Turkey’s Jewish community has welcomed its new chief rabbi, David Sevi, installing him in the post yesterday in a ceremony at Istanbul’s Neve Shalom synagogue, nearly a year after the death of his predecessor, Ishak Haleva.
Sevi, 70, who had served as the acting chief rabbi since Haleva’s death on January 14, is the fourth hakham bashi (chief rabbi of Turkey) since the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and the 34rd in office since the days of the Ottoman Empire.
Sevi was elected in September after the city’s Jewish community held an internal election, Israel’s Arutz 7 reported. The rabbi was chosen unanimously, with no other candidates running for the position.
He was born to a family with deep roots in Turkey and is a member of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States. For decades he has worked to promote Jewish education, preserve the traditional customs of Turkey’s Jewish community and strengthen religious life, according to Israeli media.
Sevi also served as the community’s shochet (ritual slaughterer) and as the synagogue’s hazzan (cantor). Last month he was pictured meeting Pope Leo XIV during the pontiff’s first apostolic journey, in Istanbul.
The chief rabbi is expected to lead the Jewish community in the Muslim-majority nation through 2032, with an option for renewing his contract.
Haleva died this year aged 84 after serving as chief rabbi for 23 years.
Though the vast majority of Turkish Jews emigrated to Israel in recent decades, the country still has a Jewish population estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Istanbul.
Non-Muslim citizens of Turkey, including Jews, suffer from institutional violations of their freedom of religion, according to a 2022 report by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee’s Freedom of Belief Initiative.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has become more hostile toward Israel and closer to Hamas since the October 7 2023 attacks led by the terror group.
He has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “vampire who feeds on blood” while urging Muslims worldwide to fight the Jewish state. Erdoğan has also claimed that Palestinian terrorists from Gaza were “simply defending their homes, streets and homeland” on October 7.
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