page_title: Religion in Istanbul
section_title: Judaism
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Istanbul / Judaism
caption_attribution_description: English: Dome of the Istanbul Ashkenazi Sinagogue
context_page_description: Religion in Istanbul covers the issue of religion in the city of Istanbul, Turkey.
  According to the 2000 census, there were 2691 active mosques, 123 active churches and 20 active synagogues in Istanbul; as well as 109 Muslim cemeteries and 57 non-Muslim cemeteries. Religious minorities include Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenian Christians, Catholic Levantines and Sephardic Jews. Some neighbourhoods have been known with their sizeable populations of these ethnic groups, such as the Kumkapı neighbourhood, which had a significant Armenian population, the Balat neighbourhood, which used to have a sizeable Jewish population, the Fener neighbourhood with a large Greek population, and some neighbourhoods in Nişantaşı and Pera, which had sizeable Levantine populations. In some quarters, such as Ortaköy or Kuzguncuk, an Armenian church sits next to a synagogue, and on the other side of the road a Greek Orthodox church is found beside a mosque.
  Istanbul was the final seat of the Islamic Caliphate, from 1517 to 1924, when the Caliphate was dissolved and its powers were handed over to the Turkish Parliament.
context_section_description: The Sephardic Jews have lived in the city for over 500 years, see the history of the Jews in Turkey. The Sephardic Jews contributed much to the rising power of the Ottoman Empire by introducing new ideas, methods and craftsmanship. The first Gutenberg press in Istanbul was established by the Sephardic Jews in 1493, who excelled in many areas, particularly medicine, trade and banking. The Camondo family was highly influential in the Ottoman banking sector. The famous Camondo Stairs on the Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Street) in Karaköy (Galata) was built by them. More than 20,000 Sephardic Jews still remain in Istanbul today.
  Romaniotes and Ashkenazi Jews resided in Istanbul even before the Sephardim, but their proportion has since dwindled; today, just 1 percent of Istanbul's Jews are Ashkenazi. The Avusturya Sinagogu (Austrian Synagogue), also known as the Aşkenaz Sinagogu (Ashkenazi Synagogue) is one of the most famous synagogues in Istanbul and stands out with its interesting architecture. A wave of Ashkenazi Jews came to Istanbul during the 1930s and 1940s following the rise of Nazism in Germany which persecuted the Ashkenazi Jews of central and eastern Europe.
  Today, a total of 20 active synagogues are to be found in the city, the most important of them being the Neve Shalom Synagogue inaugurated in 1951, in the Beyoğlu quarter. The Turkish Grand Rabbi in Istanbul (currently Ishak Haleva) presides over community affairs.
  A decrease in the population of the city's Jewish community occurred after the independence of the State of Israel in 1948, but the Turkish Jews who migrated to that country helped to establish strong relationships between Turkey and Israel. The founders of the State of Israel and prominent Israeli politicians such as David Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and Moshe Shertok had all studied in the leading Turkish schools of Istanbul in their youth, namely Galatasaray High School and Istanbul University.
caption: Dome of the Istanbul Ashkenazi Synagogue
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