Turkey - Mother Tongue

Adana

Ruthi Golov

Community, Shabbat and synagogue

Kurdish language and identity

Acquaintance of her parents and the relationship with her sisters

Dating and her wedding

Family

Foods

Holidays and teething ceremony

Ruthi's illness

Ankara

Zelda Kazas Altban

Education and Multilingualism in Istanbul

Folk song: Carolina, the neighbor's daughter

Holidays and mikve

Jewish communities and synagogues

Relationship with Muslims with the authorities

Zionism and Ben Gurion and Moshe Sharett's visit in Istanbul

Zionism, emigrating on the Struma ship and aliya

Argentina

Prof. Liliana Benveniste

Bereavement customs

Cultural Center of Spain and Ladino teaching

Ḥad Gadya' in Ladino

Passover Haggada in Judeo-Spanish

The family and life story

Zeved habat (naming the girl ceremony)

Aydın

Esther Cohen

Family, community, education and holidays

ʾEsther Cohen

Bereavement customs

Family and community customs

Jewish education and holidays

Ladino teaching

Passover and synagogues

Recipes

Shabbat and Yom Kippur

Weddings and family life

Buenos Aires

Esther Cohen

Family, community, education and holidays

Silvana Gabriela Vivas

La Tavla De Dulse (a poem)

The veal that turned into fish

ʾEsther Cohen

Bereavement customs

Family and community customs

Jewish education and holidays

Ladino teaching

Passover and synagogues

Recipes

Shabbat and Yom Kippur

Weddings and family life

Edirne

Levana Rota

Passover Haggada and recitation of 'Ḥad Gadya' in Judeo-Spanish

Proverbs

"Hatikva" version sung by her grandmother

Author of the commentary 'Meʿam Loʿez' by Rabbi Yaʿakov Culi, reading the Tora's portion of the week and the relationship between the Jews and the authorities

Children's song that a grandmother sings for her grandson

Children's song to encourage Tora study

Her grandmother's life

Judeo-Spanish and fasting on Tisha B'Av

Nursery rhyme that my grandmother sang to me

Recipe book of the community and the blessing of the mayor of Edirne in the introduction to the book

Recipes and foods

Reciting a longing song for Jerusalem

Simḥat Tora and Passover

Synagogues, Talmud Tora, brit mila, bar mitzva and community

Women doing the laundry together

ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Luna Tarragona

Activity in Zionist movements and hiding the activity from the Government

Jews fleeing from the Nazis

Judeo-Spanish dialects

Relations with Muslims and the government's attitude toward the State of Israel

The Aburtados community, Jews who converted to Islam

The Jewish community, Anusim (forced converts) and “Guardians of the Tora”

Ḥalab

Klara De Picciotto (of Balio)

At The Sunrise Café – En el Caffe de Almanecer

Five Years - Cinco Amiyos

From the High Seas – De Las Altas Marres

Hopes – Umitleri

I Want to Go, My Mother – Ir Me Quero La Mi Madre

Little Dark Lass - Morenica

Sleep My Darling – Durme Te Mi Alma

The First Beloved - El Primer Namorado

The Golden Pillar - El Pilar de Oro

The King's Son (Ijo del Rey)

The Tree - Arvolero

White Roses, Flower Bouquets – Blancas de Rosas Ramas de Flores

Israel

Levana Rota

Passover Haggada and recitation of 'Ḥad Gadya' in Judeo-Spanish

Proverbs

"Hatikva" version sung by her grandmother

Author of the commentary 'Meʿam Loʿez' by Rabbi Yaʿakov Culi, reading the Tora's portion of the week and the relationship between the Jews and the authorities

Children's song that a grandmother sings for her grandson

Children's song to encourage Tora study

Her grandmother's life

Judeo-Spanish and fasting on Tisha B'Av

Nursery rhyme that my grandmother sang to me

Recipe book of the community and the blessing of the mayor of Edirne in the introduction to the book

Recipes and foods

Reciting a longing song for Jerusalem

Simḥat Tora and Passover

Synagogues, Talmud Tora, brit mila, bar mitzva and community

Women doing the laundry together

ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Ḥana Vaknin

Song for a bride at the bathhouse

Tamar Polack

Buying clothes for the holidays: story about aunt Sara

Dating and Victoria's husband

Family gatherings and going to the mikve

Laundry

Victoria finding Tamar's cigarettes, Tamar electrocuted

Victoria's concern for Tamar

Visit in America and life story

Istanbul

Rachelle ʾArania

Celebrating Israeli Independence Day in secret

Childhood and the relationship between family members

Holiday cleaning, Passover seder, complaints from Muslim neighbours and bribing police

Gifts for babies during pregnancy, celebrations of the birth of a son and daughter and naming

Holidays

Keeping kosher inside vs. outside and relationships with the Muslim neighbours

Shabbat customs

Songs in Ladino and the different Ladino dialects

Studying at a nunnery and taking music and sports classes

Sunday traditions: volunteering at the Jewish hospital, collecting donations in secret and spending time with family and friends

Visit to Israel, Aliya and life in Israel

Roni ʾAranya

History of the family

Songs in Judeo-Spanish

Different languages in Istanbul

Foods

Future of Ladino

Jewish community, Passover holiday and foods

Ladino intergenerational transmission

Making aliya and his life in Israel

Matilda Koen Sarano

Preservation of the Judeo-Spanish culture

Reading and writing in Ladino

Shifts in Ladino

The Ladinos group

The role of the heritage center in Ladino preservation

The use of Ladino during his childhood and Spanish dialects in Israel

Clara Alfandari

Aliya, absorption and living conditions in Israel

Education, childhood and leisure

Family

Medicine

Meeting her husband and weddings

Relationship with the Muslims, Turkish Independence Day and death of Atatürk

Shabbat, Passover and further holidays

Joshua Bar David

Bar mitzva and bat mitzva and relationship with non-Jews

Dating and wedding

Foods and holidays

School, occupation and livelihood

Luna Bonan

Aliya, tradition and holidays

Family, community and language

Luna Shtobi

Language, Aliya and absorption

School, synagogue, community and World War II

Luna Tarragona

Activity in Zionist movements and hiding the activity from the Government

Jews fleeing from the Nazis

Judeo-Spanish dialects

Relations with Muslims and the government's attitude toward the State of Israel

The Aburtados community, Jews who converted to Islam

The Jewish community, Anusim (forced converts) and “Guardians of the Tora”

Mazal Ḥadad

Life and family story

Three folk songs and a proverb

Prof. Liliana Benveniste

Bereavement customs

Cultural Center of Spain and Ladino teaching

Ḥad Gadya' in Ladino

Passover Haggada in Judeo-Spanish

The family and life story

Zeved habat (naming the girl ceremony)

Rina Papo

Love song for ʿaraq (drink)

Shabbat and foods

Wedding and engagement

Robert Carlson

Holidays and foods

Ladino in childhood and synagogues

Shabbat and its foods

Sara Ḥalfon ʿInbar

A love song translated from Turkish

Family, Judeo-Spanish and other languages

Holidays: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shavuot

Making aliya, studying at the ulpan and living in Eilat

Reading the Haggada in Hebrew and in Judeo-Spanish and the afikomen custom

Songs in Judeo-Spanish

The Jewish community and their relationship with the Muslims

Sarah Tzarfati

Aliya and absorption

Authorities' attitude and forced labor

Family and life story

Silvana Gabriela Vivas

La Tavla De Dulse (a poem)

The veal that turned into fish

Sultana (Suzanne) Kimḥi

Aliya to Israel

Bereavement customs, other customs and folk beliefs

Birth and bar mitzva

Childhood and family

Dating and wedding

Nursery rhyme in Turkish

Schooling and education

Shabbat and holidays

Song about biblical Abraham

The city, the Jewish community and relationships with non-Jews

Tamar Polack

Buying clothes for the holidays: story about aunt Sara

Dating and Victoria's husband

Family gatherings and going to the mikve

Laundry

Victoria finding Tamar's cigarettes, Tamar electrocuted

Victoria's concern for Tamar

Visit in America and life story

Ventura Danino

A mother's song

Aliya, absorption and family

Day center

Female Muslim friends

Victoria Lavie

Children's song

Family, community and relationship with the Muslims

Holidays and foods

Love song for ʿArak

Shabbat and holidays

The urge to learn and knowing languages

Yaʿaqov Bachar

Finding a job and the class gaps between women and men

Life and family story

My children, grandchildren and the community

Singing on Shabbat eve, Shabbat and Passover foods

Zelda Kazas Altban

Education and Multilingualism in Istanbul

Folk song: Carolina, the neighbor's daughter

Holidays and mikve

Jewish communities and synagogues

Relationship with Muslims with the authorities

Zionism and Ben Gurion and Moshe Sharett's visit in Istanbul

Zionism, emigrating on the Struma ship and aliya

ʾAlbertis Israel

Family, community and their attitude towards Judaism

Foods and songs

Judeo-Spanish dialects

Relationship with Muslims and Jews avoiding politics

Volunteering in the preservation of the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) language and culture

ʾOjani Cohen (Bechar)

Family and childhood in Istanbul

פתגם ושיר

Izmir

ʾEsther ʾEshkenazi Sultan

Family and life story

Community, relationship with the Turkish, Zionism and language

Passover

Shabbat

Sukkot, Ḥanukka, Purim and Tu BiShvat

Ḥana Vaknin

Song for a bride at the bathhouse

Klara De Picciotto (of Balio)

At The Sunrise Café – En el Caffe de Almanecer

Five Years - Cinco Amiyos

From the High Seas – De Las Altas Marres

Hopes – Umitleri

I Want to Go, My Mother – Ir Me Quero La Mi Madre

Little Dark Lass - Morenica

Sleep My Darling – Durme Te Mi Alma

The First Beloved - El Primer Namorado

The Golden Pillar - El Pilar de Oro

The King's Son (Ijo del Rey)

The Tree - Arvolero

White Roses, Flower Bouquets – Blancas de Rosas Ramas de Flores

Nissim Sardes

Aliya and absorption

Eid al-Adha (Muslim holiday) and the kosher shechita

Excitement during the reading of The Binding of Isaac and Book of ʾEsther

His grandmother's memory of the Armenian genocide

Music and leisure at the family home

Passover

Pogrom against the Jews of Izmir

Proverbs

Shabbat and its foods

Spices and folk remedies

Talmud Tora and the Jewish community

The family and work of the father

The synagogue, community and dating

Rina Dahan

Story about the Tzitzit (ritual fringes) that saved her grandfather

Eliʿezer and the carrot in Ladino

Ladino as a mother, changing her name at school and her children's interest in the language

Preserving the language

Proverbs

Roza Dahan (Mizraḥi)

Circle of life: birth, brit mila and bereavement

Community and Shabbat

Education, adolescence and bar mitzva

Her marriage to a Moroccan Jew and the preservation of Sephardic culture

Making aliya with her brother and her parents' attempt to make aliya

Passover and Rosh Hashana

Sacred songs and proverb

Silvana Gabriela Vivas

La Tavla De Dulse (a poem)

The veal that turned into fish

ʾEster ben Tora-Ventura (Leon)

Aliya to Israel

Family and World War II

Jacob ben Tora- Ventura's life story

Proverbs

Los Angeles

Robert Carlson

Holidays and foods

Ladino in childhood and synagogues

Shabbat and its foods

Rhodes

Robert Carlson

Holidays and foods

Ladino in childhood and synagogues

Shabbat and its foods

Unknown

Ruthi Golov

Community, Shabbat and synagogue

Kurdish language and identity

Acquaintance of her parents and the relationship with her sisters

Dating and her wedding

Family

Foods

Holidays and teething ceremony

Ruthi's illness

איסטנבול

Roni ʾAranya

Sukkot, Tu BiShvat and geographical distance from the Jewish community

Contact us