Ottoman Tora ark curtain

parochet

In 1492 the Jews are expelled from Andalusia. Many of them find refuge in the Ottoman Empire, where the Sephardim or Sfaradim, as the Iberian Jews are called in Hebrew, assume a dominant role in overseas trade in the 16th century. After peace is concluded between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs in 1735, Sephardic Jews are brought to Vienna to stimulate trade with the Ottoman Empire. In 1938 the Nazi era brings an end to the once-flourishing life of the “Turkish Israelites” in Vienna.