“The Last Greeks on Broome Street” is just a short movie on the small community of Greek Jews called Romaniòtes/ Ρωμανιώτες and a group of them who emigrated in New York from Ioannina/ Jannina at the beginnings of the century. I have already cited them numerous times in my blog and one day I intend on writing a nice piece. In the meantime a film has come out and though I haven’t seen it yet I thought it was worthwhile to bring it up for those interested in this small but important part of Greek Judaism.

For a review in greek you can check this blog post here.

For the site of the movie itself just click here.

Here’s an interesting exhibition that I was informed about by Kehila Kedosha Janina. It is a photographic journey among the romaniote Jewish Community of Ioannina/Janina in Greece and their american brethren who arrived from this community and established the Romaniote Community of New York by founding the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue.

Since 2005, has documented on film the triumphant traces and living legacy of the ancient Jewish Romaniote community in Ioannina, Greece, and at the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue on the lower East Side of New York City. In Ioannina, barely 35 members of the Kal Kedosh Yashan Synagogue bear witness to this once vibrant community. In Giordano’s attentive photographs, the Romaniote Jews in Greece and America share their compassionate devotion for their special ancient form of Judaism, looking back to 2300 years of history. Images of Torah scrolls, tiks, and the joyous celebrants of Romaniote Judaism look forward to the future, preserved here for prosperity.
Before the Flame Goes Out celebrates two distant Jewish communities connected by history and ritual. Since 2001, Vincent Giordano has documented the Romaniote Jews of Ioannina, Greece and New York City, with their roots in the Judaism of the ancient world.

Only one synagogue in Ioannina – Kehila Kedosha Yahsan, built in 1829 – survived the Holocaust. Its interior Ottoman-style courtyard has a fountain for hand washing. A spacious sanctuary serves for congregational prayer. Benches face center leaving an open area for the procession of the Torah Scrolls. An impressive bimah (reader’s platform) is on the western wall; the marble Echal Kodesh [Holy Ark] is on the east wall. Behind the embroidered curtain (parokhet) are Torah Scrolls, encased in tikkim (silver or wooden cases). Women formerly sat in an upper gallery behind a wooden screen.

Ioannina Jews created a new religious life at Kehila Kedosha Janina, built in 1927, on Manhattan’s Broome Street. The facade indicates the building’s public and Jewish nature, but inside is as intimate as a neighborhood clubhouse, in the manner of many small prayer houses that once dotted the Lower East Side. But the dominating bimah and the benches along the walls facing inward also recall Ioannina. In this narrow sanctuary the Echal Kodesh appears squeezed by the women’s balcony, as it rises two stories.

The many religious and commemorative fittings ultimately overwhelm the architecture. Together, they fulfill the commandment from Exodus 15:2 which exclaims: “This is my God and I will glorify God.” These objects, and the ceremonies in which they are still used, knit together the history of this dwindling but tenacious congregation, its memories of Greece, and the life of New York’s Romaniote community.

The web address of the exhibition is : http://www.mobia.org/exhibitions/detail.php?exhibition_id=49

You can also find a small slide show here: http://www.mobia.org/slideshows/?slideshow_id=15

(the pic: A man helping his son with his prayer shawl, Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue, NYC, 2007 At the Seth Kofinas Bar Mitzvah)

Νέοι Φάκελοι/New Folders is a television program in Greece which presents various documentaries on current and past issues pertaining greek interest. On Jan 29 they broadcasted a 16min documentary on the destiny of the Jews of Ioannina during the Holocaust/Shoah. It hosted testimonies of survivors of the camps, interviews of christian and jewish greeks, photos of the actual deportation as it was immortalised by the Propaganda Office of the German Army and included the prickly issue of the post war problems that Ioanniote jews faced after the return from the camps.

The documentary was exquisite and is now available in viewing on the internet – I warmly recommend you to see it even if you don’t understand greek!

The site of Νέοι Φάκελοι/New Folders. (greek)

The actual video of the documentary. (greek)

The greek transcript.

Among the things I have in my drafts is a small presentation of the jewish community of Ioannina – one of the best sources for more extensive information can be found by visiting the site of Kehila Kedosha Jannina. It was built by jewish greeks of romaniote descent in 1927 and hosts extensive information the history of the Community and it’s fate during the Holocaust – it also has a selection of the photos of the actual deportation as mentioned on the documentary.