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Tuesday, 03 November 2020 14:00 |
 A few days after the attacks in France, new bloody terrorist attacks occurred in the center of Vienna, the capital of Austria, during the night of November 2nd, 2020. Gunmen opened fire, killed four people and wounded several others at several locations in Vienna, starting from the street where Vienna's main synagogue is located. The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece addressed, today November 3, 2020, the following letter to the Ambassador of Austria in Greece, expressing the solidarity of the Greek Jewry to the people of Austria for the heinous terrorist attacks:
"Dear Mrs. Ambassador,
The Greek Jewry is shocked after the bloody terror attacks of extreme Islamists against innocent people, that struck the center of Vienna yesterday night, and caused the death of four people and several casualties.
Our thoughts and payers are with the families of the tragic victims. Our solidarity is with the Austrian people at large that was terrified by the extremists who assaulted a symbolic area of the Austrian capital, where churches and synagogues stand close to one another and in vicinity with museums and a number of multi-ethnic restaurants, a place where people enjoy culture, a place that represents collectivity and brotherhood, a district that is a small scale model of European core values.
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Friday, 30 October 2020 09:30 |
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 In the aftermath of the new wave of terror launched against France, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) addressed the following letter to the President of France Emmanuel Macron conveying condolences to the French people, as well as the condemnation of the Greek Jewry for the appalling criminal assaults:
Votre Excellence,
Monsieur le Président de la République française,
Au nom du judaïsme grec, nous souhaitons exprimer notre ferme condamnation des attentats sanglants et barbares du 29 octobre 2020, à Nice et à Avignon. Nous sommes en état de choc face à l'explosion sauvage de haine et de fanatisme islamique qui affligent la France, un pays traditionnellement et profondément enraciné dans la richesse de la diversité sociale, un pays dont la devise "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" forme le rapport aux autres, un pays qui représente les Lumières européennes.
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Monday, 16 November 2020 10:30 |
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 By Dimitris Mitsopolous*
Six years ago, after graduating from high school, I was admitted to the Department of History and Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. My childhood dream to become a historian had been fulfilled. I had planned to study the history of Greece’s European integration and the historical origins of the Greek economic crisis. But two events led to a major shift in my focus.
For my birthday, during the first year of my studies, I received an important work of history as a gift: Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews written by Columbia University professor Mark Mazower, which enabled me to delve into the history of my hometown, Thessaloniki — or Salonica, as it was often known by the city’s Jewish community. The book opened me to the city’s multicultural past, and Salonica’s complex relationship with the past and present. I discovered for the first time the city’s colorful past, and the fact that its very makeup was totally different a century ago.
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Monday, 16 November 2020 13:03 |
  The Synagogue of Larissa, symbolically named "Etz Hayim" (The Tree of Life), which made the life of Jewish people of this city “blossom”, is today a ruin at risk of collapse.
The beautiful, simple, imposing building, with the enormous historical and cultural value, severely damaged by its 160 years of life was delivered in October 2019 to the hands of experts, who studied its static adequacy in order to start the support works. The findings were disappointing because, apart from the visible damages, numerous other invisible problems arose, which rendered the building inadequate and dangerous. Everything was removed from the Synagogue which has been temporarily supported, expecting the funding to continue the restoration works recommended by the team of experienced engineers.
Since the Synagogue has been closed for more than a year, the Rabbi, the Board and the members of the Community make every possible effort to keep the religious life and traditions alive: services are performed at the small Community Center, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were celebrated under a tent at the school yard, weddings and other events are hosted in hotel halls... the Jews of Larissa have been extremely inventive until their beloved Synagogue becomes again the center where the heart of Jewish life beats…
 The restoration of the "Etz Hayim" Synagogue is linked to the very effort of the historical Jewish Community of Larissa to continue to exist. However, it is a project of huge costs that the Community of Larissa is unable to afford. For this reason, with the support of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, it turns for help to the Greek and global Jewish world, to organizations and individuals.
We address to you, to all our fellow Jews in Greece and abroad, to you who were born in Larissa and have linked the “Ka-al” to your most beautiful memories, to you who learned to love it through stories of your mates and parents, to you who visited our Synagogue and were touched by its beauty and history, to you who want to contribute to the preserving the Jewish religious and cultural heritage in our city. We appeal to you for financial assistance for the restoration of our Synagogue, the pillar of our Jewish life.
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Monday, 16 November 2020 09:57 |
.jpg) In September 2013, an Australian team travelled to Greece to shoot a documentary focusing on the Greek Jews – their rich history, the impact of the Holocaust on them as well as their present-day existence. The documentary is based on an original screenplay written by Carol Gordon who also directed the film together with Natalie Cunningham. “Following Shira’s Journey: A Greek Jewish Odyssey” premiered at the Delphi Bank 21st Greek Film Festival in Melbourne on October 26, 2014 and it has been screened at Film festivals worldwide since then. An integral part of this project are the photos captured by Emmanuel Santos; they were featured in a major exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Australia in Melbourne in 2017.Carol Gordon answered some questions for the Against Antisemitism blog about this remarkable project.
Your multi-faceted project is based on intense research. How did you first become interested in Greek Jewish Communities?
I grew up in South Africa in a traditional Jewish household. I knew about the Greek Jews from Rhodos because many of them came to South Africa before the war. I also knew vaguely about Jews in Thessaloniki because I had read a book that mentioned the community. South Africa was also home to a very large Greek Orthodox community so we had many Greek friends and they often told me information about the Jews of Greece that I’d never heard of before. After school I travelled to Greece and felt a very strong connection there, resulting in me going back a few times. With each trip I learned more about the many Greek Jewish communities that had existed there. I became determined to find out as much as I could and to document this very unknown history – particularly the devastating effect of the Holocaust on the Greek Jewish communities. It is only in the past ten years that much more information has come out into the public domain. It took me around thirty years of researching until I felt I had enough to write the screenplay and do the documentary.
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