But instead of the expected representation of Jerusalem, it is an idealized vision of Yambol as it was in the glory days of the Ottoman Empire. And in a melding of Jewish and Islamic traditions, the tall brass menorah in Beit Israel, the largest synagogue in Izmir, Turkey, has a central pole topped with the star and crescent, the traditional symbol of Islam and the Ottoman Empire. In Istanbul, the abandonment of many old synagogues is a result of a shift of the Jewish community away from the old heartbeats, the Balat and Haskoy quarters in the old city, to outlying districts. Isak Aboudaram, who led us through the synagogue, which stopped functioning in 1950, descends from the family that founded it in 1869 and is a grandson of its last rabbi. A few weeks after my return to New York I learned that a heavy rainstorm had sent the roof and three walls crashing down.
Some congregations endure despite their dwindling numbers.
In Ankara, fewer than 100 Jews maintain a gemlike synagogue. After a Friday of photographing the Antakya synagogue, I returned there in the evening expecting to find eight or nine old men. The rabbi, in his 30s, told me he made the 22-hour bus ride from Istanbul each week to lead services and teach the children.