Eric Wolf

My name is Eric Wolf and I am a senior Sport Media major. I am from central New Jersey and I have grown up in a very Jewish area. I was involved with a Jewish youth group in high school and I have also been on a program called the March of the Living, where I visited Poland and saw four death camps and other notable places from the Holocaust. As a Jew myself, I am very interested in learning more and more about my culture and history. I am very proud to be a Jew and I am always excited to learn more about my very proud and unique background in a world where there are not many Jews left.

The conditions of life for Jews in the Ottoman Empire were pretty good. They were welcomed warmly and gave much praise to the hospitality of the Ottoman Empire. Some say that they were even invited to the empire, although that can not be historically proven. The Jews in the Ottoman Empire were mainly in major port cities.

They contributed to the economic development of major cities, as many of them were merchants. They lived generally positive lives and they were not persecuted because the Muslims saw them was dhimmis, or non-Muslims who were protected by the Islamic state. The Muslims just wanted to keep the order and peace between all people living in their land, and the Jews were no different.

[posted by R Lesses for Eric]