Editing Romaniote Jews (section)

==Nusach and Minhag==
[[File:Ioannina Synagogue 2.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|View on the [[Torah Ark]] of the Kehila Kedosha Yashan Synagogue of [[Ioannina]] with the typical Romaniote Shadayot ([[Tama (votive)|Votive offerings]] similar to the Byzantine Christian tradition) hanging on the [[Parochet]] and a Romaniote "Aleph" on the right side (a circumcision certificate with [[Berakhah|Berachot]] (mostly the [[Shiviti]]) and ancestral details).]]

The Romaniote prayer rite ([[Nusach (Jewish custom)|Nusach]]) as seen in the original ''Mahzor Romania'' and the Romaniote commentaries ([[Minhag]]) on [[Midrash|Jewish exegesis]] and [[Halacha|Jewish law]], vary from those of the [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]], [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] and [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrachi]] Jews, and are closer to those of the [[Italian Jews#Italian rite Jews|Italian Jews]]: some of these are thought to have been based on the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] instead of the [[Talmud|Babylonian Talmud]] (see [[Palestinian minhag|Eretz-Yisrael minhag]]). This Minhag was once widespread in Southern Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Anatolia and the Crimea.<ref>Zunz, Leopold. ''Ritus. Eine Beschreibung synagogaler Riten'', 1859.</ref>

The Romaniotes spoke [[Yevanic language|Judaeo-Greek]] for a long time, and many of them still use the [[Greek language]] today. [[Tobiah ben Eliezer]] (טוביה בר אליעזר), a Greek-speaking Talmudist and poet of the 11th century, worked and lived in the city of [[Kastoria]]. He is the author of the ''Lekach Tov'', a [[midrashic]] commentary on the [[Pentateuch]] and the [[Five Megillot]] and also of some poems. Romaniote scholars translated the [[Tanakh]] into Greek. A polyglot edition of the [[Bible]] published in [[Constantinople]] in 1547 has the Hebrew text in the middle of the page, with a Ladino ([[Judaeo-Spanish]]) translation on one side, a [[Yevanic language|Yevanic]] translation on the other and the [[Judeo-Aramaic languages|Judaeo-Aramaic]] [[Targum]] at the bottom of the page.<ref>Natalio Fernandez Marcos, ''The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Versions of the Bible'', 2000, p. 180. The Greek text is published in D. C. Hesseling, ''Les cinq livres de la Loi'', 1897.</ref>

In the early Romaniote rite the [[Torah]] was subdivided in [[Seder (Bible)|Sedarim]] while the whole Torah was read in the Palestinian way of the [[Triennial cycle]]. The order for reading the [[Haftarah]] followed a specific custom, particular to the Romaniote rite.<ref>"The prophetic readings of the Byzantine ritual differed fundamentally from those of the other Rabbanite Jews of the diaspora. They have been preserved in the editions of the haftarot published with the Commentary of David Kimchi in Constantinople, 1505; and in the edition of the Pentateuch and haftarot, published in Constantinople, 1522" (and theorizing the Romaniote readings were a perpetuation of the selections of early medieval Eretz Yisrael). Louis Finkelstein, "The Prophetic Readings According to the Palestinian, Byzantine, and Karaite Rites", ''Hebrew Union College Annual'', vol. 17 (1942–1943), page 423; Adolf Büchler, "The Reading of the Law and Prophets in a Triennial Cycle (part ii)". ''Jewish Quarterly Review'', vol. 6, nr. 1 (October 1893), pp. 1–73, discusses in some detail evidence of very early choices of ''haftarot'', particularly of the Karaites.</ref> The Romaniote Torah scrolls are housed in ''tikim'' ('tik', from Greek ''thḗkē'', θήκη "container"), from which they are never completely taken out. Among the Romaniote Jews, tradition dictates, that the most holy Sefer Torah, the Law of Moses, be read with the scroll standing upright in its ''tik''; it is considered improper to lay it flat.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://www.romaniotelegacy.org/romaniote.html|title=Romaniote Jews|website=www.romaniotelegacy.org}}</ref>

The [[siddur]] (prayer book) for the Romaniote rite was known as the ''Mahzor Romania''. The Romaniote Jews have their own form of wedding blessing. Upon the betrothal, seven blessings are bestowed on the bride and groom to be, while wedding [[wreath]]s are covering the heads of the groom and the bride and are interchanged on their heads. At the end of a full year, the [[Ketubah]] was read at the wedding ceremony proper. This is different in that other Jews bless the bride and groom at the time of the actual wedding. In addition, there are ritual differences in the building of the Synagogue and in the building and the use of the [[mikve]]. It is a Romaniote tradition to write on the Ketubah the year [[Anno Mundi|since creation of the world]] and the year since the [[Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70)|destruction of the Temple]].<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pjvoice.org/2013/01/20/counting-down-from-destruction-looking-forward-to-redemption/|title=Counting Down From Destruction, Looking Forward to Redemption|website=pjvoice.org}}</ref>

[[File:Kehila Kedosha Janina 2013.jpg|thumb|left|[[Kehila Kedosha Janina]], [[New York City|New York]]]]

The Romaniotes traditionally gave to a child a mystical document known as an "aleph". This hand-painted "birth and circumcision certificate" was created by a family member and then handed down. The aleph was written in mystical codes for the purpose of warding off the wiles of [[Lillith]], Adam's first wife.

The Romaniotes are well known for their hymns in Judaeo-Greek and Hebrew, for their special way of [[Hebrew cantillation|cantillation]], based on the [[Byzantine music|Byzantine melos]]<ref>Ross, M. S., Europäisches Zentrum für Jüdische Musik, CD-Projekt: ''Synagogale Musik der romaniotischen Juden Griechenlands'' [Synagogal Music of the Romaniote Jews from Greece], 2016-.</ref> and for their Jewish-Greek folksongs, based on regional melodies.<ref>J. Matsas: ''Yanniotika Evraika Tragoudia. Ekdoseis Epeirotikes'', 1953.</ref><ref>The Jewish Museum of Greece, The Jewish Community of Ioannina: The Memory of Artefacts, "Songs and Hymns" (CD). 2017</ref> [[Sicilian Jews|Jewish immigrants from Sicily]] brought to Ioannina the celebration of the Sicilian [[Purim Katan]]. The Jews of Ioannina call this holiday ''Pourimopoulo''. They read the special "Megillah for the Purim Katan of Syracuse" and sing corresponding songs and hymns for this festivity.

The Mahzor of the Romaniote [[Krymchaks|Kaffa Rite]] from the year 1735 gives the order to read the [[Megillat Antiochus|Megillat Antiochos]] in the Mincha of Shabbat Hanukkah.<ref>{{cite web |date=December 11, 2014 |author=Chajm Guski |title=Megillat Antiochos: Religiöse Begriffe aus der Welt des Judentums |language=de |publisher=Jüdische Allgemeine |url=http://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/article/view/id/20929}}</ref> In the second half of the 19th century, the Romaniote community of Greece made an effort to preserve the Romaniote liturgical heritage of Ioannina and Arta, by printing various liturgical texts in the Hebrew printing presses of Salonika.<ref name="Greece p. 40">The Jewish Museum of Greece, The Jewish Community of Ioannina: ''The Memory of Artefacts'', 2017, p. 40 (Booklet).</ref> Today, the Romaniote Liturgy follows (with slight differences) the mainstream Sephardic usage, while the Romaniotes and the Jews of Corfu have preserved their old and own Judaeo-Greek and Hebrew ''piyyutim'', their own way of cantillation and their special customs. A custom, which is still followed in the [[Etz Hayyim Synagogue]] of Crete, is to read on [[Yom Kippur]] the [[Book of Jonah]] in Judaeo-Greek.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://centrum.pogranicze.sejny.pl/druk.php?lp=31012&session_id=|title=The Jews of Crete. Volume IV - A Cretan Book of Jonah. Greek-Hebrew text of the Book of Jonas traditionally read at Yom Kippur}}</ref> Another custom was to chant the [[Song of Songs]] verse by verse by alternating from Hebrew to its paraphrasing [[Targum Jonathan]] translation after the morning service on the last two days of Pessach.<ref name="Greece p. 40"/>

Romaniote Synagogues have their own layout: the [[Bema#Judaism|''bimah'']] (where the [[Sefer Torah|Torah scrolls]] are read out during services) is on a raised [[dais]] on the western wall, the [[Ark (synagogue)|Aron haKodesh]] (where the Torah scrolls are kept) is on the eastern wall and in the middle there is a wide interior [[aisle]]. [[Votive offering]]s made of silver as stars or tablets called ''shadayot'' were a thankful gift to the Synagogue of congregants who have received help, healing or salvation by God. The Romaniote term for the Passover ceremony (Seder) is חובה (''Hova''), which means obligation. In 2004 the [[Jewish Museum of Greece]] published a Romaniote rite Pesach-Seder CD (''The Ioannina Haggadah''). In the years 2017 and 2018 the Romaniote rite Haggadah and the Romaniote rite prayer book (''[[siddur]]'') have been published in a series, containing also Romaniote poetry, the [[haftarot]] according to the Romaniote custom and other texts.<ref>P. Gkoumas, F. Leubner, ''The Haggadah According to the Custom of the Romaniote Jews of Crete''. Norderstedt 2017. {{ISBN|9783743133853}}.</ref><ref>P. Sennis, F. Leubner, ''Prayerbook According to The Rite of The Romaniote Jews''. Norderstedt 2018. {{ISBN|9783746091419}}.</ref> A Romaniote rite based reform ''siddur'' in Greek and Hebrew has also been published in 2018.<ref>Greenberg, Yonatan, ''Mekor Chayim: A Reform Liturgy for Erev Shabbat Based on the Romaniote Rite'', Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati 2018.</ref>