Essay on the History of the Jews of the Ottoman Empire

It was in the early eighteenth century (1700–1706) when some Ottoman Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin left Turkey to settle in Vienna. A chronicle has preserved for us the names of the three heads-of-family who immigrated first. They were Abr. Camondo of Constantinople, Aaron Nissan, and Naphtali Eskénazi. Morning and night, these families would convene in a house to perform the daily prayers. These families elected as president a descendant of Marranos named Moise Lopez Pereyra, better known by the sobriquet Diego de Aguilar. At the time, he had just settled in Vienna after living in Amsterdam and then London.

For the skill he displayed administering the tobacco concession in the Austrian capital and for the considerable profits he procured for the state, Diego de Aguilar was ennobled by emperor Charles VI (1711–1740); he received the title of baron. The high position enjoyed by Don Diego only stimulated his zeal to serve the interests of the community.

After the Sublime Porte and the Empire of Germany concluded the treaties of Passarowitz (July 21, 1718) and Belgrade (September 18, 1739), which allowed nationals of both countries to live freely in the neighboring state, carry out commerce, etc., Jews from Turkey lived in Vienna under the protection of these accords.

An imperial commissioner of the Sublime Porte monitored the observance of these treaties. While the Jews from Turkey enjoyed such happy living conditions in the Austrian capital, their indigenous coreligionists could only stay in this city with a special permission that had to be renewed annually. This produced, then, a curious phenomenon: one saw Austrian Jews procure Turkish passports in order to live in Vienna, as Ottoman subjects.

The Ottoman-Jewish colony established in Vienna endured a critical moment during the reign of Maria Theresa (1717–1780), daughter of emperor Charles VI. During the lifetime of Baron Diego de Aguilar, and on the baleful advice of the archbishop of Madrid, who had sent her a letter, Maria Theresa decided to expel from her state the Ottoman-Jewish community of Vienna as well as the indigenous group [of Jews]. Diego de Aguilar secretly charged one of his coreligionists from Temesvár, Señor Amigo, to plead with the Sultan on behalf of the Ottoman-Jewish colony. At that time—as in previous epochs—it was a Jew, Juda Baruch, who occupied the high post of Sarraf Başı (banker) in the imperial government.

The sultan received with favor the request of Juda Baruch and immediately sent an orderly accompanied by a Jew—a certain Coronel—before Maria Theresa. Upon receiving the imperial letter brought by the orderly, a letter by which the Ottoman monarch requested the queen to send to Turkey the Jews she wanted to expel, Maria Theresa abandoned her expulsion project and apologized to the sultan, attributing the news to a misunderstanding.

Nevertheless, the president of the community, Baron Diego de Aguilar, secretly left Vienna and settled in Amsterdam, for fear of being prosecuted by the queen.

The Judeo-Spanish communities of Vienna and Temesvár still keep in their synagogues precious ritual objects on which we read in Hebrew: “Moise Lopez Pereyra Baron Diego de Aguilar.”

Every year in the synagogues of “the Francos”—the Ottoman-Jewish communities of Vienna and Temesvár—a kaddish is said on Kol Nidre for the repose of Aguilar’s soul.