Recent years have witnessed impressive development in scholarship on the urban history of cities in the Ottoman Empire and the history of the Jews who lived there. Dina Danon's book is devoted to the Jewish community of Izmir (Smyrna), one of the major cities in the empire in the late eighteenth century. Even though social processes in the cities of the Ottoman Empire had much in common, every city had its own unique character and its own story to tell. Izmir, an important port city, has a storied history from ancient times, but very little is known about the history of Jews there.
Using a variety of sources, including Ladino periodicals, documents from the archives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, and other archives in a number of languages, as well as additional printed sources in Hebrew and Turkish, Dina Danon has made a serious contribution to the history of the Jews of Izmir in the period from the nineteenth century to early twentieth century.
The book includes a detailed introduction and five chapters. In the introduction, Danon presents the central theses of the book as well as a historical outline. As opposed to the accepted historiography that describes modernity in the Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire as an import from European Jews (primarily from western and central Europe)—mainly integration and emancipation—Danon argues that the Jewish community of Izmir aspired to modernization mainly in order to solve the problems of poverty and the economic-social structure of the community. Like other cities in the Ottoman Empire, the demographic structure of Izmir was not homogenous; it had a varied population consisting of a not-so-large Muslim majority, a dominant Greek minority, Armenians, and Jews. The strong economic status of the Jews in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries declined severely with respect to the other ethnic groups in the nineteenth century.
The first chapter, “The Djuderia and Public Space,” concerns the Jewish quarter. The chapter describes the processes of modernization that began and took hold in the Ottoman Empire and its Jewish communities as a result of the Tanzimat (Ottoman reforms). As a port city with a large Christian population and a strong European influence, the urban changes in Izmir in the nineteenth century were remarkable. In chapter 1, and even more so in chapter 2, the author discusses how the Jewish community started to treat poverty not only with the traditional method of giving charity, but as a phenomenon that needs to be eradicated by modern means of improving conditions in education and employment, establishing modern schools that taught subjects useful for in-demand trades and occupations. In addition, two hospitals, charitable institutions, and Ladino newspapers all made major contributions towards modernization.
Chapter 3 describes how new modes of transportation (ferries, trams) and the development of an urban bourgeoisie in Izmir in the late nineteenth century led to massive migration of the upper classes from the old quarters of the city, including the old and crowded Jewish quarter, to neighborhoods outside the city. In the late nineteenth century, cooperation began between various ethnic communities in the city in the areas of charity, certain educational institutions, and patterns of recreation, reflecting patterns of modernization, as Danon discusses.
In chapter 4, the author deals with issues of taxation in the community, mainly the question of an indirect tax, the gabela—a sales tax on kosher meat. This tax, which was levied already with the foundation of the community at the beginning of the seventeenth century, led to a series of confrontations of the lower class with the middle and upper classes in previous centuries, but in the nineteenth century the conflict broke out in full force, because of the increase in the numbers of the poor and the severe economic crisis. The struggles were conducted by modern means, in pamphlets, newspaper articles, and booklets. The conflict between the classes continued for many years and reached its climax with the death of the chief rabbi (ḥakham bashi) of the community, Rabbi Abraham Palacci, who served in that capacity for thirty years (1868–1898) and supported the modernizers. The struggle over succession in the rabbinate continued for two years, but the question of the gabela and the high price of kosher meat continued into the twentieth century.
Chapter 5 discusses struggles between conservatives and modernists in Izmir. Political and ideological differences regarding rabbinical and administrative control of the community and regarding patterns of education were rampant in the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Similar struggles also occurred within the Ottoman establishment and society, with the introduction of the Tanzimat and continuing with the revolution of the “Young Turks” and the establishment of the Republic (1923). In fact, many have not been resolved to this day.
In Danon's opinion, the focus on internal changes and processes in the community serves to fill a gap that was left in earlier studies on major Sephardic communities and on processes of modernization. Indeed, it seems to me that similar processes and phenomena occurred in European and Ottoman communities, with differences of nuance. For example, changes in education in European communities were introduced by the authorities in order to facilitate integration of the Jews into society. In the Ottoman Empire, on the other hand, and particularly in Izmir, the Jews themselves took action and initiated educational changes in order to improve their economic situation.
Danon has succeeded in describing and analyzing how social and economic conditions led to communal struggles and the desire for change. Yet, one cannot deny external, Western influences and the views of Western Jews who tried to aid the communities of the Ottoman Empire as an impetus for change. Another point regards the distinction the author makes between the social history of the communities in the previous centuries, and the nineteenth century. Long-lasting and influential traditions developed in the community that continued into the nineteenth century. These comments do not detract in the least from Danon's excellent achievement in her study; her book is a singular contribution and an important landmark for future research on other Sephardic communities in modern times.
