Izmir has been home to a Jewish community since the late sixteenth century. Sephardi Jews arriving from different parts of the Ottoman world helped shape the city’s commercial, cultural and religious life, especially as Izmir grew into one of the eastern Mediterranean’s major port cities.
By the early twentieth century, Jewish Izmir was a large and varied community, with more than thirty synagogues, schools, printing houses, hospitals, learned families, artisans and traders, and a population of around forty thousand. The community later contracted through war, economic change and migration, and today numbers between eleven and twelve hundred. It did not disappear. It remains part of the city’s living fabric, dedicated to preserving its heritage and passing it on to the next generation.
- Community: the Jewish community of İzmir
- Present since: the late 16th century
- Foundation: İzmir Jewish Community Foundation (roots to 1605; foundation 2012)
- Community centre: opened 2019
- Population today: about 1,100–1,200
The community today
The Izmir Jewish Community Centre opened in 2019 as a space for community life and public-facing cultural work, bringing together members of all ages for social, cultural and religious activity. IzmirJCC.org presents that work through a clear institutional website for visitors, researchers, partners and members of the wider public.
The Jewish Community Foundation of Izmir
The Jewish Community Foundation of Izmir works to meet the social and cultural needs of the community. With roots reaching back to 1605, the community formally became a foundation in 2012. Its responsibilities include assistance to members in need, care for the elderly and the sick, and the education of children and young people, alongside the maintenance and restoration of active synagogues and cemeteries.
Synagogues affiliated with the Foundation include, in Kemeraltı, the Algazi, Bikur Holim, Shalom, Señora, Portugal, Bet Hillel, Hevra and Etz Hayim synagogues, and the Los Foresteros synagogue; in Karataş, Bet Israel and Rosh Ha-Har; and in Alsancak, Shaar Ashamayim.
The community’s cemeteries are the active Altındağ cemetery, maintained by the Izmir Jewish Cemetery Charity Association, and the older Gürçeşme and Bornova cemeteries, which are no longer active. Affiliated charitable bodies support funeral services, the education of orphans and children in need, elderly care connected to the Karataş hospital, and youth and cultural activities.
What this site is for
This site has three jobs.
It introduces the Jewish community of Izmir in clear public language.
It makes the city’s Jewish heritage easier to understand, especially the historic synagogue cluster of Kemeraltı, the later Karataş quarter and the resources created through recent heritage projects.
It gives visitors, researchers and partners a sensible way to make contact without publishing details that should remain private.
How to use this site
Use Heritage for the city’s Jewish places and cultural memory. Use Visit before planning any in-person visit. Use Resources for books, films, audio guides and links.