Greek-Speaking Jews of Greece

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Greek-Speaking Jews of Greece

ETHNONYMS: Griegos, Romaniotes

Orientation

Identification. The Greek-speaking Jews of Greece are the so-called remnants of Byzantine Jewry. Today they reside Primarily in the northwestern corner of Greece, in the city of Ioannina, capital of the province of Epirus. These people are thought to have retained cultural traditions that date to Byzantium, with influences from the Sephardic and Italian Jews as well as the Ottoman Muslims. Their language, traditional culture, and liturgical rites are distinct, however, from those of the Sephardic Jews found in other commercial centers of the country. Because the majority of the scholarship on Greek Jewry focuses on the Sephardic, Judeo-Spanish-speaking Jews, this community with its special history and unique cultural expressions is virtually overlooked.

Location. As noted above, the Greek-speaking Jews of Greece are concentrated in the city of Ioannina in northwestern Greece. Before World War II, small family groupings were found in the surrounding villages of Paramithia, Margaritaria, Filiates, Pogoni, and Vostina and the cities of Arta and Prevesa, as well as in Albania. Immigrant communities exist in Athens, Jerusalem, and New York City.

Demography. Reports from travelers in the Balkans in the early nineteenth century recorded the total population of Ioannina as about 40,000 inhabitants, of which approximately 2,000 were Jews. By 1883, that figure had risen to 3,334 with reports of Jewish populations in the mountain town of Pogoni and the port of Prevesa. At the turn of the century, Ioannina had shrunk to 20,000 with the departure of Ottoman troops; at that time the Jewish population numbered 4,000-5,000 individuals. The first three decades of the twentieth century were marked by Jewish emigration from Ioannina because of political, economic, and religious pressures. By 1928, the Jewish population had decreased to 2,000. Fifteen years later, on 25 March 1943, approximately 1,800 Jews were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. At the close of the war about 200 Jews returned to Ioannina from the death camps, the Greek Resistance, and hiding places in the villages. In 1983, approximately 57 Jews remained in Ioannina.

Linguistic Affiliation. The Greek-speaking Jews speak a regional dialect of Greek with some Hebrew words integrated into their speech. Records of Judeo-Greek, written in Hebrew script, exist. From 1904 to the outbreak of World War II, young people were instructed in French and Hebrew at schools administered by the Alliance Israelite Universelle. Because community members living in New York emigrated in the early decades of the twentieth century, remnants of Turkish words are found in their language.

History and Cultural Relations

Jews have resided in the Greek Peninsula and islands since classical times. Archaeological remains reveal the existence of ancient synagogues in scattered locations. The peripatetic Spanish rabbi, Benjamin of Tudela, found Jews in many coastal locations on his journey around the Mediterranean. With the influx of Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula in the late fifteenth century, a phenomenon of reverse assimilation took place. In language, traditional culture, and rite, most of the existing Jews of Greece took on the attributes of the newcomers. Evidence remains of the persistence of Greek-speaking enclaves in the names of synagogues in Salonika and Istanbul. Oral tradition places the Jews of Ioannina at the fall of the Second Temple (70 c.e.). Written documents, however, date their presence to the fourteenth Century. The Byzantine Golden Bulls of Andronicus II reaffirmed the rights of the Jews of Ioannina. Under 400 years of Ottoman rule, the Jews in Ioannina prospered and the community grew, with new populations coming from Spain and Sicily. With the entry of Ioannina into the modern state of Greece in 1913, certain restrictions were placed on the Jews, such as moving the market day to Saturday and not allowing store openings on Sunday. The religious Jews emigrated to Jerusalem at this time. Others seeking better economic opportunities emigrated to Athens and New York. The community literally was decimated during the years of World War II. Many of the survivors who returned emigrated to other Greek cities or to other countries very quickly. Others who had served in the Communist wartime resistance movement were persecuted. Over the past forty years, the community has been reduced to its present size of approximately fifty individuals.

Settlements

Settlements are essentially urban. Ioannina remains a major provincial capital of governmental, military, and commercial importance. Traditionally, the Jewish community centered on the synagogue and the marketplace. Distinct Jewish Neighborhoods, both inside and outside the Byzantine walled city (kastro ), were established but were by no means exclusively Jewish. Jewish homes were often distinguished by the Presence of a frame for the sukkah, constructed in the fall festival of Sukkot, and a wood-burning oven for the preparation of kosher meals and the baking of Sabbath bread. Up to World War II families established shops and homes in the smaller towns of the region. They returned to Ioannina for major holiday celebrations and their children were often sent there for schooling. Young men from Ioannina trained to read the Torah would also be sent to some of these settlements for holiday celebrations.

Economy

The Greek-speaking Jews were primarily engaged as merchants. Many were in the textile business, selling ready-made fabrics, manufacturing textiles, and thread. A noted home industry of the Jewish women was the production of card-woven garters (kaltsodetes ), for the stockings of Greek Christian men's traditional dress, as well as silk culture. Other Jewish businesses included that of butcher or animal factor, small goods or haberdashery shops, and brokerages for property or wholesale goods. A few members of the community were employed as professionals such as doctors, teachers, and lawyers. Today, Jewish shops sell household goods, furniture, clothing, and fabrics. One man repairs tin utensils for the villagers. Two young men run an electric repair shop. One man, Educated in the United States, teaches at the University of Ioannina.

Kinship, Marriage, and Family

Kinship. The Jews of Ioannina are historically extended families with a patriarchal authority structure and patrilineal inheritance of surnames. In the past, nicknames were used extensively to distinguish between family members; they frequently supplanted surnames. Kinship is reckoned bilaterally.

Marriage. Traditionally, marriages were arranged through a system of matchmakers. This pattern is still practiced regularly in the late twentieth century, with partners coming from other cities in Greece. Intermarriage with Greek Christians is a common occurrence. Postmarital residence is usually in the home or, more recently, in the city of the husband's family. Today, the couple usually lives alone in a furnished apartment, which is part of the wife's dowry.

Domestic Unit. The domestic unit is often a nuclear Family, although widowed parents will live with the family or in an adjacent apartment. There are two or three children in the average family. Before World War II, marriage between first cousins was a common practice.

Sociopolitical Organization

The synagogue and the Jewish communal offices are the centers of the community. Most members of the community live in close proximity to each other in a communally owned apartment house, which was built in the 1960s, and in Neighboring homes. They are thus in daily contact with each other. Interaction on the business level is with both Jews and Christians. Generally, few members of the Jewish community have in-depth social contact with the Christians. As in other Jewish communities, self-help societies (hevrot ) traditionally were active in Ioannina, including the society for poor brides, the society for the poor, and the burial society. Only the last is still in existence today. Other Jewish affiliation is with the KIS, the central Jewish organization in Athens, which monitors all community affairs in the country and provides financial assistance.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religion. The Greek-speaking Jews of Greece are traditional Jews. Originally, the community had two synagogues with attached chapels or minyans for smaller numbers of worshipers. The one located outside of the kastro was destroyed in the bombing during World War II. Holidays and life-cycle rituals were practiced in a manner peculiar to the community. These celebrations included Irtaman, a carnival-like celebration on the first day of the Jewish month of Adar, and the Purim Katan (small Purim), called the Siciliano, which was brought to the city by immigrants from Sicily. Homes were scrupulously kosher and several wealthier homes had built-in mikvahs (ritual baths). Religious practice is minimal now Because of the reduced numbers of the community. The synagogue is cleaned and opened for major holidays, when a rabbi from Athens or Salonika is brought in to lead services. The laws of kosher practice are rarely followed, neither the eating of kosher meats nor the separation of milk and meat. The young people are sent to summer camp and annual seminars sponsored by KIS to learn about the Jewish traditions and to meet other Jewish youths.

Arts. The most evident characteristic of the traditional expressive culture of the Greek-speaking Jews is the use of the Greek language in songs in popular settings and for festival and life-cycle celebrations. Songs at weddings are sung in demotic Greek. Two traditional songs sung in the home after the Passover seder, "One Goat" (Had Gadya) and "Who Knows One?" (Echod Mi Yodea), are also sung in Greek.