Four hundred youngsters participate each Sabbath at services a the Knesset Yisrael Synagogue in Galata, the Jewish quarter in the center of Istanbul.
Tow hundred boys and girls come to the Shul on weekdays before going to school or work. They have their own Minyanim, young Hazanim, young readers of the Torah.
They are members of the Mahzike Torah movement which provides Istanbul Jewish youth with religious education. The movement, which has its headquarters in the Knesset Israel Synagogue, embrace about one thousand young boys and girls.
There are several Jewish schools in Turkey. They are not much different from state schools or other private educational institutions. The teaching of religion, of all religions, in school is limited by the government, and Jewish religious instruction to the young is mostly confined to the synagogue.
The Mahzike Torah movement was born 38 years ago.
Nissim Behar, its leader, was then a young man of 18. He was distressed at the sore state of Jewish religious education in Turkey and made a vow to devote himself to the instruction of the young.
With a friend, Rafael Hillel, now the spiritual guide of the Or Hachaim religious girls’ school in Bnei Brak, he founded the first youth Minyan and study group in Istanbul.
In order to keep the group going, Behar and Rafael Hillel financed its activities with their own means.
Over the years, Mahzike Torah has provided large numbers of youth with religious instruction.
I visited the Knesset Yisrael Synagogue on a Sunday morning and found small Minyanim and study group of boys and girls all over the place.
On the second floor Nisim Bhear was teaching a group of Madrikhim (youth leaders_ the Nussach of the High Holiday prayers.
The Madrikhim who are chosen for their personal qualities, go through a four year course of study during which they are taught Humash and Rashi. Talmud, Shulhan Arukh, the Nussah of the prayers, the reading of the Torah, the blowing of the Shofar as well as Shehita.
With the approach of the High Holidays, tens of youthful Madrikhim of Mahzike Torah go out to small Jewish communities throughout Turkey, who synagogues are closed during the year, to lead them in prayer on the most holy days of the Jewish calendar.
Nisim Behar might truly be called the “Tzaddik of Istanbul.” He devotes almost all his time to Mahzike Torah, serving without remuneration.
He makes his living from a small business, working only as many hours as are needed for a modest income. The rest of his time belong to Mahzike Torah.
When Behar served in the Turkish army, he refused to work on Sabbaths. Every refusal earned him beatings by his superiors. He didn’t partake of the army’s food and for many months lived on bread and olives.
His diet is now richer but not very rich. He drinks no milk for there is no Jewish milk in Istanbul. He only seldom partakes of meat. Not every Shohet is kosher” enough for him.
However, while his is a frugal life, he is a charming host to others. Istanbul, with its 30,000 Jews, has no kosher restaurant. Whenever Behar comes across a visitor in search of kosher food he leads him straight to his own very modest home, where he is royally welcomed by Malka, Behar’s ever-friendly and helpful wife and co-worker in the Mahzike Torah movement.
In addition to leading the Mahzike Torah movement, Behar has done much for Turkish Jewry with his fruitful pen. He has authored numerous books and booklets, in Judeo-Espagnol, dealing with Jewish law, tradition and history.
A very modest man, Behar ascribes his achievment, not to his own devotion and perseverance but to the inspiration and influence of his saintly grandfather.
Grandfather, Meir Behar was a famous Kabbalist, greatly revered by Turkish Jewry. He was said to have fasted forty times from Sunday morning until Friday afternoon to atone for the sins of Klal Yisroel.
“I never knew my grandfather, but the memory of his piety and good deeds has accompanied me since my youth and has guided and inspired me in all my activities,” Behar told us.
The Jewish Press, Friday, Sept. 12, 1960