After 1453, Istanbul was unquestionably the best place in the world for Jews to live; nowhere were Jews as prosperous and free as they were in Istanbul. Immediately after capturing Constantinople, Mehmet made the city’s chief rabbi a member of his imperial council, offering him the same level of administrative power as the empire’s grand mufti. Accordingly, the chief rabbi collected Jewish taxes (including the jizya), appointed rabbis in all the empire’s cities, and generally managed his community’s internal affairs. He also oversaw Jewish civil law courts and the criminal punishment of
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