#Romaniote

[nuka-kitty]

It's been one year and twenty days since me and another trainee were pulled aside by a drill sergeant and told about the attacks in Israel. It's been one year and twenty days since I recieved a red cross message that my cousin was a hostage.

There are less than 200 speakers of Italki dialects now. Less than 68,000 of us left.

I'm so tired.

[leroibobo]

etz hayyim (“tree of life”) synagogue in chania, crete, greece. the building dates to the 14th-15th centuries, and was originally a venetian catholic church. it was acquired by chania's jewish community and converted into a synagogue in the late 17th century. chania's jews were deported due to the holocaust in 1944, after which the building remained abandoned until restoration in the 1990s.

romaniote jews are the oldest jewish community in europe and one of the oldest in the world, thought to have lived in and around present day greece since before 70 ce. they have their own liturgy that is unrelated to the more commonly used european ones (ashkenazic and sephardic).

[cottoncandytrafficcones]

Hey Jumblr,

What are some non-Ashknazi marriage traditions/rituals that y'all do? I was reading up on weddings and a lot of stuff (the bedeken, the walking around the groom) was written to be Ashkenazi tradition. I know a lot about henna, but that's basically it.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

What really sucks is how, while many Greek Jews have been here for literally centuries, and even for the ones that came later on, still, our traditions are so heavily linked with the standard Greek traditions (Purim which is our Apokries, has been transferred for a long time, two weeks earlier and is celebrated during the Christian Apokries instead of the standard)and it sucks that people still claim that "jews are not truly Greeks" and how we don't belong here. Sadly I have been hearing that rhetoric even more lately to the point that I don't mention that I'm Jewish to people I don't know well, in case they are weirdos. And the way that the government is going (far right with the Spartans and everything) I don't see the situation getting better soon.

What's your opinion on this theitsa;

Hello! :) First of all, thank you for entrusting me with your thoughts! It means a lot!

It irks me when I hear "they don't belong here" about people who have been citizens of this country for a very long time! (it irks me regardless, but whatever) What the fuck "belong" even means?? And who the fuck decides that?? They are here, they are citizens, they are part of the Greek history, the end! Even more so if these people speak Greek, they have Greek education, they live the Greek reality every day, they fight for the same things as the rest of the Greeks, and so on.

It sucks that this country makes you feel like you have to hide, or explain yourself in case they learn you are Jewish. This shouldn't have to happen! And, to be fair, no one is 100% "pure" Greek (I hate the concept of purity but I mention it here for argument's sake). We all have at least ONE ancestor of Slavic (/Arvanite), German, Turk, Egyptian, Hebrew, Armenian, Persian etc descent. We don't live in a bubble! Markos Botsaris (+ his crew) and Laskarina Bouboulina were Arvanites!

For this reason, I think "How Greek" one is, shouldn't define how much respect they get as Greek citizens. We are all enclosed in the same borders under a common government and we will achieve shit if we give in to infighting about who is The Best.

At the same time, I don't mean to diminish your argument about Jewish Greeks having Greek cultural elements. It makes sense that Jews in Norway and Jews in Greece won't have the exact same culture, and that they will be affected by the culture around them. I imagine it's hurtful when this part of your identity is overlooked. I'm just saying that all people here are "allowed" to be here, since our law has allowed it.

I wish I could tell you "don't be afraid! go forth and be yourself!" but realistically you will be the judge of what's safer for you. At least from my perspective, most Greeks won't have an issue. They might be very interested, even. But one or two times there will be Greeks who will create an issue for you. And these bigoted Greeks might be even more than we think.

The "funny" thing about far-right parties like the Spartans is that, while they claim to be "for Greece", they seem to parrot USAmerican rhetoric (non-Greek rhetoric) which goes against how the locals historically viewed the Jews in Greece.

Correct me if I am wrong, anon, but I feel like the rise of antisemitism in our days is very connected to the US-Americanization of Greece? This type of antisemitism (the type of conspiracies) and the intensity is the exact same I see from people in the US who worry when Jews are in positions of power.

Now, it's a historical truth that certain Greeks worked with the Nazis for power, at the time Greece was under Nazi/Axis occupation. (The Greeks still hate these families that were Germanophille at the time, because these families also worked against the interests of the rest of Greeks) So antisemitic sentiments existed before. But the land of what is now Greece was under the Ottoman Empire for centuries and the Ottoman Empire was a haven for Jews who were heavily discriminated against and killed in West Europe.

Many Jews acquired power and influence in big Greek cities like Thessaloniki, owning factories, businesses, newspapers, and real estate. They were allowed to prosper and they were an important part of our societies. (The Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki has an exhibition this year about the Thessalonian Jewish community. It's outside and left of the cafeteria, they have a new room)

At the same time, obviously, being Jewish didn't make you automatically rich and influential. Before the second world war, there were Greeks and Turks, and French who were very rich and influential, too. Traditionally the Greeks understood this was a Class thing, not an Ethnicity thing. (And, in any case, no people deserve a freaking genocide!!!) But my point is, in the Old Times I didn't see sentiments such as "oooo the Jews are here to control us!!" whereas I feel this is a big part of the Greek antisemitic rhetoric today.

The reason I think this sentiment is brought by the US is that in the US there are many Jewish communities and many have acquired wealth or they had generational wealth. But in Greece there as soooo few Jews and they don't hold the same amount of wealth. Like, the bigoted conspiracies of the far right don't even make sense in the Greek reality 😂

For those who don't know: Despite the efforts of Greek Jews to escape the holocaust and the efforts of many Greeks to help them escape in the Επαρχία (rest of the country, outside of Athens), like in Zakynthos, an extremely large number of Jews in Greece got killed by the Axis powers in the Second World War. Hence, the large Jewish population of Greece has dwindled, and the community is really small nowadays. The community (at least in Thessaloniki) is also cautious to open their culture to other Greeks because they fear antisemitic sentiments might hurt them again. (Which is understandable to me. Btw I heard this cause a friend writing her thesis needed access to the Hebrew records in Thessaloniki)

Sorry for the long response, anon! My thoughts were many, as you can see. I would be very happy if you could tell us more things about Greek Jewish culture, if you don't mind! (how it's similar or dissimilar to the more frequent version of Greek culture) I could not find many things online, or even in museums, about it and I am genuinely curious.

Feel free to correct me on historical stuff, if you have different info! I am sure we would all be better for learning it because so much culture and historical perspective was lost from the collective average Greek consciousness with the holocaust. I hate that this gap gave rise to the rhetoric of far-right parties. I would also like to be more equipped to speak against their antisemitism by knowing more facts.

I also wonder if it's any awkward celebrating Hanukkah as a Greek Jew? 😅 I think it's not awkward (because the Greek Seleucid Empire was a looong time ago), but I am really curious if the Greek Jews think some way about it.

[adiradirim]

Sephardi & Romaniote Jewish Women's Clothing in the Byzantine and Ottoman Periods, illustrated by Nikos Stavroulakis

[challahfairy]

a sad story about a beautiful jewish culture; i recommend we all fall down this rabbit hole.

i think this is something we should spread awareness about as jews, because they aren’t the only ones who’s rich and unique traditions may be lost.

**EDIT: THIS ARTICLE IS FROM 2014

more recent wikipedia article

[anshelsgendercrisis]

yesterday i watched a youtube recording of a class from the 2022 piyyut global workshop and something one of the facilitators said really struck me. he was talking abt all the people he’s studied with and said “it’s important to learn from these people because they are the last teachers.” they’re the last generation who lived in vibrant jewish communities in places like morocco and iraq and understood the cultural context of these piyyutim, the last who really experienced firsthand what it meant to be a moroccan jew or an iraqi jew, because for the children and grandchildren of mizrahi jewish refugees, all they have left is the experiences of their elders. and it made me think of ppl claiming to care abt mizrahi jews in one breath then advocating for “cultural and educational boycotts” of israel in another. when the only place a lot of these cultures really exist anymore, when the only people who can really teach about them, are in israel and you are saying not to listen to them, that they don’t matter, you’re sentencing those cultures to death.

[bobemajses]

Mordechai Frizis (1893–1940), a Hellenic Army Colonel from the ancient Romaniote Jewish community of Chalkis, with his wife Victoria.

in the years that led up to World War II, the new government led by Ioannis Metaxas instilled into the Jews a sense of self-identification as Greeks. 13,000 Greek Jews served in the Greek army against the Italians in the Greco-Italian campaign. In fact, one battalion was called the “Cohen Brigade,” comprised of Jews from Salonica who fought in front line action. Many were killed or wounded alongside their Christian brethren. One such soldier was Colonel Mordecai Frizis, the first high-ranking Greek officer to die in World War II. While leading his troops on horseback in Epirus, he was mortally wounded, yet, he refused to dismount. With full knowledge that he would not survive, he gave orders to his loyal followers to press the attack, giving the Greeks and the Allies their first victory.

[sefaradweb]

🇪🇸 La ciudad de Monastir, ubicada en la antigua ruta Vía Egnatia, fue conquistada por los otomanos en 1381-1382, comenzando un periodo de dominio turco que duró hasta 1912. Hacia finales del siglo XV, judíos sefardíes expulsados de España se establecieron en Monastir, donde ya residían judíos romaniotes desde tiempos romanos. Los sefardíes formaron dos comunidades separadas, la aragonesa y la portuguesa, con sinagogas independientes que a menudo enfrentaron disputas. En el siglo XVI, Monastir contaba con unas 1,500 casas, de las cuales 200 eran propiedad de judíos. Para 1889, la ciudad tenía 31,257 habitantes, con 5,500 judíos. La comunidad judía en Monastir prosperó gracias a su experiencia en comercio y oficios textiles, estableciendo fuertes vínculos comerciales por todo el Imperio Otomano. A finales del siglo XVI, un incendio destruyó las sinagogas aragonesa y portuguesa, lo que llevó a la reconstrucción de una sinagoga conjunta. Sin embargo, las tensiones entre las dos comunidades persistieron. Durante el siglo XVII, la comunidad judía creció tanto que el espacio en las casas de oración se volvió insuficiente, requiriendo la renta de espacio en casas particulares, una práctica que continuó durante generaciones.

🇺🇸 The city of Monastir, located on the ancient Via Egnatia route, was conquered by the Ottomans in 1381-1382, marking the beginning of a period of Turkish rule that lasted until 1912. By the end of the 15th century, Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain settled in Monastir, where Romaniote Jews had already been living since Roman times. The Sephardic Jews formed two separate communities, the Aragonese and the Portuguese, with independent synagogues that often faced disputes. In the 16th century, Monastir had about 1,500 houses, 200 of which were owned by Jews. By 1889, the city had 31,257 inhabitants, with 5,500 Jews. The Jewish community in Monastir thrived due to its expertise in commerce and textile-related trades, establishing strong commercial ties throughout the Ottoman Empire. In the late 16th century, a fire destroyed the Aragonese and Portuguese synagogues, leading to the reconstruction of a joint synagogue. However, tensions between the two communities persisted. During the 17th century, the Jewish community grew so much that the space in the prayer houses became insufficient, requiring the renting of space in private homes, a practice that continued for generations.

[bixels]

Greece is a more Mediterranean/South European region in my opinion. I think anon meant countries like Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Belarus, Estonia and so on.

Probably! To be honest, there actually aren't enough regular ol' horses that I care enough about to do redesigns for, besides the ones I've listed. That being said, I would like to do an Eastern European character if I get around to it.

[ofpd]

sephardic & romaniote jewish dress, from the jewish museum of greece

[ayin-me-yesh]

Yes! Also that Greece is historically home to the Romaniote community. Romaniote Jews have been in Greece for 2300 years, with Ioannina a particular stronghold. Most of the community was murdered in the Holocaust, and many of the survivors were displaced by the subsequent Greek Civil War, a Cold War proxy war for the US / UK and the USSR.

we need a cultural revival of diaspora internationalism. zionism is a dying, violent vision, and one that purposefully swept away many remnants of diaspora european jewish culture right after hitler. but still there is an incredible jewish intellectual and political tradition of opposition to zionism, opposition to both nationalism and complete assimilation. its a tragedy that so many of its most radical and original and productive thinkers, politicians, artists were killed or had to flee, but to me its a greater tragedy to accept their murderers and persecutors verdict on history: that we are alien body in the places we live and antisemitism is an unchangeable fact. this is the premise of zionism however. but as many other central european jews have argued, the paradox of jewish history in all its complexity, assimilation along with the refusal to abandon jewishness, and the conditions of the diaspora in general, are precisely what connected jews to revolution and critique. with zionism weve become connected to nationalism and imperialism

[iliothermia]

I've made a side blog where I can talk about my feelings, interests, and images of Greek traditional clothing / Jewishness more- especially Greek Sephardim / Romaniote and separately, Minoan stuff because that's what a lot of my work is rooted in. There will be some sad posts because there's no avoiding that, but I want to share my cultural resources I have stacked up that aren't commonly shared online. I'll also likely reshare my very directly Jewish work there, illumination and mosaic redraws etc.

[chanaleah]

jews 🤝 stew

sephardim 🤝 stew

kaifeng jews 🤝 stew

amazigh jews 🤝 stew

bukharian jews 🤝 stew

mountain jews 🤝 stew

mizrahim 🤝 stew

ashkenazim 🤝 stew

teimani jews 🤝 stew

italkim 🤝 stew

musta'arabi jews 🤝 stew

romaniote jews 🤝 stew

beta israelis 🤝 stew

cochin jews 🤝 stew

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Hey, I hope you’re well! I just heard that a university professor on the USA West Coast is going to be giving a free Zoom lecture about the Jews of Thessaloniki and Rhodes. I’m pretty sure I remember you posting about the topic before so I wanted to share a link. The time zone difference would probably be wretched, but I figured I’d try offer something back after I’ve learned so much from your blog.

https://holocaustcenterseattle.org/programs-events/virtual-lunch-and-learn-series

Ya su and thank you so much for the link! (And the good words 💙) We can view the recorded lecture if we don't catch it live, so that's a win!

[adiradirim]

one of the funniest/saddest things about having a jewish post breach containment is you'll read tags that are super loudly excited about how much they just looooove judaism and the jews (tm) and you'll be like "oh?" and click on their blog to see what else they've been saying and reblogging and be like oh