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the Balat Foundation at+90 212 523 7407 for visitor information), with a very pretty interior that was restored in 1992, in honor of the five hundredth anniversary of the Iberian Jews’ arrival in Istanbul. The other is Neve Shalom (Büyük Hendek Caddesi 61, Karaköy / nevesalom.org), which has, sadly, been the object of three terrorist attacks: September 12, 1986, when more than twenty people were killed; November 15, 2003, when one of four car-bomb attacks killed fifty-seven people and wounded seven hundred (Al Qaeda claimed responsibility); and again on November 20, 2003, when two truck bombs exploded, killing thirty people and wounding forty. (On the same day, George W. Bush was visiting Tony Blair in London; the British consulate in Istanbul was also targeted.) The clock in the Neve Shalom lobby remains stuck at 9:17 a.m., the time of the 1986 explosion.

Two good resources for history and background information (and mentioned in this section) are A Travel Guide to Jewish Europe, by Ben G. Frank (Pelican, 2001), and The Cultural Guide to Jewish Europe (Chronicle, 2004). Joel Zack’s New York-based Heritage Tours (800 378 4555 / heritagetoursonline.com) arranges highly regarded tours to Istanbul and other parts of Turkey (and Morocco, Spain, and South Africa as well) with an emphasis on exploring Jewish heritage.

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Karagöz

Karagöz (meaning “black eye” in Turkish) is both the name of Turkish shadow theater and one of the central characters in this art, which dates back to the sixteenth century (and the nineteenth in Greece). Though the oldest Turkish shadow puppet still in existence today is only one hundred years old, we have an idea what the older puppets looked like from scenes depicted in Ottoman miniatures of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. These often were of jesters and grotesque dancers.

Karagöz has been described as “a rich cross section of Turkish culture, namely, of poetry, miniature painting, music, folk customs, and oral tradition.” Mary Lee Settle, in Turkish Reflections, describes the character Karagöz as a hunchback who was working on the Great Mosque in Bursa when it was built. “He was caught making fun of the sultan by using his hands to cast shadow figures on the wall. In a fury, the sultan had him executed. It was out of Karagöz’s joking that the Turkish shadow puppets were born. The shadow puppets are still everywhere, as familiar as Punch and Judy.”

Karagöz and Hacivat are the two lead characters, with Karagöz representing an illiterate but honest fellow and Hacivat belonging to the educated class. Shadow puppet plays have been especially associated with Ramadan, and years ago, it was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Turkey. Today most of the stories (some of which were originally off-color or violent) have been adapted for their audience, mostly children.

The puppets themselves, usually made of camel skin and dyed, are simple but beautiful, and they make nice souvenirs. The best place to buy them in all of Turkey is in Bursa, at Karagöz Antikaci (Kapalı Çarşı, Eski Aynalı Çarşı Içir 12-13, Osman Gazi / +90 224 220 5350). Years ago, the original owner of the shop, Rafet Çelikkol, sent me some puppets by mail as I wanted to give them as a birthday gift to a friend. Today his son, Sinasi, is in charge of the store and is continuing to support the shadow puppet tradition.

Kebab

A kebab or kebap (or “kabob,” as we pronounce it in the West) is a category of food that is typically Turkish, dating back to the times when the nomadic Turks learned to grill and roast their meat over fire. Bade Jackson explains in Turkish Cooking:

Given the numerous types of kebaps, it helps to realize that you categorize them by the way the meat is cooked, as in Şiş kebap and doner kebap. It is not that they are complicated or even particularly exotic, but their basic flavor and combination of simple ingredients has stood the test of time. The preparation of doner kebap always follows the traditional methods. First the boned leg of lamb is marinated with herbs, yogurt, tomato,