Jewish Life in the Second District of Vienna before the Shoah

Turkish Temple? Sephardic Jews?

Looking at the people who founded this temple gives us an insight into multicultural nature of Jewish religious life. First, we have to differentiate between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Judaism.

Ashkenazi Jews are a Jewish ethnic group with historical ties to Central and Eastern Europe. They have distinctive cultural, religious, and historical traditions that have developed over centuries in regions such as Germany, Poland, and Russia. Sephardic Judaism refers to the descendants of Jewish communities from the Iberian Peninsula. The term "Sephardic" derives from the Hebrew word "Sefarad," meaning Spain.

Why is the temple of the Sephardic Community called “Turkish Temple”?

In the Middle Ages the ancestors of today's Sephardic community, lived in Spain (until 1492) and in Portugal (until 1496) until they were violently expelled. Many fled and found a new home in the Ottoman Empire (including present-day Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey) and lived in the Balkan region. After the Ottoman Wars a permanent Sephardic-Turkish community formed in Vienna. They created a community with a shared history and culture, and they built a temple that became an important part of Vienna's diverse cultures and traditions.


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