The Divergence of Judaism and Islam. Interdependence, Modernity, and Political Turmoil

(Joyce) #1

18 · Avigdor Levy


and the households of viziers.^4 A major figure was Moses ben Raphael
Abravanel (d. 1738), an Ottoman Jew who converted to Islam and became
known as Hayatizade Mustafa Feyzi. He made numerous contributions
in Turkish to Ottoman medical literature and rose to become chief phy-
sician (hekimbaşı) to the sultan. He occupied this office for twenty-two
years, from 1669 to 1691, an exceptionally long term. Hayatizade also es-
tablished a dynasty of physicians that, with few interruptions, monopo-
lized the office of chief physician for over eighty years, until 1753.^5
Another Jewish convert to Islam who made important contributions
to Ottoman sciences and education in the late eighteenth and early nine-
teenth centuries is known to us only by his Muslim name, Hoca Ishak
Efendi (d. 1834).^6 Originally from Arta in Greece, he was a mathemati-
cian and taught at the Army Engineering School, becoming the school’s
director in 1830. During his tenure, he restructured and improved the
school’s curriculum, and he is considered a pioneer in the moderniza-
tion of Ottoman education. He published in Turkish various works of
science, including Mecmua-i Ulum-u Riyaziye (4 vols., 1831). The work
was highly significant because it was the first presentation in Turkish of
contemporary mathematical and physical sciences, which necessitated
coining new scientific terms in Turkish. Most of Ishak’s neologisms were
based on Arabic words, but also on European terms, and they became
established in writing and teaching. Apparently, Hoca Ishak remained
on close terms with the Jewish community of Istanbul and came to its
assistance on a number of occasions. Among Jews he was affectionately
known as the rabbi, or ḥakham, of the Admiralty (Tersane), the quarter
where the engineering school was located.^7
Other Jews who were prominent in government service included the
dentist Jacob Bivaz, who entered the palace in the late 1830s and con-
tinued to serve there for some thirty years.^8 In 1844, a Moravian Jew,
Dr. Sigmund Spitzer (1813–94), became physician and political advisor
to Sultan Abdul-Mejid. He also played an important role in the mod-
ernization of the medical school.^9 During the reign of Abdul-Hamid II
(1876–1909), several Jewish physicians and dentists were employed in the
palace. These included Elias Pasha Cohen, Isidore Pasha Greiwer, Leon
Behar, David Hayon, and Sami Günsberg.^10
I presented this somewhat detailed historical introduction to under-
score the following point. It is true that as a community, the Jews had suf-
fered great decline, both materially and culturally, in the late eighteenth

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