The Grand Rabbinate of Turkey has made representations to the government to ease the requirements of a recent regulation for the election of councils for each synagogue and Jewish institution. The regulation, which affects all minorities in Turkey, changed the older system of electing community councils for an area and including within the council that area’s religious cultural and welfare institutions.
A delegation composed of Chief Rabbi Raphael Saban and Ben Zion Gallin, vice-president of the lay community council of Istanbul, called on Fahrettin K. Gokay, Governor of Istanbul, to urge him to use his good offices to have the regulation changed. The delegation pointed out to the Governor that changes in the population–by emigration and the shift to suburban areas–have left many synagogues with exceedingly small or non-existent congregations, making elections difficult and meaningless.
Subsequently, Mr. Gallin went to Ankara to confer with government officials on the regulation. This week elections in the Ashkenazi community and in the Istanbul suburb of Balat were voided by the government because they were held under the old system.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
