DR. ANGELYN BALODIMAS-BARTOLOMEITEMPLE JEREMIAHOCTOBER 13, 2013

The History of Greek Jewry

Presentation

This Presentation Examines:

History of Greek Jews in Greece

Jewish Communities in Greece

The Holocaust in Greece

Greek Jewry today

http://www.zchor.org/greece/picsgreece/greece2.jpg

Importance of Greek Jewry

Greek Jewry Integral part of Greek history

Greek Jews (Romaniotes) Greece’s & Europe’s oldest minority groups

Antiquity (2300 years)

Greek Jews' Holocaust Integral part of Greek history

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http://nimg.sulekha.com/others/original700/greece-holocaust-memorial-2011-1-30-10-10-56.jpg http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/5/9/1273429924965/Athens-Holocaust-memorial-006.jpg http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/greece/eng/images/biblio/bibl03.jpg

http://forward.com/image/2/290/0/5/assets/images/articles/GreeceCover-122309.jpg

http://www.jewishmuseum.gr/en/index.html

Greek Jews in AntiquityArchaic/Classical Period-Greece

1st Greek Jewish Contact Outside Greece After Babylonian exile of 586-539 BCE

Persian King Cyrus allowed Jews to return to their homeland

Prophet Ezekiel wrote:Greek traders of "Javan," Ionia, who traded in slaves and worked with bronze. (late 500’s BCE)

Greek historian Herodotus “Palestinian Syrians” served in the Persian king Xerxes’ navy that invaded Greece in 480 BCE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greek-Persian_duel.jpg

Greek Jews of the Hellenistic Period

Hellenistic Period Many Hellenized Jews left Judaea New commercial centers

(Alexandria & Antioch) Smaller groups moved to coastal

cities (Ephesus, Smyrna, Thessaloniki, Chalkis) & Crete.

Earliest reference to a Greek Jew Inscription 300-250 BCE Oropos (small coastal town

between Athens & Boeotia) "Moschos, son of Moschion the Jew“ (may have been a slave)

1st recorded mention of Judaism in Greece

300-250 BCE –island Rhodes (Book of Maccabees) http://www.geschichteinchronologie.ch/eu/griechenland/

EncJud_juden-in-gr-d/EncJud_Greece-band7-kolonne869-870-karte-juedische-gemeinden.jpg

Legends1st Jewish Communities-Hellenistic Period

4th century BCE (316 BCE) 1st Community-Thessaloniki

King Kassandros Alexander the Great’s brother-in-law

Asked King Ptolemy of Egypt to send Alexandrian Jewish artisans to assist in building the city.

The White Tower of Thessaloniki, marking the southeastern edge of Jewish quarter of Thessaloniki, "the Mother of Israel". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:White_Tower.jpg

Legends1st Jewish Communities-Roman Period

A Romaniote oral tradition tells:

1st Jews arrived in Ioannina shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.

Many Jews were sent to Rome on a slave ship when a storm sank their ship in the

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romaniotes

http://ritabay.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/the-original-menorah-on-the-arch-of-titus.jpg httpIonian Sea, close to the city of Ioannina in the

region of Epirus://www.gojerusalem.com/_media/userfiles/8/14159/84817.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Ioannina_map.png

Traces of Greek Jewry-Roman Period

2nd century BCEHyrcanusJewish community leader of Athens

• Honored

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hyrcanus_I-Yohanan.jpg

Throne of Moses in Synagogue of Delos from 1st Cent. CE

Menorah carved on marble found in Ancient Agora of Athens, 267-396 CE

Mosaic Floor of a Jewish Synagogue in Aegina Greece 300 CE

Synagogue of Sardis 350 CE

http://wwith statue in the agoraww.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Greece.html

Romaniote-Byzantine Period

Romaniote Jews-1st Inhabitants

Term Romaniote Coined Byzantine Period (4th - 10th Cent.)

Romaniotes Hellenized Jews Greek speaking Citizens Roman/Byzantine Emp.

Distinct from Ashkenazim & Sephardim

2,300 year presence Greek Jewry

For the first 1,800 years Jewish population only

Romaniotes

Romaniotes -oldest European Diaspora Jewish community

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romaniotes

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Greece.html

http://www.romaniotesjews.com/2008/02/who-are-romaniotes-jews.html

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Romaniote Jews Romaniotes absorbed many Greek attributes:Customs & TraditionsGreek family namesLanguage

Yevanic (Yāwān, Ἰωνία - Ionia)Greco-Judaic dialectWords-phrasesGreek, Hebrew, Aramaic & TurkishOnly oral, spoken languageToday – nearly extinct – 50 speakers

Minhag – RomaniaTraditional Jewish prayers Recited & chanted in GreekWritten with Hebrew letters Religious services continue to sustain

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Seder Piyuttim Hadashim ve-gam Yeshanim...

http://www.piyut.org.il/tradition/englis…

Greek Jews - Byzantine EmpireByzantine Empire Several Jewish communities

1st Byzantine Emperors were hostile

1st anti-Jewish laws written

Jews in Byzantium were not as restricted as Jews in the West.

Several forced conversions

1376- Arrival of Ashkenazi Jews from Hungary & Germany avoiding persecution

By end of Byzantine Empire, Venetian Jews had many privileges

Byzantine Jews Mt. Athos, 10th Centuryhttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/

Greece.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Byzantine_Empire

Alexander the Great, clad as a Byzantine emperor, receives a delegation of Jewish rabbis. Miniature from the 14th-century Alexander Romance

Greek Jews - Ottoman Empire

Expulsion Order of 1492 in Spain

Sultan invited Sephardic Jews to Ottoman Greece

Highly educated & skilled

Thessaloniki Home to Sephardic Jews

Mother Israel-Madre Israel-Jerusalem of the Balkans

2 centuries - one of the largest Jewish communities in the world

Ladino Speakers

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/Greece/salonica2.jpg

Greek Jews-Ottoman Empire

Romaniotes Romaniotes adopted Sephardic

culture

Continued speaking Judeo-Greek Yevanic

Maintained own synagogues/liturgy

1920’s 24 official Sephardic

communities in Greece Few Romaniote communities

remained

Ioannina (northwest near Albanian border)

Became largest Romaniote community

2 Synagogues

Jewish doctor and merchant, 1574

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Greece.html

Jewish family of Salonika in 1917

Jewish Communities29 Jewish Communities existed in Greece before the Holocaust

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Athens, Alexandroupoli, Arta, Veria, Volos, Didymoticho, Drama, Zante, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Kavala, Karditsa, Kastoria, Corfu, Komotini, Crete, Kos, Larisa, Nea Orestiada, Soufli, Xanthi, Patras, Agrinio, Preveza, Rhodes, Serres, Trikala, Florina and Halkida

The Greek Holocaust-20th Century

65,000-80,000 Greek Jews perished

89% of entire Jewish population (one of the highest populations in Europe)

2/3 of Greek Jewry lived in Thessaloniki (56,000)

96% of Jews in Thessaloniki perished

12,598 fought in Greek army

8,000-10,000 survived with help of Greeks

1,950 returned to Thessaloniki to find most of their 60 synagogues/schools burnt.

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http://memorialmuseums.eu/img/cache/868347b9b03795373c6bacdb43691f8d_w899_h600.jpg

How the Greek Jews could have survived

Michael Matsis-1997

The Illusion of Safety: The Story of the Greek Jews during the 2nd WW.

Daily broadcasts by BBC

Allied military missions in occupied countries

Secret agentsLeaflets thrown from planes (this method was used in Greece to deliver political messages).

Population of Thessaloniki

Year Total Population

JewishPopulation

JewishPercentage

1842 70,000 36,000 51%

1870 90,000 50,000 56%1882/84 85,000 48,000 56%

1902 126,000 62,000 49%

1913 157,889 61,439 39%

1943 53,000

2000 363,987 1,400 0.3%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Greece#cite_note-Molho-15http://www.ejpress.org/ImageGallery/9fc6f9a4-982f-45d7-9a47-

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Greek Jewry TodayEstimated 5500 Jews live in Greece.

2,500 (Athens), 1,300 (Thessaloniki), & rest within various parts of the country

Both Romaniote/Sephardic subgroups

Mixed marriages, ageing population, younger generations

No longer see benefits in officially declaring themselves Jews

Jews identified as Romaniotes live mainly in Athens

Only about 58 live in Ioannina.

http://www.trueorthodox.com/pictures/cecilu.jpg

http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/greece/greece.pdf

http://www.ejpress.org/article/23067

Jewish Communities In GreeceCentral Board of Jewish Communities (KIS)

Umbrella organization of Greek Jewry in Greece

Athens & Thessaloniki2 & 3 synagogues Jewish primary school Jewish museum Several organizations, associations, camps & youth groups - Greek Jewish events

In the remaining parts of Greece

7 small, active communities with functioning synagogue (Chalkis, Corfu, Ioannina, Larissa, Rhodes, Trikala, Volos)

40-70 members each330 - Larissa

Crete 12 Greeks Jews Synagogue of Etz Hayyim in Hania

1999 rededicated Opened during Jewish holidays

http://www.athjcom.gr/en/images/logos/kis_eng.JPG

Jewish Athens1977 - Small room adjacent to synagogue

Early exhibits World War 11 artifactsDocuments - 19th & 20th centuries Stolen Jewelry of Thracian Jews (Bulgarians)

1984- Museum moved & rented space

1997- neoclassical 19th cent. Building

Research & studies on Greek JewsNumerous programs, activities & exhibitions

10-12 thousand visitors annuallyEducating others -especially children about the Holocaust

Teacher seminars Zanet BattinouDirector

http://www.jewishmuseum.gr

Jewish Athens-Synagogues & School

1904-Etz Hayyim-Ioannina Synagogue

1935-Beth Shalom Sephardic Synagoguehttp://www.jewishmuseum.gr/en/information/jews_greece/jewish_sites/

jewish_synagogues.htmlhttp://www.athjcom.gr/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11:beth-shalom-synagogue&catid=12:athens-synagogues&Itemid=339

Athens Jewish Community School

Romaniote Jews in IoanninaEarly 20th century About 4000 Poor, conservative Jews (trade & crafts)

1881-19241st massive wave of immigration-USA-NYEconomic/political reasonsEpirus region-combat zone Greece/Ottoman Empire

Immigrant Romaniotes escaped Holocaust

At onset WWII 1950 Romaniote Jews in Ioannina1,860 deported to Auschwitz-BirkenauMost never returned

2 synagogues Kehila Kedosha Yashan inside kastroKehila Kedosha Hadash -still exists Bimah -Torah scrolls read- raised dais -western wall

Aron Kodesh-Torah scrolls kept-eastern wall At the middle - wide interior aisle

Romaniotes in New YorkMid-1950’sSmall group Holocaust survivors immigrated to USA after catastrophic earthquakes

Most engaged in textile industry

1927-Kehila Kedosha Janina-landmarkReasons for establishment:Few Sephardic /Ashkenazi congregations on Lower East side of NY City

Romaniotes had difficulties:

Ashkenazi Different prayer liturgies/Torah services/pronunciation of liturgy

SephardicLiturgy similar but language- Judesmo-Ladino

Traditional Hebrew used for most of services, piyyuttim- distinctive poetry strictly Romaniote-inserted into liturgy

Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos

Study of Romaniotes

Performed study/interview on 20 Romaniotes in New York (Alexiou)

75% - 2nd generation Greek Jews:Identify & refer as Greek JewsGreek elements into lifestyle70% -strong attachment Greece/Greek identity

All have visited Greece 75% visit annuallyGreek food-integral part of diet

Greek Language90% understand Greek 40% speak it comfortably.Over 1/3 read Greek satisfactory

The Jews of Salonica today About 1000 Jewish Pre-school/ Primary school (about 80 children)

Summer camp School care Youth center Jewish Clubs Welfare Care/Old People’s Home New Jewish Cemetery

Three Synagogues Synagogue of the Monasteriotes (1925)

"Yad Lezicaron" Synagogue (1984) "Saul Modiano" Synagogue The Center of the Cource of Jewish history, in Thessaloniki (1985)

Museum of the Jewish Presence in Thessaloniki (1997)

http://www.jdc.org/where-we-work/europe/greece.html

http://www.jmth.gr/

http://www.jct.gr/school.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monastir_Synagogue.JPG

http://haruth.com/j_greece.jpg

Thank You for Attending!