So we have taken a deep breath and decided to go ahead with our long-planned trip to Turkey, and will be in Istanbul from Sept. 4 – 8. We have been to Istanbul before, but there are still so many things left to do/see, one of which is I would like to visit at least one synagogue.

I have done some homework and understand that we will need to make advance arrangements for security reasons, which is fine. But which synagogue is likely to be of greatest historical/architectural interest? I am a quite secular Ashkenazi person, and am most interested in what I am least familiar with, i.e. the Sephardic world. My husband will pretty much go along with whatever I want to do on this one (and as he is from a family of Protestant missionaries, I don’t know that he’s ever set foot in a synagogue of any kind anyway). And we are now being joined by an Indian friend from Dubai, who I suspect will feel much the same.

Which synagogue(s) will be of greatest interest? Is there anything else we should know? My boss mentioned men and women might be separated, even for a tour? (I figured that would be the case for services, but I don’t think we want to attend a service.) And are we likely to experience difficulty given that the birthplace on my husband’s passport is Beirut, WASP though he is? Thanks in advance for any guidance.

The main synagogue is probably the only one available for a visit/tour.
Have your hotel make the arrangements.

This seems to suggest otherwise: http://www.turkyahudileri.com/conten...3/283/lang,en/

I don't mind filling in a form or two, I just want to maximize our time.

You may wish to write and ask this guide :

http://www.allaboutturkey.com/

I met him at a Trip Advisor gtg and then used his services for my daughter's in-laws from Detroit who were pleased with his services.

he has experience with synagogue visits in Istanbul.

this article-- forward.com/articles/168165/touring-turkeys-synagogues/?p=all‎-- provides a lot of current information and interesting information about the writer's recent visit to synagogues in Istanbul, Izmir and Bursa as well as this link about where to apply for a security pass([email protected] or [email protected]) and suggests that the Ottoman-Turkish Sephardic Culture Research Center also has useful information. I'm glad you asked this question as we also plan to do this during our visit to Istanbul in October, and I hadn't yet looked into it.

Hope you'll post your experience.

Well, so far it would be nice if I got a reply e-mail to my couple of questions...I gues I will have to wake up at the crack of dawn one of these mornings and give them a call.

P.S. I think I can bypass most of the questions I sent in my e-mail if anyone here knows the answer to one of them: the security clearance form requests reference information, but I have no idea what kind of reference they are talking about. Does anyone here know? Here's the form:

http://www.turkyahudileri.com/images...aret_formu.pdf

Just got through to the Chief Rabbinate on the phone, and I think that because of our trip dates, we are pretty much hosed - we are getting into Istanbul on Sept. 4 in the afternoon, and our friend isn't arriving until the evening of the 5th. The 5th and 6th are Rosh Hashanah, and the 7th is Shabbat, and they don't do tours on Sundays, and our flight leaves Monday at 6 am. The lady on the phone was hinting that maybe we'd be able to go to a service (at least I think she was - definite language barrier), but I don't think we want to do that. So maybe my husband and I will just go to the Jewish museum the afternoon of the 5th, or we will all go to the museum on Sunday.

Ah well, I guess we'll just have to go back to Istanbul again sometime!