Book presentation: The Jews of Edirne – June 22 at 1pm

Join us this Sunday June 22 at 1pm for a fascinating presentation by Professor Jacob Daniels on the Jewish Community of Edirne. At the turn of the 20th century, Edirne was a bustling city linking Istanbul to Ottoman Europe. It was also the capital of Edirne Province—among the most religiously diverse regions of the Ottoman Empire. But by 1923, the city had become a Turkish border town, and the province had lost much of its non-Muslim population. In his new book, Jacob Daniels explores how one of the world’s largest Sephardic communities dealt with the encroachment of modern borders.

Using Ladino, French, English, and Turkish sources, Daniels offers a new take on the ways in which ethno-religious minorities experienced the transition “from empire to nation-state.” Rather than tracing a linear path, Edirne Jews zigzagged between the Ottoman Empire and three nation-states—without moving a mile. And by maintaining interstate Sephardic networks, they resisted pressure to treat the shifting border as a limit to their zone of belonging.

Jacob Daniels is Assistant Professor of Instruction and Assistant Director of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Signed books will be available for purchase and refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP to Amarcus@kkjsm.org