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Etz Haim Synagogue, Thessaloniki, Greece
Synagogue History and Description
Etz Haim, also known as the Haimando Synagogue or Etz Haim, is the first known synagogue of Thessaloniki, Greece, and was built at an unknown date in the first century Before the Common Era.1
The Apostle Paul (d. c. 64/65 AD) wrote the First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians sometime between 48-52 CE after proselytizing in Thessaloniki. These letters were written to churches established in Thessaloniki, after Paul and Silas had preached that Jesus Christ was the Messiah to convert people to Christianity. Many scholars believe that Paul and Silas were permitted to speak at Etz Haim, and that they spoke briefly before being thrown out.2 It is believed that in addition to the Greek pagans, a small number of Jews converted to Christianity. After approximately three weeks in Thessaloniki, Paul and Silas were forced to leave by Roman authorities who accused them of disobeying the Roman Emperor Caesar by claiming Jesus as king.3
It is generally accepted that Etz Haim was a Romaniote Synagogue, founded by Greek-speaking Jews who settled in Thessaloniki as early as 140 BCE; however, some scholars disagree. When Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1444-1446 and 1451-1481) captured Constantinople in 1453, he deported Jews, Christians, and Muslims from across the Ottoman Empire to the city in an effort to revive it. While the Romaniote Jews deported from Thessaloniki were in Constantinople, Etz Haim survived, suggesting either that not all of Thessaloniki’s Romaniote Jews were deported or that membership in Etz Haim was not solely Romaniote but also perhaps Sicilian and Italian. Additionally, many recorded family names dating after the fifteenth century from the congregation are not of Romaniote origin.4
A possible explanation for Etz Haim’s survival despite Romaniote Jews’ deportation could be found when Thessaloniki changed hands from the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman Empire. In 1422, Ottoman Sultan Murad II (r. 1421- 1444 and 1446-1451) laid siege to Thessaloniki, not only because it was an indispensable Mediterranean port, but also because he dreamed God decreed that Thessaloniki should be his. The siege lasted until 1430, but by then, at least three quarters of the population had fled and only 10,000 individuals remained.5 In 1430, Murad II found the once prosperous city barren, commercial buildings defunct, and the city’s administration in disarray. To restore the city, he repopulated it with former Greek prisoners, Muslim settlers from the nearby towns of Yannitsa and Anatolia, and former residents who had fled Thessaloniki during the siege. When repopulating Constantinople only twenty-three years later in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II would allow the Romaniote residents of Thessaloniki to remain in the city to maintain its population, thus leading to Etz Haim’s survival.6 In 1510, a Romaniote machzor (Hebrew prayer book for the High Holidays) published in Constantinople, was in the synagogue in Salonika which may point to Romaniote Jews’ return to Salonika.7
In terms of congregational size, records show that Etz Haim’s membership included “...117 house-holds in 1527, and 140 house-holds plus 124 bachelors in 1614; i.e., an increase of 40% in almost ninety years.”8
By the early twentieth century, many members of Etz Haim were likely unable to directly trace their lineage to the Romaniote Jewish community of the first century; however, there are synagogue records of Sephardic last names. This is likely because the Romaniote Jewish community was outnumbered by the Sephardic and Italian Jews arrivals in Salonika fleeing Spain and Italy following the enactment of the Alhambra Decree in 1492. The synagogue did still display some elements of Romaniote Jewry in the twentieth century, including Greek inscriptions in the Jewish cemetery, which was located in the eastern part of the city.9 Greek-speaking Jews from other Greek speaking towns, including in Sicily and Corfu, may have also joined Etz Haim.
Most synagogues had Spanish nicknames, which was likely because the majority of Salonika’s Jewish population was Ladino speaking Sephardi. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Etz Haim’s nickname was “ajo,” or Spanish for garlic.10
Site History
The oldest synagogue in Thessaloniki, Etz Haim has relocated multiple times.11 For centuries, Etz Haim was located near the city walls of Thessaloniki, near the Thermaic Gulf. Built in 300 AD, the Byzantine walls surrounding Thessaloniki stood until the end of the nineteenth century. At the end of the nineteenth century, changes to the city plan drastically reorganized the city. The city became arranged in sections, rather than the previous concentric development patterns. The eastern sea wall was demolished from 1866-1967, and construction of a new pier began in 1873, which scholars believe forced Etz Haim to move from its location next to the city wall to old Karipi street.12/13
Etz Haim’s new location on old Karipi street occupied 236 square meters. However, the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 damaged the synagogue. Following the fire, the Jewish community got permission to repair an unnamed building on Karipi street, which was likely Etz Haim. However, just three years later, new city plans forced the synagogue to relocate to the Aghia Paraskevi neighborhood. A bond was given to the community as compensation for the seizure of their land. Etz Haim operated until World War II, likely until 1943, when Jews were taken to ghettos. Under Nazi occupation, most of Thessaloniki’s Jewish population was deported and perished in the Holocaust. All property belonging to the Jewish community was seized.14
Description
Romaniote Jews of Thessaloniki, Greece
The name Thessaloniki refers to the city during Byzantine rule, which lasted until 1421, and Greek rule, which began in 1912. The name Salonika refers to the city during Ottoman rule (1430-1912).
Romaniote Jews are Greek-speaking Jews from the Eastern Mediterranean. Thessaloniki became part of the Roman Empire in 168 BCE, and Romaniote Jews arrived in the city around twenty-eight years later from Alexandria, in approximately 140 BCE. Hellenism had a great influence on Romaniote Jews, who themselves began incorporating Greek elements into their Jewish practices.15 Correspondences found in the Cairo Genizah between Romaniote Jews in Thessaloniki and recipients in Cairo suggest that Romaniote Jews successfully traded across the Mediterranean.16 In Thessaloniki, the Romaniote community was located near the port.
Jews were generally free from religious discrimination until the creation of the Eastern Roman Empire, known as Byzantine, in 330 CE. The Byzantine Empire adopted Christianity, culminating in the establishment of the state Church of the Roman Empire in 380 CE. Jews were initially tolerated, but following Emperor Justinian I’s (r. 527-565 CE) inauguration, he imposed a series of regulations on Jews, including how they could worship, what translations of the Torah they could use, and he forbade them from using the Mishnah, a book of commentary on the Torah. Soon, any non-Christians were seen as heretics.17 By 1170, the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela visited Thessaloniki and reported that Jews were persecuted. Archbishop Eustathios of Thessalonica confirmed the maltreatment of Romaniote Jews in his account of the Norman siege of Thessaloniki just fifteen years later in 1185.18
Thessaloniki was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1429, after a nine-year siege. In 1453, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Constantinople had been devastated by the Ottoman siege, so Mehmed II called Romaniote Jews, Christians, and Muslims to Constantinople to revive it. Mehmed II also appointed a Chief Rabbi for the Ottoman Empire, Romaniote Rabbi Moshe Kapsali (d.1493), after the fall of Constantinople. Duties of the Chief Rabbi included ensuring the jizya tax was collected, receiving a seat on the Sultan Mehmed II’s divan next to the mufti (a Muslim legal expert), appointing Rabbis, and being a civil judge. In 1493 Romaniote Rabbi Elijah Mizrachi succeeded Rabbi Kapsali, however he did not wield much power.19/20 Since Thessaloniki was the epicenter of Jewry in the Ottoman Empire, authority depended on the acceptance from the majority Sephardic Jewish population. However, Sephardic Jews often believed themselves to be separate from and superior to Romaniote and Ashkenazi Jewry. The Jewish community believed there was no need for a Chief Rabbi following the death of Rabbi Elijah Mizrahi, and the position of Chief Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire was abolished. In Thessaloniki, these communities often remained separate, and had their own synagogues.21
When Greece annexed Thessaloniki in 1912, following the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Romaniote Jews became an important part of the Jewish community. The Greek government, and specifically “...Prime Minister Eleftherius Venizelos, elevated the Greek speaking, culturally integrated Romaniote Jew of ‘Old Greece’ as the model Greek Jewish citizen—Greek by nationality, Jewish only by religion.” Greek-speaking Romaniote Jews’ role in the Jewish community shifted as they became valued for their role in facilitating communication between the Jewish community and the Greek state.22
Currently, most Romaniote Jews live in the United States and Israel, and very few still live in Greece.23
Thessaloniki, Greece, Greece
© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Sources
Footnotes
[1] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, Topography of Synagogues in Salonika (1500-1940), ed. Evangelos Chekimoglou, 48.
[2] Cristina Pallini and Annalisa Riccarda Scaccabarozzi, "In Search of Salonika's Lost Synagogues. An Open Question Concerning Intangible Heritage," Journal of the Fondizione CDEC, no. 7 (2014): [Page #], accessed June 27, 2024, https://doi.org/10.48248/issn.2037-741X/769.
[3] Bible Project, ed., "BibleProject Guides: Book of 1 Thessalonians," Bible Project, accessed July 18, 2024, https://bibleproject.com/guides/book-of-1-thessalonians/.
[4] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, Topography of Synagogues, 48-49.
[5] Mark Mazower, Salonica, City of Ghosts : Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 1430-1950 (New York: Vintage, 2006), 29.
[6] Mazower, Salonica, City, 33.
[7] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, Topography of Synagogues, 49.
[8] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, Topography of Synagogues, 51.
[9] Devin E. Devin E. Naar, "The “Mother of Israel” Or the “Sephardi Metropolis”? Sephardim, Ashkenazim, and Romaniotes in Salonica," Jewish Social Studies 22, no. 1 (2016), https://doi.org/10.2979/jewisocistud.22.1.03.
[10] Ēlias V. Messinas and Samuel Gruber, Synagogues of Greece : a Study of Synagogues in Macedonia and Thrace (New York: Published for American Sephardi Federation (ASF)/ by Bloch Publishing Company in association with Bowman & Cody Academic Publishing, 2011),
[11] Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, comp., Records of the Jewish Community of Salonika, Greece RG-67.018M, ed. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, [Page #], accessed July 18, 2024, https://collections.ushmm.org/findingaids/RG-67.018M_01_fnd_en.pdf.
[12] E.P Dimitriadis, "Thessaloniki: 2300 Years of Continuous Urban Life," Ekistics 53, no. 316/317 (1986), JSTOR.
[13] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, Topography of Synagogues, 48.
[14] Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, Topography of Synagogues, 48.
[15] Paul Issaac Hagouel, History of the Jews of Thessaloniki from Jews to Hellenes, from Antiquity to Modern Times (n.p., 2014).
[16] Mazower, Salonica, City, 46.
[17] Jewish Virtual Library, ed., "Byzantine Empire," Jewish Virtual Library, accessed August 13, 2024, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/byzantine-empire.
[18] Hagouel, History of the Jews.
[19] Nissan Mindel, "Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrahi (Rom)," Chabad.org, Kehot Publication Society, accessed August 13, 2024, https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112362/jewish/Rabbi-Eliyahu-Mizrahi-Rom.htm.
[20] Weinberger, Leon J. "SOME BELIEFS AND OPINIONS in THE ROMANIOTE LITURGY." Hebrew Studies 19 (1978): 77-81. JSTOR.
[21] Mazower, Salonica, City, 56-57.
[22] Devin E. Naar, "The “Mother," 98.
[23] Dennis Wasko, "The Jewish Palate: The Romaniote Jews of Greece," The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem, Israel), March 14, 2011, accessed July 18, 2024, https://www.jpost.com/food-index/the-jewish-palate-the-romaniote-jews-of-greece.
Works Cited
Bible Project, ed. "BibleProject Guides: Book of 1 Thessalonians." Bible Project. Accessed July 18, 2024. https://bibleproject.com/guides/book-of-1-thessalonians/.
Devin E. Naar. "The “Mother of Israel” or the “Sephardi Metropolis”? Sephardim, Ashkenazim, and Romaniotes in Salonica." Jewish Social Studies 22, no. 1 (2016): 81-129. https://doi.org/10.2979/jewisocistud.22.1.03.
Dimitriadis, E.P. "Thessaloniki: 2300 Years of Continuous Urban Life." Ekistics 53, no. 316/317 (1986): 111-20. JSTOR.
Hagouel, Paul Issaac. History of the Jews of Thessaloniki from Jews to Hellenes, from Antiquity to Modern Times. N.p., 2014. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269873799_History_of_the_Jews_of_Thessaloniki_from_Jews_to_Hellenes_from_Antiquity_to_Modern_Times
Hekimoglou, Dr. Evangelos. The exact location of the Ghettos in Thessaloniki, 1943. Accessed June 30, 2013. https://www.academia.edu/10614219/The_exact_location_of_the_Ghettos_in_Thessaloniki_1943.
Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. "Η Ιστορία της Κοινότητας" [The History of the Community]. Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.jct.gr/history.php.
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. Topography of Synagogues in Salonika (1500-1940). Edited by Evangelos Chekimoglou.
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. "Οι Εβραίοι της Θεσσαλονίκης" [The Jews of Thessaloniki]. Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. Accessed June 28, 2024. http://www.jmth.gr/article-20032014-oi-evraioi-tis-thessalonikis.
Jewish Virtual Library, ed. "Byzantine Empire." Jewish Virtual Library. Accessed
August 13, 2024. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/byzantine-empire.
Koelner, Yosef. "The History of Jewish Thessaloniki From Its Inception Through The New Testament Period." Academia. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.academia.edu/103955894/The_History_of_Jewish_Thessaloniki_From_Its_Inception_Through_The_New_Testament_Period.
Mazower, Mark. Salonica, City of Ghosts : Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 1430-1950. New York: Vintage, 2006.
Messinas, Ēlias V., and Samuel Gruber. Synagogues of Greece : a Study of Synagogues in
Macedonia and Thrace. New York: Published for American Sephardi Federation (ASF)/ by Bloch Publishing Company in association with Bowman & Cody Academic Publishing, 2011.
Naar, Devin E. Jewish Salonica : between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016.
Mindel, Nissan. "Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrahi (Rom)." Chabad.org. Kehot Publication Society.
Accessed August 13, 2024. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112362/jewish/Rabbi-Eliyahu-Mizrahi-Rom.htm.
Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act Report: Greece, Rep., at 80 (Mar. 2020). Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.state.gov/reports/just-act-report-to-congress/greece/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1719595934160991&usg=AOvVaw2HjUPk3T20gQSwmCjQTSWT.
Pallini, Cristina, and Annalisa Riccarda Scaccabarozzi. "In Search of Salonika's Lost Synagogues. An Open Question Concerning Intangible Heritage." Journal of the Fondizione CDEC, no. 7 (2014). Accessed June 27, 2024. https://doi.org/10.48248/issn.2037-741X/769.
Sanger, Dale. "The Historical Context of 1 Thessalonians." Academia. Last modified October 5, 2011. Accessed July 18, 2024. https://www.academia.edu/43732204/THE_HISTORICAL_CONTEXT_OF_1_THESSALONIANS.
Wasko, Dennis. "The Jewish Palate: The Romaniote Jews of Greece." The Jerusalem Post
(Jerusalem, Israel), March 14, 2011. Accessed July 18, 2024. https://www.jpost.com/food-index/the-jewish-palate-the-romaniote-jews-of-greece.
Weinberger, Leon J. "SOME BELIEFS AND OPINIONS in THE ROMANIOTE LITURGY." Hebrew Studies 19 (1978): 77-81. JSTOR.
Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, comp. Records of the Jewish Community of Salonika, Greece RG-67.018M. Edited by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives. Accessed July 18, 2024. https://collections.ushmm.org/findingaids/RG-67.018M_01_fnd_en.pdf.
