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Last update - 10:29 15/02/2007 'It's early to declare Ladino dead' By Yoav Stern ISTANBUL - It may be the only city in the world that's divided between Asia and Europe. But did you know that it's also the only city in the world that publishes a regular newspaper in Ladino? The weekly Salom, which serves the Jewish population of Turkey, and especially the Jews of this city of 10 million on the Bosphorus, is mostly written in Turkish, but each edition has an entire page of news and articles in Ladino. Ladino, which is widely known here as "Jewish Spanish," is fighting for its survival. When Salom was founded, in 1947, as part of the broader cultural activities of the Jewish community, it appeared entirely in Ladino, but over the years Turkish has replaced that language. In addition to the weekly page, there is also a monthly magazine in Ladino, which is apart of an effort of the members of Turkey's Jewish community to preserve the language, an effort that also involves many in Israel, Europe and America. But it's only in Turkey that's there a substantial community whose members are united by Ladino. Turkey's Jewish community numbers approximately 23,000, which makes it, after Iran's, the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world. Nonetheless, this large population, which comprises the descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, and who were welcomed to the empire by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II, is aging. The birthrate is dwindling - for every three deaths there is only one new child, and 20 percent of all marriages are mixed. Advertisement Many in the Jewish community view the campaign to revive Ladino as one of the important ways to preserve their cultural life. Turkish Jewry is largely secular, something that reduces the importance of Hebrew, the holy tongue. The hope now is that Ladino can become entrenched as the community's third language, after Turkish and English. Turkish Jews have succeeded in preserving their language for more than 500 years, since the expulsion from Spain. But in the 20th century, Turkish Jewry, like Turkey itself, underwent a tremendous change. The community sought to become part of the citizenry of the new Turkish nation, and to become Turks also in tongue. Toward the late 1940s, the use of Ladino became unacceptable among Jewish youth. "I could not stand it when my mother spoke to me in Ladino in public," says the editor of Salom, Matilda Levy. "I asked her to speak to me in Turkish, and she did that in a terrible accent." Karen Gershon Sharhon edits the newspaper's Ladino page and is the moving spirit behind the effort to boost the language. "It is still early to consider Ladino dead," she says, as she sits surrounded by books translated into Ladino and published in Istanbul. "When I was studying the subject at university, they told me that the language would be dead in 10 years. That was 15 years ago, and in practice what is happening is the opposite," she says. A few years ago, Sharhon and some of her friends set up a band, Los Pasaros Sepharadis, or the Spanish Birds, to perform Ladino songs, and find they are having great success in attracting audiences. Last year, in cooperation with the Istanbul branch of Institute Cervantes, courses in Ladino and modern Spanish were set up for the Jewish community, and about 80 young members of the community registered and began learning the language. Members of the younger generation all speak fluent Turkish, of course, but their names are still foreign. According to Levy, people who do not know her think she is a Turkish Muslim, until they hear her name. "They think I am a foreigner, and then I need to explain that I am not. I am a Jewish Turk," she says. Nationalist elements in Turkey have attacked Jews for their ethnic background. "This is a new trend," says the deputy head of the Jewish community in Turkey, Lina Filiba. "The nationalists are questioning our Turkishness, even though the fact that we are Turkish is accepted by all others," she adds. Bookmark to del.icio.us   The Chancellor's visit Angela Merkel arrives in Israel to 'open new chapter' in bilateral ties. London paying Netanyahu says PR trip to U.K. wasn't funded by Israeli taxpayer.   1.   Matilda Levy 10:53  |  Jackie Kleinstern 15/02/07   2.   Does Israel Still Have a Newspaper in Ladino? 11:07  |  Johnny Weintraub 15/02/07   3.   Matilda Levy 15:43  |  Tilda Levi 15/02/07   4.   Yvonne Levy 15:47  |  Yaakov Sullivan 15/02/07   5.   Johnny Weintraub 16:18  |  sh 15/02/07   6.   Isd There A Ladino Newspaper in Israel? 16:30  |  Yaakov Sullivan 15/02/07   7.   Ladino papers 17:55  |  Marco Benatar 15/02/07   8.   Ladino newspaper 18:19  |  Mario Arber 15/02/07   9.   Ladino papers 18:23  |  Marco Benatar 15/02/07   10.   SH (Post No. 5) 18:28  |  Johnny Weintraub 15/02/07   11.   Dwindling. 18:34  |  Nur 15/02/07   12.   Ladino Rules! Viva Judeos! 18:40  |  Jorge 15/02/07   13.   Yaakov Sullivan 19:14  |  sh 15/02/07   14.   Marco Benatar 19:28  |  sh 15/02/07   15.   Why not teach it as Jewish dialect of Spanish? 19:32  |  Serge 15/02/07   16.   Nur 19:32  |  sh 15/02/07   17.   @ Mario Arber 19:40  |  gunay 15/02/07   18.   Johnny W again 19:49  |  sh 15/02/07   19.   ladino rules!viva judeos! 20:19  |  ester 15/02/07   20.   ladino 20:23  |  ester 15/02/07   21.   Ladino 20:31  |  Claudio 15/02/07   22.   Ladino 21:53  |  Salomoni 15/02/07   23.   Yvonne 22:01  |  Renee martin 15/02/07   24.   Renee Martin on Yvonne #23 22:46  |  Yaakov Sullivan 15/02/07   25.   Renne, a romancero I remember #23 22:48  |  Yaakov Sullivan 15/02/07   26.   Idioma 22:59  |  Leo 15/02/07   27.   A newspaper of cultural survivors! 23:56  |  Arturo Lopez-Levy 15/02/07   28.   Ladino music 01:01  |  David Israel 16/02/07   29.   Bravo Ladino! 02:06  |  Danite 16/02/07   30.   "Yaakov"#25 02:08  |  Danite 16/02/07   31.   On Ladino 03:37  |  Louis Menashe 16/02/07   32.   Yvonne Levy now Parkinson 03:55  |  Yaakov Sullivan 16/02/07   33.   Yvonne Levy now Parkinson 04:16  |  Yvonne Parkinson 16/02/07   34.   Arturo Lopez-Levy (Post No. 27) 05:06  |  Johnny Weintraub 16/02/07   35.   dont know of anyone who calls it that 05:21  |  Mark 16/02/07   36.   Ladino 14:41  |  Janine 16/02/07   37.   Salom Newspaper 18:22  |  Familia Menashe 16/02/07   38.   Ladino 22:44  |  José Márcio 16/02/07   39.   familia menashe 12:34  |  Sabetay 17/02/07   40.   Matilda Levy 05:29  |  Michael Granados 17/03/08

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