A sidebar for the curious. During the 19th century Armenian publishers were printing many Jewish (Sephardic) books in the Ottoman EmpireMavi Boncuk |
Jewish Journalism and Printing Houses in The Ottoman Empire And Modern Turkey.
Reviewed by Rachel Amado Bortnick
Jewish Journalism and Printing Houses in the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey.
Nassi, G.[1], Ed. - The Isis Press, Istanbul, 2001. 167 pages. ISBN: 975-428-149-1
Order from: isis(at)turk(dot)net
ISBN-10: 1617199095 | ISBN-13: 978-1617199097
OUT OF PRINT
Books and articles on Sephardic journalism and printing have heretofore been available only in scattered sources and locations, and mostly in languages other than English. The recent publication in Istanbul of the English-language - Jewish Journalism and Printing Houses in the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey - has changed that situation. Editor and researcher Gad Nassi, with the collaboration of several researchers and translators from Israel, Turkey, and the U.S, has assembled here two scholarly articles on the prolific printing and journalism activity of the Sephardim, comprehensive lists and bibliographies, and many photographs of the works discussed. The book, dedicated to the memory of the twenty-three worshippers killed in the terrorist attack at Istanbul's Neve Shalom synagogue in 1986, will serve as a treasure house for the researcher in this field and for anyone interested in the intellectual history of Sephardim.
The article titled "The Jewish Press in Turkey" by Avner Levy is an expository on the history of Jewish journalism in the Sephardic Diaspora from 1842 to the present, and the factors that led to, and the social and cultural effects of, the proliferation of journals. Here Levy also discusses the journalists, the reading public, the languages, and the journals published abroad by Jewish emigrants from Turkey. Complementing Levy's article is Gad Nassi's "Synoptic List of Ottoman-Turkish-Jewish and Other Sephardic Journals," which is no doubt the most complete ever assembled. The list of journals fills twenty-seven pages, organized alphabetically by the cities, and within each, the publications in chronological order, with the language or languages of each, the years of publication, and the editor(s), when known. Dr. Nassi also follows this with a "Glossary of Publication Titles" where journal names in French, Hebrew, Ladino, Spanish, Turkish, and Yiddish are translated into English.
Almost immediately after their settlement in the Ottoman Empire, Sephardic Jews established the first printing presses there using Hebrew type. Yaron Ben-Na'eh's article, "Hebrew Printing Houses in the Ottoman Empire" (translated from the original Hebrew) covers the gamut of Hebrew printing activity from 1493, when the first printing press began operating in Istanbul, until the 1940s. Dr. Ben-Na'eh first comments generally about the book printing history of the Sephardim and then treats each of the publishing centers - Constantinople, Salonica , Adrianople (Edirne), and Izmir - separately with respect to the significant periods of their printing output. Books printed in Hebrew type, in Hebrew or Ladino, and their authors are subsequently listed and explained by Nassi in his "Amplified Glossary of Book Printing." This is a mini-encyclopedia of works, authors and terms such as "Cairo Geniza,""Loez Sefaradi," and more.
[1] Gad Nassi (b. 1937) - Curriculum Vitae
Born and educated in Istanbul, Gad Nassi graduated from Galatasaray High School and from the Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University.
He began his career as author during his high school studies by writing for local magazines, as well as translating popular articles from French and English to Turkish.
While working in psychiatric institutions in Istanbul and Israel, he led clinical researches, which were published in professional periodicals.
During his university studies, he served as director of Shalom, the newspaper for the Jewish Community of Turkey; as a correspondent for various foreign publications; and also directed the press bureau of the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul.
His experience at Shalom and his active role in communal affairs convinced him to utilize the Turkish language to awaken young Turkish Jews to their cultural and communal roots. In doing so, he was among the precursors of those favoring an open dialogue between the generations, and enabling the new generation of Turkish Jews to develop a positive sense of cultural and social identity.
In 1986, he founded MORIT - an organization for the preservation and advancement of the Turkish Jewry heritage. As its president, he organized the "First International Congress on Turkish Jewry", in Israel in 1989. The conference constituted one of the corner stones in the enhancement of relations between Turkey and the Jewish world, and in particular, with Israel. He initiated and collaborated with WIZO Israel and the Municipality of Tiberias to organize a commemorative gathering in December 1990 in Tiberias to honour Dona Gracia Nasi. In the framework of this event, he co-authored with Rebecca Toueg a biographical work entitled Dona Gracia Nasi. With Moshe Shaul, he organized the "First International Encounters on Judeo-Spanish" in Tel Aviv in 1994. This conference resulted in the establishment of foundations for preserving and promoting the Judeo-Spanish language and culture.
He edited and partly authored "Jewish Journalism and Printing Houses in the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey" published in 2001. Inspired by his reminiscences of using Judeo-Spanish within his family and a concern to promote the Judeo Spanish language within a contemporary setting, he edited and partly authored "En Tierras Ajenas Yo Me Vo Murir" (In Alien Lands I Shall Perish), an anthology of memoirs, short stories and legends, which was first published in Istanbul and later in Barcelona in 2005. During the presentation ceremony on the occasion of its publication in Spain, organized by the Turkish Embassy in Madrid, he emphasized that Judeo-Spanish lore is a common part of Jewish, Iberian and Turkish heritage, and the heritage of other countries.
Since 1989, he has published numerous articles on the Sabbatean Messianic movement. These publications broke new ground in the understanding of the movement within the context of Ottoman lore and the Ottoman Jewish legacy.
He is among the promoters and founders of El Amaneser, a monthly supplement in Judeo-Spanish of the Shalom newspaper in Istanbul. He continues to regularly publish articles on historical, mystical and folkloristic topics.
He presented a lecture at the fifteenth annual conference of the Society of Crypto-Judaic Studies. He estimates that the rapprochement between crypto-Jewry of Sephardic ascendency and Sephardic Jewry constitutes a valuable and unexploited field for the insight and integration of their reciprocal spiritual identity.
He maintains a psychiatric practice in Herzlia, Israel, where he resides together with his family.
See also:
En Tierras Ajenas Yome Vo Murir Tekstos Kontemporanos En Djudeo- Espaniol Leyenda De Una Lingua-haketia -Kuentos-memorias-meliselda -Oki Oki Editado Por Gad Nassi 2002 by Gad Nassi and Moshe Shaul
Dona Gracia Nasi 1991 by Gad Nassi