The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire (review)

124 SHOFAR Fall 1993 Vol. 12, No. 1 ment) each committed to the regeneration of Jewish life in France. By focusing on the ideology of the regenerateurs, their educational theories and institutions, and their program for religious reform and a modern rabbinate, Berkovitz makes the case that mainstream FrenchJewish leaders were committed to the unity and solidarity of the Jewish people while simultaneously viewing France as their patrie; to the importance of Hebrew, while simultaneously viewing French as their language; to the importance of Jewish knowledge while promoting excellence in general French education. In short, they were committed to the creation of the "unprecedented and unequalled symbiosis of two mutually enriching civilizations" (p. 251). That many French wanted anything but in no way invalidated the regenerateurs' program. Jay Berkowitz deserves our gratitude for a sensitive and intelligent portrait of the French Jewish Community of the nineteenth century. He has shown that the repercussions of emancipation were complex and defy the simplistic labeling to which they have frequently been subject. Jay M. Harris Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Harvard University The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire, by Avignor Levy. Princeton, NJ: Darwin Press, in cooperation with the Institute of Turkish Studies, Washington, DC, 1992. 196 pp. $19.95 (c). Professor Levy opens his book with a description of how the Jews of the Ottoman Empire celebrated the 400th anniversary of the formal expulsion ofJews from Spain by praising their experience in the eastern Mediterranean compared to that of their coreligionists under Christian rule. The laudatory themes expressed by Ottoman Jews a hundred years ago also end the book. Enclosed between the references to the events of a century ago is a sweeping overview of the history of the Jews of the Ottoman Empire. With the memory of the multiple celebrations of 1992 and the SOOth anniversary still fresh, although not mentioned in the book under review, it is appropriate that a book devoted to the history of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire appear. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with this book for those unfamiliar with the history of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire. Book Reviews 125 The first problem is the title of the work. Although it is given as "The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire," the work is really an overview of the history of all the Jewish communities in territories held by the Ottoman sultans from the fourteenth century to 1923. There are places where Levy, a distinguished scholar of nineteenth-century Ottoman history and a member of the Brandeis University faculty, deals specifically with Sephardim and their domination ofOttomanJewish society, e.g., p. 60ff, but they are not the .sole or even primary focus of his study, which includes all the Jewish communities. Unfortunately, the title could not be changed to "The Jews of the Ottoman Empire" since this is the title of a forthcoming collection of essays edited by Professor Levy. In fact, the book under review "was originally written to serve as the introductory essay in the collaborative work and it is reprinted there with some necessary changes" (p. xiv). It is not clear for whom this book was written. The first chapter on the Jewish settlement in the Ottoman Empire illustrates this issue. The paragraph on the Salonika Jewish community is a concise, clear overview accessible to readers new to the history of the Ottoman Jewish communities . The more detailed discussion on the Istanbul community with its Romaniot, Ashkenazi, Italian, Hungarian, Sephardic, and other Jewish households reflects Levy's mastery of the sources, but readers with less background might find some of the statistics confuSing. At other times the chapter titles imply certain chronological boundaries that are not always followed. Chapter two, under the heading of "The Ottoman-Jewish Symbiosis in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries," includes material on Jews in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. On the other hand, chapter three entitled "The Structure of the Jewish Community," includes material on the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries which could have gone in the previous chapter. The negative tone of the preceding remarks must be balanced with the many positive elements in the book. Levy's treatment of the role...