A precious discovery in Greece: An ancient synagogue
On the Greek island of Aegina, an ancient synagogue of Romaniote Jews was discovered, including it's elaborate mosaic floor. Now time is running out, as efforts are underway to preserve this priceless piece of Jewish heritage.
Learn more about the mosaic of the Aegina synagogue:
Ioannina Citadel old Jewish synagogue - Ancient Romaniote Jews in Greece
Ioannina Citadel old Jewish synagogue - Ancient Romaniote Jews in Greece
History and Heritage
Ioannina, a small city in northwestern Greece near the Albanian border, was home to Jews for more than 1,300 years from the eighth century until the present. Due to its location west of the Pindos Mountain Range, the community was isolated geographically from the mainstream of Judaism, even that within Greece. Consequently, the community developed its own traditions, customs, and minhag, (prayer rites), and remained Greek-speaking even after most other Jewish communities on Greek soil were absorbed into the traditional Sephardic world following the post-1492 influx of Spanish-speaking Jews. Yanniote Jews, as they called themselves (only the scholars used the term Romaniote) remained a small community throughout its existence, probably never numbering more than four or five thousand at its peak.
About half the community (an estimated 2,000) immigrated to the United States between 1902 and 1924. Most settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan not far from the present site of Kehila Kedosha Janina. Their reasons for leaving were political upheavals in the Balkans, economic instability, antiquated inheritance laws and the dowry system, and, of course, the desire for a better life for themselves and their children. Lured by the possibility of educational and economic opportunities, they made the long and arduous journey to the New World. Because of the small community size and closeness of its members - most married within the community - after immigration to the United States the community in Greece never lost touch with the community established in New York.
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The end would take place on a cold March day, March 25th, Greek Independence Day, which that year also coincided with the onset of Pessah. In the cold of the morning, with snow on the ground, only given time to gather a few possessions, the community was roused out of their beds and gathered together on the shores of the lake they loved so much. The Jews of Ioannina would then be placed on trucks and taken to Larissa, where they would be kept for over a week before being placed in cattlecars and sent to the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. They would arrive on April 11, 1944. Most would go directly to the gas chambers.
Some of the survivors immigrated to Israel, others chose to move to the United States, and a few returned back to their homeland and to the traditions they once knew in Ioannina. Although many were murdered in the horrors of the Holocaust, this once vibrant Jewish community still exists in Greece today, albeit a fraction of its former self. Now, there are only around 50 Jews left in the city of Ioannina, many of them survivors of the Holocaust. Yet in the face of tremendous struggles, their perseverance has continued to help preserve some of the unique traditions and heritages of this once florishing community of Romaniote Jews.
During the German occupation, the New Synagogue, its annex and the school were used as stables and each was severely damaged. Once the Jewish community was deported, the Germans used the wood from the buildings as firewood. After the war, the Greek government razed the remaining structures. Today, an apartment building stands on this site. Most of the aged, surviving Jewish community in Ioannina lives here and the building houses the Jewish Community Center. The Greek Christians refer to this block-long building as “Ta Evraika”(The Jewish Quarter).
TilTul LinksYouWantToRemember
CIMG2371 How monks transferred food to Monasteries Meteora cliffs
Greek Jewish Festival, New York, 2017
Thousands of people attended the annual Greek Jewish Festival last Sunday in New York’s Lower East Side. The festival, hosted by the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum on Broome Street, offered an opportunity to learn about the Romaniote Greek and Sephardic communities that once filled the neighborhood. They celebrated with music, dance, traditional foods, and tour of the synagogue. .
Interview with Jewish Member of Athens City Council
Kehila Kedosha Janina 030110
The Greek shul built in the 1920s for the Jews from Macedonia in northern Greece who had emigrated to the United States.
Peoplehood Project Visits Elderly Jews in the Athens Community
This year our #IamGMW Peoplehood Project decided to meet in Greece to experience the Jewish community of Athens and bring the “flavor” of Peoplehood to them. Here our group is visiting the elderly Jews of the Athens Community. The project is the flagship program of our partnership with P2G Ofakim/Merchavim. Each cohort selects a third Jewish community to visit together.
HISTORY OF GREEK JEWS OF CORFU AND GREECE
The REAL difference btween jew & greek.
Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens, Greece
Leoforos Vasilissis Sofias 22, Athens
Tour of Jewish Museum's Unorthodox (Periscope)
Take an exclusive tour of The Jewish Museum's exhibit, Unorthodox, guided by Jens Hoffmann, deputy director, exhibitions and public programs. Unorthodox is a large-scale group exhibition featuring over 50 contemporary artists from around the world whose practices mix forms and genres without concern for artistic conventions. It is on view through March 27, 2016.
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The Jewish Museum of Greece
Short interesting video about the JMG
Meteora UNESCO world heritage site | Greece
Beautiful view over Meteora from one of the monasteries. Great hiking area in Greece.
For more info about our backpacking adventure see
Thanks for watching!
Cantor Haim Ischakis blows the Shofar at the Kahal Kadosh Yevanim in Trikala, Greece
Cantor Haim Ischakis blows the Shofar in the Kahal Kadosh Yavanim Romaniote Synagogue of Trikala, Greece. This shofar, which produces a very particular sound, was manufactured in the end of the 19th century and is the oldest existing in Greece.
The video was recorded by the professional photographer Benny Marvin, during a Jewish heritage trip to the Greek mainland in August 2012. The trip was organized by E & S Tours, NY and was accompanied by the famous Rabbi Paysach Krohn as Maggid.
RE-SPOND/ΙΝVENT/CREATE CHRISTINA MITRENTSE JEWISH MUSEUM OF GREECE
11 MAY – 11 SEPTEMBER 2015
( METALIBRARY -site specific performance 7-8pm)
The Jewish Museum of Greece is one of the prototype museums with narrative of so called 'difficult heritage'. The presence of Christina Mitrentse is the first exhibition of contemporary art in this museum and can be seen as a study, a pictorial review-look into history, the religious tolerance, the education, the museum as a place, as a concept and as a role. The London-based, Greek artist constructs her own Language. It is a poetic ensemble composed by multiple materials and expressive means. ‘Wounded Books’, papyrus, leather, screen prints, weave their web around the museological design. Her works are carved with vintage techniques and are clearly influenced by European contemporary art movements. The series of sculptures and the living presence of an in-situ, participatory and performative installation entitled ‘Metalibrary’ aim to create a new, intense, experiential museumological display.
Christina Mitrentse is accustomed to responding to collections as conceptual and theoretical mode of contemporary curatorial and artistic practice throughout her career. She Re-creates, Re-discovers, Re-sponds, extends, and keeps the dialogue open and alive. Mitrentse does not try to alter or to rank the works and to present them in a systematic way, such as by separating the sectors continued to dominate the academic community.
The archive converses with the new artworks produced as clear but idiosyncratic contemporary response, creating new poetic 'communities' and exchanges. The exhibition seeks to explore the ways in which a collection may exist as an entity. Incorporating various readings, and using different techniques, Christina Mitrentse negotiates the concept of the collection and the dialectical relationship between contemporary art and art production.
Mina Karagianni, B.Sc., M.Sc. Curator/Museologist
For further information about the artist work please see :
christinamitrentse.com
jewishmuseum.gr
Romaniote Jews | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Romaniote Jews
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This video uses Google TTS en-US-Standard-D voice.
SUMMARY
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The Romaniote Jews or Romaniotes (Greek: Ῥωμανιῶτες, Rhōmaniṓtes; Hebrew: רומניוטים, Romanyotim) are an ethnic Jewish community native to the Eastern Mediterranean. They are generally one of the oldest Jewish communities in existence and specifically the oldest Jewish community in Europe. Their distinct language was Judaeo-Greek, a Greek dialect that contained Hebrew along with some Aramaic and Turkish words but now speak modern Greek or the languages of their new home countries. They derived their name from the old name for the people of the Byzantine Empire, Romaioi. Large communities were located in Thebes, Ioannina, Chalcis, Corfu, Arta, Preveza, Volos, Patras, Corinth, and on the islands of Zakynthos, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, and Cyprus, among others. The Romaniotes are historically distinct and still remain distinct from the Sephardim, who settled in Ottoman Greece after the 1492 expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
A majority of the Jewish population of Greece was killed in the Holocaust after Axis powers occupied Greece during World War II. They deported most of the Jews to Nazi concentration camps. After the war, a majority of the survivors emigrated to Israel, the United States, and Western Europe. Today there are still functioning Romaniote Synagogues in Chalkis which represents the oldest Jewish congregation on European ground, in Ioannina, Athens, New York and Israel.
Monastiraki Athens Greece old book store Fire 12-05-2013
An unexpected fire broke up last night around midnight at an old bookstore in historic Monastiraki Athens Greece. Fire department respondent very swiftly and managed to control the fire before it could build up and spread around the neighboring shops and houses. A job well done by the heroic firemen!
Αργά εχτές το βράδυ ξέσπασε φωτιά σε ένα παλιό βιβλιοπωλείο στο Μοναστηράκι. Η αντίδραση της Πυροσβεστικής ήταν άμεση και με άκρος επαγγελματισμό.
Η φωτιά ετέθη υπό έλεγχο τάχιστα και μεθοδικά, αποτρέποντας έτσι την τυχόν εξάπλωση τις στα γειτονικά κτήρια. Συγχαρητήρια στους άνδρες για την ετοιμότητά τους και την εξαιρετική δουλειά που έκαναν αλλά και στους περίοικους που ενδιαφέρθηκαν και κάλεσαν έγκαιρα την Πυροσβεστική .
turkish synagogues
turkish synagogues
Catsimatidis discussing his Jewish roots
NYC Mayoral Candidate John Catsimatidis discussing his Jewish roots in a meeting with Jewish leaders.
Tamar & Vasilis | Jewish Wedding on the Greek island of Paros, Greece
A very special Jewish wedding film by Nikos Vamvakidis ( View the real wedding feature and the story behind the wedding in the bride's own words at
Footsteps of Paul - Greece and Rome (Pre-Trip Meeting #1)
Enjoy the sites of the beautiful Mediterranean as Pastor Phil, Yair Mazur, and city guides teach their way through some of the most impactful stories of the Bible. As you look upon these unique sites, you will gain a better understanding of the Word and a greater appreciation of the fruits of Paul’s labor. Learn firsthand of the struggles and courage of the early church and see the places where the Gospel was first preached.
This is a unique journey across Greece, Ephesus, and Rome. We will travel some of the ancient routes by which Apostle Paul brought the Good News of Jesus to Jews and Gentiles on his three missionary journeys.
This is a Christian pilgrimage to the historical places where Paul and his disciples actually carried out their mission. Each day will begin with time for prayer and Scripture reading based on our itinerary that day.
We will also visit the sites of ancient Athens, cruise and site-see through the gorgeous Greek Isles, and tour the streets of Rome.
The group is limited to 30 people to ensure an experience of a lifetime (hearing devices will be provided throughout the trip).
To prepare for the trip, participants will be encouraged to read a book entitled: The Apostle: A Life of Paul by John Pollack. This dramatic re-telling of Paul’s life will assist in preparing the group for our pilgrimage.