FROM ISTANBUL TO CINCINNATI; A MEMOIRE

 

PART ONE: 

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

I grew up in Istanbul, Turkey in the early 40’s in an Orthodox Jewish home. As a teen-ager, I became the hazzan kavua (“permanent prayer-leader”) of my youth congregation. At law school, I discovered American style Reform Judaism, and decided to come to the States to become a Rabbi. This is the story of my arrival at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio:

In 1961, after completing my military service in Turkey and a short stint in Paris at the rabbinic school (the now-defunct Institut International d’Etudes Hebraiques), I started to make plans to come to America. I was about 21 years old.  In Istanbul, my parents got me a huge suitcase that was so heavy that only a giant could lift it. (One of the first things I did when I arrived in America was to get rid of this monstrosity).  As I was packing my clothing and books, I had to decide what else to take along with me. One item presented a dilemma: I had become a shohet (ritual slaughterer), and had a special knife for slaughtering chickens. I asked myself, would I ever use it again? Furthermore, how am I going to explain to the customs agents the purpose of this particular knife? So, I decided to leave it behind.

            How to travel to the US? Rabbi Isaac Jerusalmi, a Hebrew Union College graduate and my rabbinic mentor then, suggested the least expensive way: by train and boat. So, I got on the Oriental Express to France, crossed over to England, and from there I boarded the Queen Mary, one of the most luxurious ships of the time. I had a small cabin in one of the lower decks, and spent a miserable time traversing the Atlantic Ocean. The waves were high; I did not know anyone; I could not relate to the food. I remember staying in the Library reading whatever I could find.

            After a week at sea, I arrived in New York late August, 1961. A group of women, among them Jane Evans and Ellie Schwartz, representing the Union for Reform Judaism’s (then called Union of American Hebrew Congregations) National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, came to meet me at the dock. They invited me to lunch at a local restaurant, and then put me on the first train to Cincinnati, Ohio.

America was at that time in turmoil. On the one hand, there was great excitement in the country because of the youthful image of President Jack Kennedy. He inspired many young people to strive for the best. On the other hand, however, the country faced serious international and local problems. The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 almost brought the USA and Russia to the brink of war. The battle for civil rights for African-Americans was raging furiously. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Then there was the beginning of the Vietnam War, which escalated during the presidency of Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. In the beginning, I supported the war based on the commitment that the US had made to its allies. But in time, along with many others, I, too, could not find a justification for the ongoing presence of the American military in Vietnam, and slowly distanced myself from my initial position.

            In America I found that the large Jewish community of five million plus was secure and successful. One could live as a Jew here with openness and pride, unlike any other country in which I had lived up until then, or since. The lines between the major trends of Judaism, namely, Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform, were clearly delineated. (Today they are not so clear).  Anti-Semitism was present here and there but it was not politically acceptable.