You know you are in a different world as soon as you arrive in Turkey . We were met at the airport by Rabbi Mendy Chitrik (brother of Rabbi Eliezer Chitrik in Nuremberg), who oh-so-subtly signalled to us as we walked out of customs, dressed in a white polo shirt and a baseball cap (for security reasons), and took us back to our hotel. 
The drive from the airport was a revelation. We did not realise just how huge and dense Istanbul is, with a population of around 11.5 million, the city seemed packed full of housing, cars and activity. Although this was the city we were most excited about exploring, we soon realised that our schedule - and the traffic - was not going to allow us to do any of it. Very disappointing.Mendy (as he insisted on us calling him) took us back to his home (which is also the 'Chabad House' or maybe it isn't...more on that below) which was at the top of a very steep hill somewhere in the city (I have no idea where), while our hotel was at the bottom. They had the most amazing set up - an hands-down industrial kitchen with women who appeared and disappeared as it by magic and a crystal-like hygienic white gleam. Then, there was there dining table which was also enormous. They had converted a shop to this entertainment-educational space, while transforming the next floor (which we didn't see) into a living space for the family.
Mendy is the Ashkenazi Rabbi of Istanbul. There are around 300 Ashkenazi Jews in the city and around 15,000 Sephardi Jews. Mendy is not allowed to call himself a Chabad rabbi and they cannot officially establish a Chabad House, because Chabad is considered an international religious organisation and it is illegal to import an international religious organisation into Turkey, which takes its status as a secular Islamic state very seriously. It is so serious, in fact, that David was warned not to say anything bad about Mohammad or Ataturk because the room that he would be giving the talk (in the headquarters of a local Jewish newspaper) would almost certainly be bugged.
There was a small crowd for David's final talk (around 20) and it was clear from and for both of us, that we were ready for the tour to be over. The only people who attended were those who had pre-registered with Mendy. Interestingly, Mendy had been contacted by a couple of people who would not reveal their identities but who expressed an interest 
in coming to David's talk. Mendy soon realised that he was communicating with members of the Donmeh, descendants of the followers of Shabtai Zvi. While he was intrigued about the interaction, he had no choice but to tell them that they would not be able to attend the event because he could not allow anyone other than Jews to come - allowing anyone else to come could be seen by the Turkish Government to be proselytising which is illegal in Turkey. Naturally, David was most disappointed not to have the chance to have a chat with members of the Donmeh!Such an interesting end to a fascinating tour. Mendy had a certain resignation about the inevitability of his family always having to be in Istanbul (and there wasn't a lot of joy to be seen about this prospect). The community is clearly rife with political issues and the country is controlled by a secular fanaticism which is much less benign than I had once thought.
But it is a fascinating place and it is a real shame we didn't have time to explore more. Naturally, I was more than a little sorry not to have been able to visit a proper Turkish bazaar, but, frankly, even if we had the chance, we were probably too exhausted to go. Besides, the good news is that we don't actually live so far away from Turkey at all!
The next morning we were back on Turkish Airlines, but this time headed for Tel Aviv. It was a wonderful treat to be back at home, despite it still being full of unpacked boxes and various manifestations of chaos. We were home: tired, inspired, full of wonderful new insights and relieved...and from the look of things, perhaps a little loopy (although David looks lovely).
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