On January 24, 1909 the Alliancist and Modernist Haim Nahum was elected Grand-Rabbi. From 1909 to 1919 Nahum was the Grand Rabbi of the entire Ottoman Empire! In such a capacity he was the first authentic Grand-Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire, filling a long vacancy occupied for many years by a mere locum tenens. In May 1909, Nahum spoke at the Zulfaris synagogue, at a memorial for the Jewish volunteers in the Ottoman army (Giileryiiz, Istanbul Sinagoglari, 68): Turkish Jews are known for their attachment and loyalty to their country. At the first opportunity given, they know how to spill their blood for the country of whose air they breath, water they drink, and wheat they eat. The Jews are happy to serve in the army under the glorious Turkish flag. The nomination of Nahum to the Grand Rabbinate had appeared to come as a breath of fresh air. He was young, intelligent and cultivated; an erudite and passionate lover of Islamic culture he was appreciated by the Government of Union and Progress. He started with the zeal of a neophyte. Yet without any honeymoon period the dark clouds started to accumulate.

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A new conjuncture had been created defined by the advent of the Young Turks (and their somewhat uncertain position). Nahum had the trust of the Union and Progress government because of a general desire to centralize control, but the Alliance had some misgivings after the countercoup of March 31, 1909. In case of a return to power by the fanatics and conservatives (the proAbdtilhamit softas) Nahum would be a liability. Nahum had opposition from two Jewish sectors: (1) The German Jewish opponent of the Alliance, i.e. the Hilfsverein der Deutsche Juden more overtly pro-Zionist than the Alliance; (2) the anti-Modernist, anti-Alliancist. With a certain Machiavelism Nahum had campaigned in the old Jewish centers of Haskoy, Balat, Ortakoy. He also tried to appeal to the Zionists against the conservatives. He was unsuccessful because of his continued refusal to accept the Zionist's ultimate goal: the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. In the very complex issue of Zionism, the movement did at first have some friends among the Young Turk intellectuals (Shaw 224-225, Rodrigue 125). The deputy Riza Tevfik Bey, a poet and philosopher, and a former student at the Alliance schools was quoted as saying that a Zionist could be an Ottoman as well as a Jewish patriot. The President of the Parliament Ahmed Riza, joined the Foreign Minister Ahmed Tevfik in issuing a public declaration in favor of Zionism. But the Zionists became bolder: they claimed the establishment in Palestine of some sort of center for persecuted Russian Polish Jews. This led to antisemitic reactions by a few Muslim politicians led by Gumiilcineli Ismail Bey, leader of the People's Party (Ahali Firkasi). The specter was raised of "a Jewish state established not only in Eretz Israel, but also in Mesopotamia, the seat of the ancient Jewish settlement of Babylon". Fears were raised that Zionism could become the launching pad for the German Kaiser's plans of hegemony. Many Young Turks and Unionists began to question how much support should be given to a Zionist movement which now clearly threatened to separate from the Empire one of the holiest places of Islam, Jerusalem, Kudus el Sherif. Cautiously Nahum kept his distances from Zionism, considering the Jewish problem only from the standpoint of refugees from Eastern Europe and the Balkans (Shaw 226-229). The Grand Rabbi's uneasiness increased, when following the counter revolution of April 1909, the Turkish unionists, after their return to power, opposed any changes in the policy which Abdul Hamid had imposed on Jewish immigration to Palestine (Shaw 226-229). To assuage Unionist misgivings about continuing Jewish settlement in Palestine, leading Ottoman Jews founded the Jewish Brotherhood Society (Musevi Uhuvvet Cemiyeti) to promote friendship and good feeling with Muslim Turks.

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On community affairs Nahum started by keeping a low profile to avoid being tarnished, by the kind of public attacks the journalist Avram Galante had been making against the former Grand Rabbi Moshe Levi (Shaw 218-223, Weiker271). The first shock came when on January 23, 1912, the Communal Council of the Jewish Community (Nissim Rousso, President; Isaac Hamon, Vice-President) concluded on its own a convention with the Ashkenazi community, without consulting Nahum. A series of disorders followed. It was anarchy! Nahum called the Meclis-i Umumi (Jewish National Council) to convene, but another body the Meclis-i Cismani (Temporal Council) issued opposite instructions. The Ottoman authorities were called to interfere in the quarrel between the Jewish governing bodies. The high authority in charge, the Ministry of Justice and Cults responded in the form of a Tezkere (Official Note) (Galante

1,201-202): It is appropriate that the Meclis-i Cismani should abstain from opposing the conveying of the Meclis-i Umumi by way of the press. It is necessary that you [i.e. Nahum] keep your post until what is required is done... What were the issues which had brought Elia Kohen into conflict with Haim Nahum? Elia Kohen had been a strong supporter of Nahum in his battle to become Grand Rabbi in the period 1908-1909. However he turned against him almost immediately due to the Chief Rabbi's tyrannical conduct once in office. According to Stanford Shaw, Nahum had come to the office of the Grand-Rabbinate with an open mind, fresh ideas of freedom, ecumenism and democracy. Those wonderful ideas looked like a replica of the ideas promoted by the Young Turks when they came to power. Moslem Turks, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, Serbians, Bosnians, Bulgarians, Macedonians were all embracing each other in the euphoria of a contagious enthusiasm. The Jews who had gathered at the Zulfaris Synagogue were also sharing in the same enthusiasm. Soon things changed. The Union and Progress rapidly moved into a restrictive Turkish nationalism and even towards Turanian ideas with an expansion of Turkish hegemony towards Turan (The Turks of Central Asia and beyond). Even a Jewish scholar Moiz Kohen, later Tekinalp, became contaminated with such ideas when in his writings he asked a burning

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question: "Osmanlilar niye muharebeye girebilirler? (why would the Ottomans go to the war). Coming from a very Turkified Jew his answer was striking. Moiz Kohen had moved very far from the Kohens of my family. He was advocating a war of conquest, a war of expansion of Turkey to gather under the same realm all Turkic populations. From a scion of the priestly House of Aaron, Moiz Kohen had turned into a Tamerlane or Cengiz Khan ready to unfurl the armies of conquest in the reverse direction from West to East instead of East to West. At the time the German army may have been thinking "Nach Paris" and Kaiser Wilhelm with his Zionist Charter to Herzl may have been thinking "Drang nach Osten Nach Baghdad und nach India", Moiz Kohen was thinking "Drang Nach Turan". The emerging policies of the Young Turks created enormous discontent among the non-Turkish nationalists, ending in the triggering of the disastrous Balkan wars. In the same way Nahum's emerging policies started to create discontent and conflict when they revealed a trend away from democracy. I cannot tell for sure if these were the policies virulently attacked by Elia Kohen in his Relampago. There is at least an indication from Stanford Shaw that Nahum was turning to authoritarianism. Could Elia have used a bit of "yellow journalism"? It was told in our family conversations that one of his polemics included comments in the Relampago about Sultana, the wife of the Grand Rabbi (daughter of the educator Danon and ex-teacher of the Alliance). It was claimed that she was dressed for social events in a somewhat indiscrete way. Her too open décolleté at a dinner party was the object of special mention... The story in our family was that the Elia Kohen-Grand Rabbi controversy became so virulent that, unable to withstand the attacks, Nahum ended up running away to Paris and abandoning the Grand-Rabbinate of Istanbul, renouncing his high position. The real story may have been much more complicated and complex. When Nahum left for Europe in 1918 he was in the midst of a great controversy with the Jewish governing bodies. Could Nahum and Elia also have parted because of their attitude towards the Zionist movement? Certainly Nahum was not enthusiastic about Zionism and he kept his distance. Having initially operated with the Zionists, after 1910, Nahum turned against them. He preferred to concentrate on philanthropism directed to the Jewish refugees, and towards their resettlement, not specifically in Palestine, but rather over the broad domains of the Ottoman Empire. As stated

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in the preceding chapter, grandfather may have been more sympathetic about the Zionist movement, and he must have been questioned as such by the istiklal mahkemesi. Faced with floods of Jewish refugees from Grcece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania and Russia, Nahum found it difficult to oppose Jewish settlement in Palestine. He then resorted to a political maneuver, and as a consummate diplomat he attempted to outsmart the Zionist separatists and take the issue of Jewish immigration away from their hands. He tried to present the Jewish settlement in Palestine as a purely humanitarian effort under benevolent Ottoman rule. For this purpose he toured Edirne, Salonica, Alexandria, Cairo, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut and Izmir to gain support for his program. In 1913 the Young Turks relented and new waves of Jewish colonists were allowed to go on to Palestine without hindrance. In addition to global Realpolitik, the Zionist conflict with Nahum exhibited also the features of a local struggle for the hearts of the Turkish Jews. Shaw describes (224-225) how the Zionist Maccabi organization established to encourage sports among Jews was holding rallies and meetings, its members parading in uniform through the streets of Balat flying the Zionist flag and singing the Zionist hymn Hatikvah. The old ethnic divisions between Ashkenaze and Sephardi were surfacing again, the former strongly supporting the Zionists, the latter gathering around the person of the Grand Rabbi to declare their profound loyalty to the Sultan. Nahum's conflicts with the Zionists were strongly supported by the local president of the Alliance Isaac Fernandez (Shaw 224-225). However Nahum became the target of attacks in the press (? Elia Kohen, El Relampago), especially after he resigned in 1910 from the Maccabee club (Rodrigue 127) of which he had been an honorary member. The resignation was provoked by increasing attacks of the Zionists against the Alliance. Starting from the Balkan Wars, members of the Ottoman Jewish community led by Haim Nahum strongly supported the Ottoman war effort. At the end of the Balkan war Nahum stated (Yerasimos 181): Numerous were our correligionists who have fought in the ranks of the Ottoman army; the smallest communities sent their contingents to the army; there has been a great number missing in action, dead and invalids. But, we do not have statistical data based on official documents to assess the numerical participation of the Jews in the war effort.

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After Turkey entered World War I, Jewish nationals of enemy belligerent nations were severely affectcd by the Ottoman Empire's cancellation of the Capitulations guaranteeing the privileges of foreign nationals. Starting from mid-December 1914 Jews who had retained their Russian nationality were required to close their stores and shops and to leave the empire. Between Chanukah of December 1914, and Passover of April 1915, sixteen groups totaling 12,277 people departed for Alexandria; two thousand other colonists from Palestine were deported overland from Jaffa and Tel-Aviv to northern Palestine and Damascus. Finally Zionist pressure from Germany and America along with protests from Nahum ultimately led the Ottoman Government to allow Jews who were Russian nationals to remain provided they adopted Ottoman citizenship. However, German Foreign Minister Zimmerman's plan to establish a Jewish state in Palestine as a base of German presence in the region was opposed by Nahum. True to his nonZionist doctrine Nahum remain committed to humanitarian relief. The B'nai B'rith lodge in Istanbul worked with Nahum (Shaw, 230-232) in helping people of all religions in the face of wartime shortages of food and clothing. In Stefan Yerasimos' compilations about Istanbul in the years 19141923, Nora §eni writes that until 1914, the Zionist movement in Istanbul was rather weak, encouraged only by the Deutsche Juden Hilfsverein (remember Kaiser Wilhelm was a romantic Zionist), the rival of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. Grand Rabbi Nahum and the Alliance were cool towards Zionism. Most of the "Ancients", the alumni of the Alliance school belonged to the Jewish friendly association, the Amicale (Yerasimos 173). This Amicale Club continued to remain active until my time. T remember presenting there a lecture on messianism. The Zionist club Maccabi had poor attendance compared to the non-political Amicale (Yerasimos 173). Zionism was not gaining in popularity. After 1914, most of the energy of the Turkish Jewish youth was absorbed in the Ottoman war effort. Nahum is more bitter when he speaks about the losses in World War I (Yerasimos 182). Nahum had been the integrationist, loyal to the Ottoman cause. During the war Nahum had succeeded in salvaging the Alliance schools by maintaining that they were Jewish schools, not French schools (Yerasimos 179). In the wave of the Germanization which had accompanied Turkey's entrance into the war on the side of the Central powers, the French language was banned on the ferries, in the trams, in the streets, on the shop signs and even at the telephone. Nahum said that he had to fight like a lion, to prove his point on the Judaism of the Alliance schools (Yerasimos 179). It is obvious

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why he had to keep his distance from the Zionist, but after the occupation of Istanbul by the Ententists he was in a weak position with respect to the Zionists. As stated above it is not known what Grandfather was doing at the time, but he certainly was not pro-Nahum. The Armistice brought old conflicts within the Jewish community in Istanbul back to surface (Rodrigue 130-131). The Balfour Declaration gave a new zeal to local Zionists at the time the Ottoman Empire was being dismembered. Inspired by the Wilsonian ideals of autonomy of minorities, the Zionists plotted a coup d'état against Nahum, while he was abroad. Nora §eni (Yerasimos 179) gives one version of Nahum's travel abroad at the end of the war. She says that Nahum was, for four months, in Europe on a diplomatic mission from the Ottoman government (Cabasso 215), maybe a trial to get better peace terms. Apparently the Grand Rabbi had been sent to Europe by Grand Vizier Izzet Pasha on October 30, 1918, shortly after the Armistice of Mondros was signed (Shaw 241-243). Nahum was to serve as an intermediary with the Allies in general and the United States in particular. His mission was part of an attempt to secure an honorable peace on the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points. But Nahum on his trip to Europe was intercepted in Belgium as an undesirable agent, possibly a spy, and as such he was prevented f r o m reaching the United States, his original destination. A December 16, 1918 dated report by British Intelligence in Salonica, and in particular the Foreign Office minutes stated: the Turkish Masonic Lodges are the framework on which the CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) have built their secret organization. When the CUP carried out their grand coup d'état, the mob marched into the Sublime Porte under the banner of the Jewish lodge of Salonica and murdered Nazim Pasha (The Turkish War Minister). British Freemasonry... disavows the Oriental type, but I do not know what the attitude of the American Freemasonry is. Italian Freemasonry is in the closest touch with the CUP rite from Italy. It is probable that (Grand Rabbi Haim) Nahum's intrigues with America are largely carried out through Masonic lodges. (Public Record Office FO 371/3421/209381). While Nahum was being stalled in Belgium, with his supporters lacking leadership at a crucial time, Zionists and other opponents moved in. Accusations were brought in that Nahum left the Empire on a governmental mission without securing advance approval of the communal authorities. A series of community meetings directed by the B'nai B'rith president M. Niego, the Ashkenazi leader David Marcus, Nissim Rousso, and the Istanbul

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representatives of the Hilfsverein and the Maccabi (Zionists) revised the Jewish millet's (nation) organic status. The move was supported by the Istanbul Zionists, led by Emmanuel Carasso and Nesim Russo. Nahum's mission was disavowed. The Zionists and their supporters moved to form a Jewish National Council "aiming at full cultural autonomy". Despite the opposition of Nahum who was labeled an "assimilationist", the community structure was democratized. A national assembly of all the Ottoman Jews was convened with the encouragement of the Zionists and the British. Nahum's return was delayed by the Allies in order to give his enemies time to gain control of the community. The Grand Rabbi was toppled in absentia. Thus upon his return on March 4, 1919, Nahum found the position of the Zionists strengthened. The dismissed grand-rabbi initiated a violent struggle for power. After the Jewish National Assembly responded to Nahum by a campaign of vilification, the Grand Rabbi dissolved it against the opposition of the British high commissioner. For a time it seemed that Nahum had gained the upper hand and suppressed the coup d'état. However, the Zionists continued to make substantial gains in communal elections. At that point Nahum began to strongly support the Turkish national movement led by Mustafa Kemal. On April 21, 1920, Nahum gave in and left Turkey shortly thereafter (Rodrigue 130-131, Shaw 241-243, Weiker 239-240). He remained in contact with Mustafa Kemal and the Turkish nationalists. There is another version of Nahum's fateful voyage to Europe in 1918. It has been said that Nahum had a special relationship with Mustafa Kemal Pasha's movement, that his trip to the West, Holland first with plans to reach the United States, was on a mission from Mustafa Kemal to gain support for the Nationalist movement (Cabasso 215). As Nahum's last act in Turkish political life, he was an adviser of the Turkish delegation at the Lausanne Peace Conference, where the Turkish military triumph was consecrated by political recognition of the nationalist aims. Since 1920 Elia Kohen's and Haim Nahum Efendi's ways had completely parted. Elia Kohen had already abandoned his career as a journalist, but was still continuing as a lecturer of law and practicing lawyer. In 1924 Nahum responding to an invitation by the still flourishing Jewish Community of Egypt, assumed the position of Grand Rabbi of Egypt. It was not as exciting a position as being appointed Grant Rabbi of Turkey at the dawn of a new era under the leadership of the triumphant Young Turks. It was still a worthy undertaking, specially after Nahum's confirmation by royal decree on March 2, 1925 (Cabasso 215). Nahum remained titular of the Grand

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Rabbinate until his death on November 14, 1960. Because of his high culture, specifically as an orientalist, Nahum continued to accumulate significant honors. He was elevated to Senator of the Egyptian Kingdom and he became a founding member of the Royal Academy of the Arab Language (Cabasso 215). Among his many works, one can cite his translations of the Firmans (imperial decrees) addressed by the Ottoman sultans to the Egyptian Khedives (Viceroys). At the end of World War II Nahum was still ruling over a prosperous Jewish community, expanding in finance, trade and industry (Cabasso 198-200). Among the Jewish notables were Cataoui, Suares, Menasce, Mosseri, Rolo Pashas. To the ancient pasha families, new celebrities were being added from the business world enriching the Jewish rostrum: among others the international bankers Zilka and Shouella, Ovadia Salem and his Society of Commercial Advances, Emile Levy, President of the Cairo Stock Market. The Hamamoui quarter of Cairo was swarming with Jewish tradesmen. In the retail market there were the Jewish stores of Chicurel, Chemla, Oreco, Ades, Benzion, Gattegno, Hannaux. Egyptian Jews had also a major hold in the cotton market with the Houses of Ali Yehia Pasha and Farghali Pasha. Matters came to a standstill with the founding of Israel, but things were still tolerable as the Egyptian Jews remained aloof of the Zionist movement. Even the overthrow of King Farouk and the rise to power of the Young Officers did not bring much change... But for the Jews of Egypt after the Sinai war of 1956, it was the end... Together with the FrancoBritish aggressors the Jews had to leave (Cabasso 200-201). However the Jewish exodus, despite the noisy demonstrations of extremist elements, was achieved rather elegantly. There was no pogrom. Only for twice Grand Rabbi Nahum the anti-climax was sobering. He had started with such enthusiasm and optimism. All the signs had been there for a bright destiny and grand achievements. Yet he ended, still respected by the authorities, the Grand Rabbi of a community counting no more than a hundred members! (Cabasso 201).

III. THE ENIGMA OF ADMIRAL ELIAS COHEN PASHA SURGEON GENERAL OF SULTAN HAMiD'S NAVY

I do not have knowledge if Elias Kohen Pasha is connected to the Kohens del de Campavias. My grandfather never mentioned him, neither did my father or any other family member. In the mid-eighties I was visiting in England Aunt Estella, my father's youngest sister and her husband John Harding at their residence near Shakespeare's house. One day, when Aunt Estella was not around, John mentioned how illustrious her family had been. I cited one or two members. He added his eyes twinkling "The admiral!" I thought Aunt Estella had been bragging since I had no knowledge of an admiral in the family... I knew Estella to be quite capable of exaggeration... My father used to mention only a military doctor, a cousin he called Dalmedigo Pasha. He talked in shining words about the military honors at Dalmedigo Pasha's funeral. The military rank of a Pasha had to be a General. I had searched Galante and found only a colonel (albay) Dalmedigo, indeed a military doctor. After the conversation with John Harding, when I returned from England I went back to Galante and indeed discovered the Admiral Elias Cohen Pasha... I have no knowledge if he is related to our branch of the Kohens. Also when I recently wrote for further details to John who now resides part of the year in Crete and the rest of the time in Bodrum (Turkey) he did not seem to remember his past allusion to an admiral. He simply wrote: "No admiral sailed my waters". Admiral Elias Cohen's biography is still worth to be entered in this book as an historical record and because it reflects crucial events and scenes of the times. There is also from a nostalgic point of view, the fact that he was closely associated with the founding of the Synagogue Hemdat Israel located in the same street as my childhood residence in Kadikoy (Istanbul-Asia). Elias Cohen was able to enter and pursue medical studies under the benevolent policies instituted by Sultan Abdul Mecid. This very ecumenical ruler had made possible the attendance of Jewish students by removing the incompatibilities between life at the Military Medical Academy and the

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religious obligations of Jews. Services were installed and the rules of kasheruth were observed for Jewish medical cadcts. In the years that followed, Jewish physicians rose in the military ranks and played a significant role emulating the glorious days of Jewish doctors under Murad II, Mehmet the Conqueror, Sultan Selim I and Soliman the Magnificent. After the Academy, Elias Cohen was sent to France to study ophthalmology. He rose through the ranks to become an admiral of the Empire and the personal physician of Sultan Hamid. Elias Pasha boycotted the festivities in Istanbul on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. In the eyes of Hamid, the Alliance was a "foreign" organization: enough to actuate on Hamid's ever ready Paranoia! (Rodrigue, 139-144, Weiker 239, Ahmat 259). Worse yet, Zionists started to lay claims on extensive imperial possessions: Palestine which also included Transjordania! Such claims threatened to upset the Sultan's Jewish doctor Elias Pasha's quite congenial relationship with the over-suspicious sovereign. The Jewish Pasha, unsure that his decorations provided enough protection, resolved to maintain his distance from the Alliance. During a meeting with the Alliance, Dr. Riza Tevfik bey, head of the Turkish parliamentary delegation in Paris, stated (Rodrigue 139-144): It would be prudent not to encourage this (Zionist) agitation. Turkey .. .would not tolerate a movement which would end up by creating a Jewish Question (i.e. Zionism); it could lead to the rise of antisemitism. Elias Pasha Cohen was able to act more resolutely in another incident (Giileryiiz, Istanbul sinagoglari, pp. 44-45). A fire in 1890 had left the Haydarpa§a (Istanbul-Asia) community of 200 families in need of an appropriate oratory. The Greek community of the region held an interest in the terrain on which the construction of a synagogue was being planned. Claims were raised with threats of a bloody confrontation. Elias Pasha made Sultan Hamid aware of the situation. A detachment of soldiers from the nearby Selimiye barracks was dispatched. The recalcitrant Greeks were subdued. The construction of the Hemdat Israel (The Compassion of the Sons of Israel) was consecrated by a firman (decree) dated Redjeb 28, 1313 (1896). The words Hemdat and Hamid have the same root in Hebrew. Thus, the synagogue was so named to express the gratitude of the Jewish people to the Sultan.

IV. SONS AND DAUGHTERS

Elia had four sons Albert, Joseph, Henri and Jak, and three daughters Ventura, Corine and Esther. From time to time Elia, who adored spoiling his sons, would as said before dip his hand in the aldiquera (deep pocket of oldfashioned jackets) and pull out a handful of silver coins he would distribute among them. The sons grew up to become playboys and swashbucklers, especially Joseph who had been attending Lycee Saint-Michel where his father was a professor ... At Saint Michel the most hilarious class taught was under the Turkish language teacher. In this fashionable high class French school the Turkish language was not considered a vital part of the curriculum ... Thus, the sessions for Turkish lessons were an occasion for full license to make fun of the teacher. Once the students managed to place a mouse on the lecturer's chair, as he discovered to his horror... Joseph was not a model student, although he excelled in writing skills and dreamed of becoming a reporter in lands of adventure, ranging from the Sahara desert to Arizona. He also dreamed of romantic lands patrolled by the French Foreign Legion. He had the mind of a condottiere. At school Joseph enjoyed teasing one of his teachers, a catholic Brother from Luxembourg, horribly. Each time Joseph misbehaved, the purple-cheeked Luxembourgeois would tell Joseph: "Je vous donne un mauvais point" (I give you a bad point). Joseph would answer: "Donnez en deux!" (give two). Followed by the Luxembourgeois: "Je vous en donne trois" (I give you three). "Donnez en quatre" (Give me four). and so the auction went on...

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Joseph had been growing during the Hamid years. He had heard in his childhood and adolescence stories about the largesses of Sultan Hamid throwing coins to the crowds of disadvantaged and dispossessed, being greeted with the cries of "Padi§ahim 50k ya§a! (My Sultan! Long life to You!)." In 1912 Joseph watched with admiration the formidable looking units of Turkish soldiers leaving for the Balkan front... He could not understand the sorry sight that followed months later, when they returned in shambles as the battered legions of a vanquished empire down to the very last of its European footholds... This was the army that had twice surged to the gates of Vienna, and which now had allowed the Bulgarians beyond Adrianople, near (,'atalca at the gates of Istanbul... In his teen years Joseph showed the seed of a swashbuckler. At the time there were all kinds of rows and showdowns between Jewish and Greek youths, sometimes it was with the Maltese boys which formed a separate group, never with the Moslem Turks. All were probably about girls or some other trifle. The worst lot was that of Karaite youth on which the Rabbanite Sephardi Jews used to pick. It was even a common saying about the Rabbanites: "Let us give a beating to my Karaite of the day". Probably because intermarriage between Karaites and Rabbanites was not in practice, or for that matter even between Sephardim and Ashkenazes, the Karaites had only a very small pool from which to chose their partners. Marriage within such a narrow group could have weakened the breed. Formerly in one of their historical homelands, the Karaites of Halig in Crimea had been known as formidable warriors and the Turks of Crimea had even confided to them the defense of their fortress (Szyman). Regardless of the above, Joseph had long-lasting friendships at the college with youths of all nationalities and confessions. Some of these friendships were to last for a lifetime. Joseph spoke to me, his son, with evident nostalgia, repeating the names of his many friends at school. There was Scognamini, but I cannot remember what he did later on; there were also £ituris, owner of one of the greatest stationary shops in Istanbul, Primi the journalist, editor of the French magazine Beyoghlu and Lukrezi, the jeweler. By that time the Haskoylii Elia Kohen de Campavias' family had abandoned the ancestral village of Haskoy on the Golden Horn. Well-to-do

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families were migrating to the more elegant residential quarters of Istanbul. The Kohens de Campavias set up residence in an elegant quarter of the district of Be§ikta§ at the mouth of the Bosphorus. At that place now one can see the gigantic statue of Barbarossa, Soliman the Magnificent's Grand Admiral of the Seas and the inveterate rival of the Genovese Andrea Doria. Father used to recount an adventure he had one evening. From the more central districts of Istanbul to the Bosphorus there was a shortcut through the hills of Maslak. The area was thought to be somewhat unsafe and has remained so even till recent days. Running his bicycle downhill from Maslak Joseph recalls that he was suddenly intercepted by an odd looking man. The aggressor got hold of Joseph and started to sink his teeth in his throat. Joseph somehow remembered that he had access to what he called a clef anglaise (sort of wrench). He was able to extricate himself from the would-be "vampire" with a sudden knock of the wrench and raced away... It came as a shock to the Frenchified Jews: the Estrangement from France. Sultan Re§ad Mehmed the Fifth proclaimed djihad. In 1914, Joseph was almost ready to complete his studies at Saint Michel and he was dreaming more than ever to start a career as a reporter... Then came the great dislocation... The unimaginable rupture with France, Turkey's best friend, ally, beneficiary and benefactor since the days of Soliman the Magnificent... The French had to go and with them left the Frères de Saint-Michel. Turkey was now in an alliance with the Central Powers, the German and the AustroHungarian Empires... Joseph's dream of becoming a reporter in exotic lands had to be shelved for a long time to come... For Joseph it was to be Gallipoli after Gallipoli, that is, after Hamilton, the Commander-in-Chief of the British task force realized that he would never be Lord Gallipoli! The Ententists had finally withdrawn from the Dardanelles! For Joseph who was approaching 21 in 1917 the military draft was close... He thought it was better to volunteer before the draft caught up with him... While Joseph was in military training, because of his knowledge of French, a Turkish medical officer brought him a book in that language to be translated. Joseph found the text too technical and was puzzled on how to proceed. He then went to his cousin Eli Ahituv, the future Dr. Ahituv, who was a wizard in technical matters and obtained f r o m him the required translation.

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After training, Joseph was sent to the Dardanelles, instead of the Sahara desert and the French Foreign Legion (about which Joseph had been dreaming). With the British expeditionary corps departed Joseph was now at Gallipoli emptied of its invaders, more exactly at the positions of Sediilbahir and Kilitbahir. Gallipoli was cluttered with the leftovers of the British who had totally evacuated the Straits after the gallant but futile attack by the Anzac (Australian-New Zealander) detachments. Mustafa Kemal Pasha had already won the victory which ultimately would carry him to become the Gazi, Atatiirk the President of the Turkish Republic and posthumously the Ebedi (Eternal chief) of the Turkish nation. At Gallipoli, the poorly supplied Turkish soldiers had to feed themselves from the cans abandoned in stacks by the retreating British... The cans were now infested with worms... but Turkish soldiers had to survive on this meager diet. When they woke up hungry in the morning all they had to eat was the notorious un gorbasi (a kind of soup made of flour...). Once the Turkish soldiers caught a shark and partook of the bounty. All Joseph can remember is that the shark tasted like rubber. When I shared this story with an Australian marine ecologist visiting the University of Miami, he was quite surprised. He said that sharks can provide very tasty meals. It may be that the Gallipoli kopek baligi (shark, literally dog fish) tasted differently from Australian sharks. Yet Joseph, adventurer as he was, and a bit of a condottiere, with the mind of a conquistador, rather enjoyed Gallipoli... even the bombings by occasional French aircraft, which according to his recollections he would climb out of the trenches to watch... Boredom needed to be fought on the days there was not much to do. A couple of Joseph's Turkish comrades, all well supplied with lice, organized races between lice pulling minute chariots, of the kind usually pulled by flees... Occasionally Joseph could hear the distant echo of a firing squad executing a Turkish draftee gone astray on a criminal path... There were also workers' battalions employed at hard labor on the road, organized as punitive units to chastise lesser crimes or delinquencies... Joseph could not have guessed that one day more than two decades later he would be part of such a battalion, as a draftee of inonii's regime, but to tell the truth under more lenient conditions, in the episode named "as Vente Klassas" (the call of the twenty classes)...

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French airplanes went on bombing... Joseph was in the Straits' waters in a little craft, laying communication cables... He was once hit by the debris of French shrapnel with French aircraft circling over his head. He took pride of showing me the scar on his leg as a veteran of the war in Gallipoli. Joseph was a sergeant in the Signal Corps; he learned as part of his assignment to operate a heliostat, an instrument consisting of a mirror mounted on an axis moved by clockwork by which a sunbeam is reflected in one direction for sending light signals. Joseph befriended a German pilot named Maniket in charge of the only aircraft assigned to the region. Maniket downed a French airplane. His treatment of the defeated adversary who had managed to land safely was chivalrous. In winter mornings a bare-chested Maniket used to wipe his body with snow. The amazed Turks used to say among themselves "Domuza bak, nasil yikaniyor" (Look at the Pork, how he is cleaning himself!...) Maniket did not survive the war. His plane was downed in the Dardanelles. At Gallipoli, Joseph used to go on horse rides with his friend Said, the son of a well-beribboned officer in the guard of the Imperial Palace. The friendship continued after Gallipoli. Joseph was invited by his friend Said to the paternal residence where he had a token experience of what could be called Turkish delight. Sitting with Said in the guest room around a small table, Joseph went through an unforgettable experience of Ottoman hospitality. From a little window in the wall the women servants (probably veiled or head covered by a scarf) kept bringing them an interminable succession of quite little dishes covered with delicacies (what the Turks called meze and the Greeks who in alimentary matters never like to stay behind mezedakia). A scene from the French author Pierre Loti's Aziyade\ At the time my father thought that he must have been nearly on the threshold of the harem. He must have been fantasizing a bit. But there was more in lot for Joseph in his relationship with Said. A medal from Enver Pasha, but when the Inzibat (Ottoman police) knocks at the door...

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Enver Pasha, leader of the Union and Progress party, and Defense Minister in the Ottoman Empire came to Gallipoli for an inspection and to distribute medals. Joseph was now the proud bearer of the star shaped medal

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minted for non-commissioned officers, a rather pale model of the beautifully red enameled medal given to commissioned officers. Joseph was only a sergeant in communications. Only things did not always get better... The lice were more than the docile drivers of mini-chariots. They carried Rickettsia typhus. Joseph ended up with typhus. He survived... he was sent home for a leave. As he recuperated, it was obviously a lost cause, but the war was still on. The Ottoman Empire was crumbling. The reeling colossus was on its last legs... Joseph had outrun his leave time. He opted not to return. An inzibat (military policeman) came knocking at the door of Joseph's home. Allegra, the matriarch came at the door and when she saw the inzibat she told him to go away. "A? bo'yle mi?" (Oh! So it is like that?) answered with a sneer the inzibat. Allegra slammed the door in his face. No inzibat came ever again. Ottoman authority was disintegrating, the discipline was gone and there was only anarchy, no more imperial supremacy. After World War I, Joseph met his future wife, Victoria. My future mother was only four year old when her mother Esther born Babani became a widow. Victoria's father, the well-named Yechoua Bennun (could he be a descendant of the Biblical Joshua Ben-Noun?), was a biblical scholar. For years after his death his writings were religiously preserved in a family bavul (trunk). Notwithstanding his scholarship, the peaceful, sweet-mannered blond Yechoua was not at his best in financial matters; Victoria faintly remembered an affectionate and smiling blond man bent over her, tenderly speaking. She did not have him for long... In a moment of despair over his financially destitute condition Yechoua hung himself... a tragedy that would mark Victoria for life. Victoria's nineteen year older brother Vitali was ready to become the man of the family. Blue-eyed like his father, but tall and strong, Vitali was a brilliant mathematician who had completed superior studies at the Alliance School as far as they went. He later on would make his living as a master accountant. On her mother's side Victoria's family had in its roster a certain Babani who combined two professions which in those days were not incompatible. He was at the same time a sort of buffoon and an empirical doctor. It is not known whether it was his jesting or his therapeutic talents, or both that pushed him to fame, but he did end up with the privilege of entry at the Imperial Palace.

Father Joseph at twenty-one in Gallipoli, after the great battles of 1916. Father is dressed in the uniform of a Signals corps sergeant expert in the use of the heliostat for communications from within a small rowboat.

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My mother was to experience another kind of Turkish delight at the Dariilmuallimat (Girls' teacher school). After completing her elementary studies at the Alliance school in Haskôy, during World War I Victoria had a good life at the Dariilmuallimat in the Istanbul locality of Çapa. The care of students and the food were excellent and all at the expense of the Ottoman sultanate. There was a saying at the school: "Prasa olsa yememl (I shall not eat it even if it is leek!), which came to mean that the students were so well fed, that they could not eat more even if they were offered leek, which was supposed to be a most appreciated delicacy at the time. They did get their good share of borek (cheese pie with layered pastry) and baklava (Turkish dessert made of pastry stuffed with pistachios or walnuts and dipped in honesyrup). By the time the war ended Vitali was working at the famous Société d'Électricité, a Belgian concession which run most of the utilities in Istanbul. Victoria joined her brother doing clerical work in the same company. It was there also that she was to meet her future husband Joseph who occupied a managerial position. My mother always remembered with a sweet feeling the song of the Italian military who had occupied Haskôy, at the end of World War I: "el baccio di la mamma ti acompania" (The kiss of the mother accompanies you when you leave for the army). When the armies of occupation entered Istanbul, the district of Haskôy became an Italian zone. While in other zones of Istanbul British or French occupants at times ruled with an iron fist, the Italians came in the spirit of la dolce vita. The soldiers, rather than acting as occupiers, left in the memories of the residents the words of endearing songs, such as "il baccio de la mamma ti accompania". My mother used to sing for me that sweet and nostalgic song. She had a magnificent voice, and there were three other songs, she liked to sing for me: one French, one German and a funny one in Judeo-Espagnol. The French one was sad and poignant about a spahi mortally wounded in the Sahara: "Là-bas sous un ciel de rouge et d'enfer" (there under a sky of red and hell). The German song was a French translation of the Austrian national anthem, which also came to be the German anthem; the Judeo-Spanish song was "estas son las mañanitas quel Rey David nos cantava". My mother knew how to write the Arabic cursive in which courses were taught at the Dariilmuallimat. She also knew how to write in the old Judeo-Spanish cursive the Soletreo which had no punctuation and in which the words went on in an unending interlacing and spiraling sequence of letters.

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As well described by Stéphane Yerasimos, in the Armistice years for cosmopolitan Istanbul it was the time of Istanbul follies. Joseph continued to be a playboy engaged in a number of torrid love affairs. These were also the years of Extravaganza, a little like the folly of the Directorate years after the French revolution. Joseph made a show of elegance with a western style hat (