Text Panel
The Ottoman rulers were well aware that the Jewish exiles from Spain could enrich the empire with their connections and skills and serve as a bridge to Europe. Consequently, many Jews in Istanbul filled key posts and senior positions, such as ministers, diplomats, advisors and physicians – including Joseph Hamon (1450-1518), the personal physician to the sultans Bayezid II and Salim I, and Moshe Hamon (1490-circa 1554), who was the personal physician to the sultans Salim I and Suleiman I (Suleiman the Magnificent).
The Jews brought commercial knowhow and manufacturing technologies from Europe and supplied a variety of goods to the growing empire, in addition to being skilled craftsmen and artisans. During this period, the textile industry flourished in the Ottoman Empire, whose centers were in Salonika, Istanbul and Safed.
