Looking for Elsewhere

Looking for Elsewhere explores the past, present, and future of the Jews of Turkey, an embattled community rarely at home in the country they have lived in for centuries. Looking for Elsewhere is a warning about the consequences of intolerance and prejudice. In Turkey, there was once a thriving Jewish community that numbered hundreds of thousands. Today, very few remain. This book is a trained historian's own exploration into what led many Jews to leave a country that for centuries they had called home. It details the experiences of those who stayed but are constantly aware of the possibility of having to leave, in hopes of finding an elusive place called home. Looking for Elsewhere explores themes such as history, memory, language, secularism, and culture while contextualizing Turkish-Jewish history within broader global currents. Told through the author’s voice and the engaging stories, perspectives, and opinions of those he has met, these pages explain how national pride and religious intolerance can proliferate and have devastating consequences, the unfairness of which reverberates across multiple regions for generations.