Antalya, Turkey – Rabbi Performs Secret “Bris Mila”

    15

    illustrationAntalya, Turkey – The City was home to about 50 Jews – until last week when a father overcame his fears of anti-Semitism and allowed a secret circumcision on Chanukah of his 30-day-old baby boy, the city’s newest Jew.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Antalya is a Mediterranean coastal city of approximately one million people, mostly Muslims, and located near Syria. The father, whose identity cannot be revealed, is a “secret” Jew but was afraid his neighbors would discover his religion if he allowed his new-born baby boy to be circumcised, one of the most ancient and sacred Jewish rites.

    Jewish law states that the circumcision – “brit mila” in Hebrew – should take place on the eight day of his life unless there are medical reasons for delaying the procedure. Circumcisions often are performed on older males who convert and on those whose parents did not observe the Jewish law. The baby in Antalya was 30-days old when he was circumcised.

    The story of the secret Turkish Jew and his new-born son was not even known to the local Chabad rabbi but was related to Rabbi Aharon Kramer, head of the “Covenant of the Fathers’ group that works to make sure Jewish males are circumcised, even if they are adults.

    One of the father’s relatives is Rabbi Shmuel Siman Tov, who turned to Rabbi Kramer. He told Arutz 7 that the father did not want him to fly to Turkey and perform the circumcision before the end of Chanukah, apparently afraid that the rabbi would light the Chanukah menorah, a sign that Jews live in the house.

    Rabbi Kramer said he explained to the family that the circumcision must be done during the daytime, despite the father’s fears that neighbors might peek through the windows and discover he is Jewish.  

    The father agreed to Rabbi Kramer’s flying to Antalya, where he also met the local Chabad rabbi, who now was privy to the secret. The father took us to his house, Rabbi Kramer related. “I asked him if there were any other Jews in the area, and he used the Internet to find one more Jew, who arrived at the house.”

    The father closed the curtains, and Rabbi Kramer performed the circumcision at his house, even there was not a minyan of 10 Jews over the age of Bar Mitzvah. The name of the new Jew was not revealed for publication.

    “There was a rare feeling of sanctifying the Creator,” Rabbi Kramer said. “In the middle of the circumcision, a neighbor knocked on the door. The father took off his kippa and went to the door, went outside to talk to him and them came back and put his kippa back on his head.”

    The father not only arranged for the circumcision of his son but also lit the candles for the seventh night of Chanukah for the first time in his life. The occasion was so special that he recited a special blessing that is recited only on the first night.

    Despite the father’s fears, apparently an outgrowth of his resistance to let anyone know he is Jewish, Rabbi Kramer said that he freely strolled the streets of Antalya with his long beard and forelocks without detecting any anti-Semitism.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    15 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    13 years ago

    well, not so secret if its on VIN

    memyself
    memyself
    13 years ago

    is this in the USSR?!

    JustThinking
    JustThinking
    13 years ago

    There are still thousands of Dönmeh in Turkey and a very few perhaps in Salonika, followers of Shabtai Sevi who are Muslims on the outside and Jews of some sorts behind doors. Before the Holocaust they were much more active, today they mostly assimiliated but some survive, and I have done business with one, from Istanbul. Some believe Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was one, but who knows…

    Grumpy
    Grumpy
    13 years ago

    The sentiment is beautiful but the facts are bizarre. If there are only 50 jews, how easy would it be to find out who this secret Jew is? That being the case, why would the mohel publicize the story, which would again, reveal the incident and permit discovery through the process of elimination. And Turkey isn’t the USSR. If the family feels so thoroughly persecuted what prevents them from leaving? If Jews face such a mortal threat, it would appear the greater mitzvah is pekuach nefesh. Something isn’t right about this story…

    Bezalel
    Bezalel
    13 years ago

    “Despite the father’s fears . . . Rabbi Kramer said that he freely strolled the streets of Antalya with his long beard and forelocks without detecting any anti-Semitism.”

    I bet if I went to that neighborhood and asked, “Where is the Jewish man who lives here,” everyone would point to his house. Probably all his neighbors know he’s Jewish and could care less, and they probably think it’s quaint that the man is hiding his religion.

    JCohen
    JCohen
    13 years ago

    What really makes this article strange is that Muslims DO preform circumcisions on males.

    13 years ago

    “Despite the father’s fears . . . Rabbi Kramer said that he freely strolled the streets of Antalya with his long beard and forelocks without detecting any anti-Semitism.”

    He didn’t detect anti-Semitism because he could not understand what they were saying about him.

    13 years ago

    The entire story is on the face of it Chabad propoganda.
    To add to the others questions, didn’t everyone see this Rabbi with the long flowing beard and forelocks go in and out of this house on numerous occassions. (By the way if forelocks means payos, Lubavitchers don’t wear their payos where you can see them). 2+2 does not equal 4 in this story.

    Aryeh
    Aryeh
    13 years ago

    Reply to #6 – important difference, they do it instead of a bar mitzva, at age 13.

    13 years ago

    Most Muslims here circumcise at 8 days and use Jewish mohels. Muslims also revere a beard.

    My father travels to Turkey on business a great deal and does understand the language and also has never detected anti Semitism in Turkey.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    To #3. The Donmeh are divided into three subsects: Kapanci (descendants of those encouraged to convert by Shabtai in 1671), Yakovlis (a second group who converted mainly in Salonika in the 1680s) who were followers of Shabtai’s brother-in-law Yaakov Filosof who was said to have inherited Shabtai’s neshama, and the Konyosos, who broke away from the Kapancis after 1720 to follow the son of Baruchia Russo, who was believed to have Shabtai’s neshama having been born right after Shabtai died in 1676. These three groups are extremely secretive like a secret society of Masons. Apparently much of their “tradition” is still oral, and only select people are trained to be leaders and study the Sabbatean books of the leaders.