Forty years ago, on Sept. 6, 1986, terrorists armed with machine guns and grenades stormed Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul during Shabbat morning prayers.
asserted
terrorists → arm → prayers
Twenty-two Jews were murdered in minutes.
asserted
Jews → murder → minutes
The attack was attributed to the Abu Nidal Organization, and when the congregation rebuilt, it left the bullet marks in the marble beside the ark unrepaired.
asserted
it → attribute → ark
They wanted everyone who prayed there to remember.
asserted
who → want → ?
This summer, I stood outside those doors, though I could not get in.
uncertain
I → stand → doors
A minute’s walk away, the line outside Galata Tower stretched around the block.
asserted
line → stretch → block
Tourists carried freshly squeezed orange juice while vendors pulled simit from ovens that had barely cooled since dawn.
asserted
that → carry → dawn
Ferries crossed the Bosphorus below, stitching Europe and Asia together as they have for centuries.
asserted
they → cross → centuries
Then the afternoon call to prayer rose from the city’s minarets.
asserted
call → rise → minarets
Steel barriers, surveillance cameras, armed officers, and an armored police vehicle stood guard.
asserted
barriers → stand → guard
When I asked whether I could go inside, the officer explained politely that visitors had to register weeks in advance, submit a passport, and undergo a background check.
uncertain
visitors → ask → check
As I stepped away, a woman who overheard me speaking Russian stopped me.
asserted
me → step → me
“You won’t get in,” she said.
asserted
she → get → ?
She was a tour guide, referring to the 2003 truck bombings of Neve Shalom and Beth Israel, the third time terrorists had struck the synagogue since 1986.
asserted
terrorists → refer → 1986
She told me antisemitism had become more visible since Oct. 7, 2023, and she worried about Turkey’s hostile rhetoric toward Israel, but she refused to reduce millions of Turks to the words of their government.
“In the end,” she said, “most people just want a normal life.
asserted
people → tell → life
I heard versions of that sentence throughout my two weeks in Turkey.
asserted
I → hear → Turkey
I came to study a country.
asserted
I → come → country
Instead, I found myself asking what it means for Jews to have a home.
asserted
Jews → find → home
Five centuries ago, the Ottoman Empire took in Jews expelled from Spain.
asserted
Empire → take → Spain
Ladino-filled marketplaces, synagogues, schools, and businesses became part of the fabric of Istanbul and Izmir.
asserted
marketplaces → fill → Istanbul
Today, roughly 14,000 Jews remain in Turkey.
asserted
Jews → remain → Turkey
Communities contract gradually: a family leaves, a school closes, a synagogue adds another security barrier.
asserted
synagogue → contract → barrier
Eventually, what was once ordinary requires protection.
asserted
was → require → protection
That history followed me.
asserted
history → follow → me
I observed the Sabbath, hunted for kosher food, and explained Jewish practice to people who had never knowingly met an observant Jew.
asserted
who → observe → Jew
But I am part of a people whose history is filled with places that were once home.
asserted
that → fill → places
That tension was impossible to ignore.
asserted
tension → ignore → ?
Those identities do not require me to see Turks as enemies or dismiss the hospitality I encountered.
asserted
I → require → hospitality
Jewish life should not depend entirely on the goodwill of a host society, and yet, it increasingly does around the world.
asserted
it → depend → world
The question is not whether Jews are allowed to remain.
asserted
Jews → allow → ?
It is whether they can imagine remaining.
asserted
they → imagine → ?
There is a difference between being tolerated and believing your grandchildren will still belong.
asserted
grandchildren → be → ?
I left Turkey with conflicting emotions.
asserted
I → leave → emotions
I met people who were generous and eager to share their culture, but I also saw how antisemitism can make Jewish life feel conditional.
asserted
life → meet → culture
I can reject the idea that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks for every Turk, distinguish criticism of Israel from antisemitism, and still believe Jews deserve a place where our existence is not contingent on a majority’s acceptance.
asserted
existence → reject → acceptance
Not the belief that Jews cannot live anywhere else, or that Israel is beyond criticism.
asserted
Israel → live → criticism
It is the belief that after centuries of building lives in places that could cease to be home, the Jewish people should have a home of our own, where our safety and future are in our own hands.
uncertain
safety → build → hands
Travel did not make me less certain of my Zionism.
asserted
me → make → Zionism
It made me understand it differently.
asserted
me → make → it
The lesson of Jewish history is not that Jews can never belong anywhere else.
asserted
Jews → belong → history
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
