138:. Due to the seclusion from the opposite sex and the outside world imposed upon the women of the harem, male merchants were not allowed in to the harem, and a custom developed with merchant wives entering the harem to act as intermediary agents, displaying the goods to the prospective clients of the harem. These women were often Jews, who as non-Muslim was not subjected to the same gender segregation as Muslim women, and thus could act as the intermediaries of the harem women in several other areas. Esther Handali acted as the agent of her spouse in his business with the harem, and when she was widowed, she took over his business.
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from at least 1566 onward, when
Nurbanu became the favoured consort of the reigning sultan. As was common for a kira, she became her the trusted confidant of her client, and her tasks soon expanded from acting as intermediary for merchant goods to acting as intermediary for other money transactions,
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Nurbanu Sultan was particularly sympathetic toward a pro-Venetian policy, and Esther
Handali acted as the intermediary in the contact between the Republic of Venice and Nurbanu Sultan, which was conducted between the Venetian ambassador and Nurbanu with Handali as messenger from 1578 onward. She
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Due to the fact that they were several kiras working in the
Imperial Harem in parallel, and that they are seldom documented by name (the different kiras are normally referred to only as kira, kyra, or Kyra Jewess), it is difficult to identify individual kira's and separate them from each other.
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When
Nurbanu became the valide sultan, mother and adviser of the reigning sultan (1574-1583), Handali's own influence reached its peak, and she was entrusted with political and diplomatic correspondence between Nurbanu and foreign powers. She acted as the intermediary between Nurbanu and
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continued as the intermediary between Venice and the
Imperial Harem from 1578 until 1588, after the death of Nurbanu in 1583, and her connection to Venice appears to have been used also by Nurbanu's successor,
203:. As a reward for her service, the Republic of Venice granted Esther Handali a letter of approval to start a lottery in the Venetian Republic in 1587, which had never before been granted to a foreigner.
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Lamdan, Ruth (2007). "Jewish Women as
Providers in the Generations Following the Expulsion from Spain". Nashim: a Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender Issues 13: 49-67.
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Due to her position, Esther
Handali earned an enormous fortune. She became known as the benefactor of the Jewish community in
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Minna Rozen: A History of the Jewish
Community in Istanbul, The Formative Years, 1453 – 1566 (2002).
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could also have been this kira). She was thus active in the end or not long after the career of
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She was married to the Jewish merchant Eliya
Handali, who traded in luxuries such as
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Pedani, Maria Pia. “Safiye's
Household and Venetian Diplomacy”. Turcica 32 (2000).
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and from there to further tasks between her client and the outside world.
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Ottoman Women Builders: The Architectural Patronage of Hadice Turhan Sultan
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History of the Turkish Jews and Sephardim: Memories of a Past Golden Age
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would have arrived somewhat later, though their careers overlap.
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Esther Handali, in particular, has often been confused with
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What is clearly confirmed is that Esther Handali was the
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businesswoman. She was the influential favorite and
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The JPS Guide to Jewish Women: 600 B.C.E.to 1900 C.E.
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who is noted to have performed secretarial tasks for
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16th-century businesspeople from the Ottoman Empire
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84:(died 18 or 19 December 1588 ) was a Jewish
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32:This article includes a list of general
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