Urla is located 25 miles from Izmir. It is assumed that the town’s Jewish community originated on the Aegean islands of Mora and Izmir. In 1840, Urla’s Jewish community numbered 40 families, rising to 90 by 1900. At the end of the Turkish War of Independence, the Greeks, forced to leave Urla, set fire to the town, thus displacing the majority of the Jews. The community emigrated ...