Editing Romaniote Jews (section)

==Present day==
Today approximately 4,500 to 6,000 Jews remain in Greece. Of these, only a small number are Romaniotes, who live mainly in [[Thessaloniki]], [[Ioannina]], [[Chalkis]] and [[Athens]]. About 3,500 Jews now live in Athens, while another 1,000 live in Thessaloniki.<ref>{{cite web|title=Holocaust and present-day situation|url=http://www.romaniotesjews.com/2008/02/holocaust-and-present-day-situation.html|publisher=Romaniotes Jews|access-date=June 9, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011130936/http://www.romaniotesjews.com/2008/02/holocaust-and-present-day-situation.html|archive-date=October 11, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref> A mixed community of Romaniote and [[History of the Jews in Apulia|Apulian Jews]] still lives on the Island of [[Corfu]].<ref>[http://www.kis.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=43&Itemid=56 "ΙΣΡΑΗΛΙΤΙΚΗ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΑ ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑΣ"], KIS</ref>

=== Greece ===

==== Athens ====
The Ioanniotiki Synagogue, situated above the Jewish Community of Athens offices at #8 Melidoni St., is the only Romaniote synagogue in [[Athens]]. Built in 1906, it now has services only during the [[High Holy Days]], but can be opened for visitors upon request through the Jewish Community office.

The [[Jewish identity]] of another building found in the excavations of the ancient Agora in Athens, is questionable. It is believed that the [[Metroon]], discovered in 1930 at the foot of the hill [[Temple of Hephaestus|Hephaestion]] (Thesion) was used as a synagogue during its construction at the end of the 4th century CE (396–400). This view was expressed by the archaeologist H. Thompson, from the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, but was not developed into a complete theory. The [[Jewish identity]] of the Metroon was based on a small piece of marble found near the Metroon that had two Jewish symbols carved on one side, and the resemblance of the building to the synagogue of Sardis in Asia Minor.

==== Chalkis ====
The Romaniote Jewish Community of Chalkis is not the oldest one in Greece, but it is the only one in Europe that has been living in the same city for 2,500 years without interruption and the community is still active in the city's life. The community has a synagogue and a cemetery with important and old inscriptions. The Synagogue is on Kotsou Street. It is unknown when the first synagogue in Chalkis was constructed. In 1854, during the Holy Week a great fire destroyed the synagogue. In 1855 it was re-constructed in the same size with funds offered by [[Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kis.gr/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=397&Itemid=9|title=HISTORY|website=kis.gr}}</ref> The Synagogue opens every Friday evening and occasionally on Shabbat morning.<ref>[http://www.chabad.gr/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/66375/jewish/Synagogues.htm "Synagogues"] - Chabad of Greece</ref>

==== Ioannina ====
[[File:20140415 ioannina341.JPG|300px|thumb|[[Municipal Ethnographic Museum of Ioannina]] with Romaniote items]]

In [[Ioannina]], the Romaniote community has dwindled to 50 mostly elderly people. The Kehila Kedosha Yashan Synagogue there is open primarily on the High Holidays, or in the case of the visit of a chazzan, or is opened for visitors on request. Immigrant Romaniotes return every summer to the old synagogue. After a long time a [[Bar Mitzvah]] (the Jewish ritual for celebrating the [[coming of age]] of a child) was held in the synagogue in 2000, and was an exceptional event for the community.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edwardvictor.com/Ioannina.htm |title=Ioannina, Greece |publisher=Edwardvictor.com |access-date=2012-09-07}}</ref>

The [[synagogue]] is located in the old fortified part of the city known as ''Kastro'', at 16 Ioustinianou street. Its name means "the Old Synagogue". It was constructed in 1829, most probably over the ruins of an older synagogue. Its architecture is typical of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] era, a large building made of stone. The interior of the synagogue is laid out in the Romaniote way: 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 [[Sefer Torah|Torah scrolls]] are kept) is on the eastern wall and in the middle there is a wide interior [[aisle]]. The names of the Ioanniote Jews who were killed in the [[Holocaust]] are engraved in stone on the walls of the synagogue. The Bet Chaim cemetery in Ioannina belongs to the community.

==== Volos ====
In the community of Volos<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://jcvolos.gr/index.php|title=ΙΣΡΑΗΛΙΤΙΚΗ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΑ ΒΟΛΟΥ - THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF VOLOS|website=ΙΣΡΑΗΛΙΤΙΚΗ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΑ ΒΟΛΟΥ - THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF VOLOS}}</ref> many of the Romaniote pre-Sephardic traditions prevail.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goodpaster |first1=Andrew Jackson |last2=Rossides |first2=Eugene T. |title=Greece's Pivotal Role in World War II and Its Importance to the U.S. Today |year=2001 |publisher=American Hellenic Institute Foundation |isbn=9781889247038}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2017}}<ref>Vena Hebraica in Judaeorum Linguis: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the Hebrew and Aramaic Elements in Jewish Languages (Milan, October 23–26, 1995), p. 274 "Situation des communautes romaniotes contemporaires". 1999</ref> The community consists of Romaniotes as well as Sephardim (particularly from [[Larissa]]) and [[Corfu|Corfiots]]. Ancient historic texts mention that Jews lived in the region of [[Magnesia (regional unit)|Magnesia]], [[Thessaly]] and in particular in neighbouring [[Almyros]] as early as the 1st century AD. Historians argue that Jews have been living in ancient [[Demetrias]] since the 2nd century AD. Ancient Jewish tombstones dating back to 325–641 AD, were also discovered in the neighbouring city of [[Phthiotic Thebes]].<ref>[http://www.kis.gr/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=388&Itemid=7 History of the Community of Volos on the Cebtral Board of the Jewish Communities in Greece], KIS</ref> [[Moshe Pesach]] was Rabbi of Volos who saved Greek Jews during the Holocaust and helped to consolidate the community of Volos after World War II.

===Israel===
Most Romaniotes in Israel live in [[Tel Aviv]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Liz Elsby with Kathryn Berman|title=The Story of a Two-Thousand Year Old Jewish Community in Ioannina, Greece|url=http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/batis.asp|publisher=[[Yad Vashem]]|access-date=December 7, 2013|archive-date=November 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107101654/http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/batis.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> There are two Romaniote synagogues in Israel: the Zakynthos Synagogue in Tel Aviv, and the Beit Avraham Ve'ohel Sarah liKehilat Ioanina in [[Nachlaot]], [[Jerusalem]]. The former Romaniote [[Yanina Synagogue]] in the [[Christian Quarter]], Jerusalem is no longer in use.<ref>[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/203134 Ioanina: Preserving remnants of a Jewish community, 09/11/15. Retrieved on 22.05.2019]</ref> In Beit Avraham Ve'ohel Sarah liKehilat Ioanina in [[Jerusalem]], the prayers today follow the Sephardic rite, but they preserve a few piyyutim from the Romaniote rite.<ref>The community printed the piyyutim that they preserve in a pamphlet entitled 'Sefer ha-rinah veha-tefilah', which was printed in 1968 and again in 1998.</ref>

===United States===
Only one Romaniote [[synagogue]] (from originally several Romaniote Synagogues in New York) is in operation in the entire Western Hemisphere: [[Kehila Kedosha Janina]], at 280 Broome Street, in the [[Lower East Side]] of [[Manhattan]], where it is used by the Romaniote emigrant community.<ref name="Daily News">Laura Silver, "Spreading little-known history of Romaniote Jews", ''[[New York Daily News]]'', June 18, 2008.</ref> It maintains a mailing list of 3,000 Romaniote families, most of them living in the [[New York metropolitan area|tri-state area]].<ref name="Daily News" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Laura Silver|title=Spreading little-known history of Romaniote Jews|url=http://www.eurojewcong.org/greece/2202-spreading-little-known-history-of-romaniote-jews.html|publisher=European Jewish Congress|access-date=December 7, 2013}}</ref> It is open for services every Saturday morning as well as all major Jewish holidays. The synagogue also houses a museum devoted to Greek Jewry and offers guided tours to visitors on Sundays.<ref name="Daily News" /> Like the community in Jerusalem, the prayers today follow the Sephardic rite, but they preserve a few piyyutim from the Romaniote rite.