THE JEWS.
The Jews of Turkey, of whom there are about 170,000, are by no means
exempt from the sorrows and curses of their race. As if conscious that
there is no escape from the contempt of the rest of the world, they
are willing to undertake the meanest of earth's callings, literally to
"eat the dirt" of their Moslem masters.
Content to appear like the refuse of humanity, they strive to
accumulate the miser's hoards, and receive the buffetings and cursings
of their neighbors as if they were choice blessings--usury of all
sorts, whether upon sequins or old clothes, peddling the meanest of
wares in the streets, rag-picking, and filth-gathering in general,
are their means of earning a livelihood.
The venerated names of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are almost needless,
or seldom heard--for the one comprehensive word Yahoudy (Jew) is the
nomenclature of the whole remnant of the chosen people. Yahoudy come,
and Yahoudy go, are the summons and dismissal--while the rabble boys
mockingly shout Tchefut, and snatch some fragment of their tattered
garments.
Public sentiment having stigmatized them as utterly depraved, they
have no incentive to honesty, and not daring enough to commit any
atrocious crime, they become more expert in petty larcenies and like
misdemeanors. They are even accused of stealing a Christian child
once a year, in order to mingle its blood in their festivals, as a
retaliation upon the Christians in general.
This, of course, refers to the mass, who, victims as they are to misery
of all sorts, cannot be expected to practice the kindlier virtues which
distinguish those among them to whom a better fate has been allotted.
There was a celebrated Armenian banker, Tcharazly, who, having fallen
under the displeasure of a certain Turkish grandee, was suddenly one
day seized and hung before the door of his own dwelling; his property
confiscated, and his only son cast into prison.
A certain Jewish banker, Shabgee by name, had long been the friend
and neighbor of this family; and now, in the time of their trouble,
he spared nothing for the liberation of the unfortunate young man,
the son of his friend; which, he not only succeeded in obtaining,
but reinstated him in all the honors of which he was the lawful heir.
The Jews are to be found in many villages on the Bosphorus, though
their principal quarter is at Balat, on the Golden Horn. They live
also in other parts of the city, but as may naturally be inferred,
in such places as no one else would inhabit.
Their houses are like bee-hives, literally swarming with human
life; even one single room serves for the only home of several
families--and the streets of their quarters are almost impassable,
from the collection of garbage and all sorts of refuse, which are
indiscriminately thrown from the windows of their dwellings. Their
misery may partly be attributed to their practice of very early
marriages, as before a man is twenty-one years of age he is burdened
with the care and support of a numerous family, which reduces him to
such poverty, that even the meanest economy can scarcely enable him to
support his own existence and that of the helpless beings dependent on
him. The exactions of the Khakhams or priests, which are very great,
help also to impoverish this pitiable people. It is no wonder,
then, that they appear in rags and tatters--and herd together in
styes--yet it is most amusing to see them on a Jewish Sabbath. The
filthy gabardines which they wore in the week, as they exercised
their various callings, being laid aside, and bright and gaudy finery
substituted, in which they strut about the streets, seeming to be other
beings, and to have no relation to the wretches of yesterday. But, of
course, in such a population there will be various grades of misery,
and a few families of wealth are to be found among them.
They have some of the domestic institutions of the Osmanlis, and the
women wear thick white veils, but without concealing the features,
as in the case of the Turkish ladies. The young virgins are allowed
to wear their hair long and flowing--but after marriage it is
carefully concealed beneath a towering and cumbersome headgear,
which is a wonderful illustration of the tenacity with which this
singular race adheres to ancient usages. It recalls to mind the days
of Pharaoh and the people of Israel, for the similarity is perfect
between their present head-dress and that of the mummies who have
reposed in their tombs ever since the family of Joseph "took their
cattle and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan,
and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him."
As they were originally from Spain, their language is still a mongrel
dialect of that country.
They are very strict in the observance of their religious rites
and ceremonies--never transacting any business on the Sabbath, nor
performing any domestic duties. Even their lamps on Sabbath evenings
must be lighted by some one of their Christian neighbors--and should a
conflagration occur on that day, their helplessness is truly pitiable,
for they will see all their property consumed without making one
effort to save it.