As Jews celebrate Hanukkah, rabbi links Jewish festival to Türkiye

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - As millions of Jews celebrating Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, around the world, a rabbi in Istanbul told Anadolu Agency that the religious tradition has its roots in Türkiye's southeast.

"It is quite interesting that the holiday of Hanukkah originated in Türkiye," Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, the Ashkenazi rabbi of Istanbul, told Anadolu Agency at his home, adorned with several paintings related to Jewish history, along with menorahs, nine-branch candelabrah used to celebrate the Jewish holiday.

"It originated in Türkiye because we celebrate the miracle that happened because of the Hellenistic regime, which was stationed in Antakya (southeastern Turkish province of Hatay) and Antioch imposed the Hellenic culture on the Jewish people that lived in Judea," he said.

Located near today's Antakya, Antioch is an ancient city that served as the capital of the Greek Seleucid Empire, while Judea is a region corresponding roughly to modern Israel and Palestine.

Hanukkah celebrates an heroic Jewish victory over the more powerful Greek forces amid an uprising against the Seleucids in the second century BC.

"The King Antiochus IV Epiphanes ... imposed sanctions against Jewish religion in Judea, where Jews originate from modern-day Israel," said the 45-year-old rabbi who has been living in Türkiye's largest city since 2003 and is fluent in several languages, including Turkish.

"Jews in Judea have revolted against the sanctions against the Jewish religion. And they have succeeded in regaining control over Judea and enabling themselves and their families to practice their religion freely," he added.

"This is the idea of Hanukkah where people are able to be enlightened, show their own light, their own specialty, and celebrate their religion freely," he added.

- Sephardic, Ashkenazi traditions

Chitrik is also the chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (ARIS), a group that works to connect and support the activities of rabbis serving Jewish communities in predominantly Muslim countries.

The Istanbul-based rabbi and his extended family light one candle each day to celebrate the Jewish holiday.

"Hanukkah is a holiday celebrated at home," Chitrik said. "We start the first night of Hanukkah with one candle. On the second night, we add another candle ... until the eighth day. Every night, we increase in light."

"The idea is to make the world more enlightened, filled with light, the light of knowledge, the light of spirituality," he added.

Apart from his wife and six of their eight children, Chitrik's parents from Israel were also present at their Istanbul home to celebrate the traditional festivities.

Chitrik, his father, and his two sons Yuda, 11, and Tzvi, 3, lit the candles as the Istanbul rabbi explained that the silver menorah he was lighting was an antique descended to his father from his grandfather and later to himself.

Proudly showing the menorah, he told the story behind the iconic item that traveled to Istanbul decades ago in the hands of his grandfather, who fled Soviet Russia in 1936.

Following the lighting ceremony, Chitrik's 16-year-old daughter Sarah played violin and the whole family said the prayer of Hassidik Melodi for Hanerot Alalu.

His children also played dreidel, a four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side, as they competed to win chocolate wrapped to resemble coins.

During the festival, Chitrik said, they eat traditional food fried in oil in commemoration of a miracle associated with the Temple oil which there was "a little bit of oil, which has lasted for eight days."

The traditional oily food is called poncik in Turkish or sufganiyot which is a doughnut filled with jam or laccase, which are potatoes fried in oil.

"It's a holiday which is celebrated among family. We give gifts, and money to kids, and it's really a holiday that kids love," he said. "The kids look forward to a holiday like Hanukkah, and we celebrate it in Istanbul as everywhere else around the world.”

Jewish communities have lived in what is modern-day Türkiye since ancient times, including many expelled Spanish and Portuguese Jews who were welcomed into the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. Istanbul in particular still retains a Jewish community, mainly Sephardic and a smaller Ashkenazi group that differ from each other in such ways as menorah lighting during Hanukkah.

While Ashkenazi families have each male member of the household light their own menorah, in Sefardi families, the father is usually the only one to do so on behalf of the other members.

- People coming together

Not present at the Chitrik household was the rabbi's son, Eli, who was in Qatar where he started celebrating Hannukah "right after the World Cup."

Chitrik had also been to Qatar to help supervise food choices offered at the event to make sure they abided by the requirements of Jewish law.

"My son Rabbi Eli is in Qatar now," he said, adding that he "was able to eat kosher and celebrate Jewish holidays and Sabbath amongst Muslims and Arab people. This is the essence of Hanukkah."

Hanukkah was celebrated for the first time in public places in Türkiye in 2015 with a ceremony attended not only by Jewish leaders, but also by Muslim and Christian religious officials, as well as locals.

The tradition, which includes the lighting menorah candles, has continued every year since then. This year, the event will be held in Istanbul's Bebek neighborhood on the European side.

"It is a very beautiful tradition that in Istanbul ... the vast population is Muslim, and still everybody is embracing each other's religion and traditions," he said. "Every capital around the world has a public hanukkiah and public menorah. And Istanbul is no different."

"There's something beautiful about having people of old traditions coming together," he added. "But at the same time, we should remember that we all have our own traditions to keep and guard. And it's such a beautiful thing that everybody can celebrate their very own tradition without mixing it with another tradition."

"All people living together in the same place. Each one following their own tradition is the beauty of Hanukkah, is the beauty of living together. That's the beauty of Istanbul, that's the beauty of Türkiye," he said.