History of the Jews in Arta

Locator map of Arta

The Jewish community in Arta is considered the ancient Romaniote Jewish community and the oldest community in Greece and the Epirus region, although it was officially recognized only in 1920. Today there are no Jews in Arta, the community was dissolved in 1959.

Arte's bridge during the liberation of the city from the Ottomans in 1881. The photo shows Greek soldiers posing together with a number of Greek and Ottoman citizens. In the background, at the opening of the first arch, you can see the Greek army camp.

History

Jews have lived in Arta since the 11th century, during the Byzantine rule, and they concentrated around the synagogue known as "Kehilat Kodesh Toshavim." In 1173, Benjamin of Tudela visited the city and found 100 Jewish families there. It is assumed that Jewish families also lived in Arta in the 14th and 15th centuries and maintained connections with the communities in Ioannina in the north and Lepanto in the south.

Arta was conquered in 1449 by the Ottomans, but there is not much information about the early period of the conquest, except for evidence of the expulsion of Jews to Istanbul. The number of exiles is unknown, but it is estimated that there were about 120 exiles to Istanbul. The only existing document is a list of waqfs (endowments) from Istanbul from the years 1540 and 1545, indicating that the jizya tax of the Jews was given to the waqfs.

In the 16th century, during the Ottoman Empire, the Jewish community in Arta was considered one of the important, wealthy, and established communities in the Epirus region of Greece and the empire. During this period, refugees from Spain, Sicily, Portugal, Calabria, Apulia, Campania (Naples), and Jews from other towns in the Epirus region arrived. The growth of the Jewish population in the city contributed to the construction of several synagogues by the different communities according to their places of origin: Corfu, Sicily, Calabria, and more.

One of the synagogues was the Pulieza Synagogue, established by the refugee Jews from Apulia and Calabria. This synagogue was added to the Greca Synagogue, established in the 13th century. There were four main congregations in the town, the largest being "Kahal Toshavim," also known as "Grigoush" or "Corfu." The other communities were: Kahal Sicily, Kahal Calabria, and Kahal Apulia.

The refugees from Spain integrated into the various communities. Their customs and culture were according to their previous places of residence, and there were often conflicts and disputes among them.

Taxes were collectively transferred to the Ottoman authorities and social interactions between Jews and their Muslim and Greek neighbors were rare, limited to economic relations.

In the 17th century, many Jews from Arta migrated to Ioannina and other cities to establish Romaniote communities there. The remaining Jewish residents in Arta organized into one community, prayed in the Sephardic rite, and spoke Greek mixed with Italian and Spanish words. Their security situation was very poor, and they were in a spiritual and economic decline due to the heavy economic burden imposed by the Sultan. Despite their difficult situation, they made sure to send funds to support the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel through the emissaries who came to them.

In the 18th century, the emissaries continued to arrive. One of them, Rabbi Samson Gomez Pato, was murdered. Members of the "Gemilut Chasadim Society" from Arta went to collect his body and those of his two companions and brought them for burial in the city. Additionally, it is known that a number of individual Jews from Arta immigrated to the Land of Israel during this period.

In the 19th century (1881), the region's control was transferred to the Greeks, the spoken language of the Jews was Judeo-Spanish, and community members spoke it until the Holocaust. During this period, the "Talmud Torah Society of Our City Arta Yitz" was established, aiming to encourage education in the place, but it also accepted members from neighboring settlements.

In 1880, the society published its regulations in three languages: Hebrew, Italian, and Greek. The president of the association was Yulis Basso (Bisso), his deputy was Jacob Maioni, and the treasurer was M.D. Yohannes. Other associations established at that time were the "Charity Society" and "Brotherly Assistance." The emissaries from the Land of Israel continued to arrive in Arta in the 19th century on their way to Corfu and Italy, intervened in community matters, and strengthened its agreements and regulations through their rulings. The Turkish-Greek War disrupted the economic situation in the region, and towards the end of the century, there was a migration of Jews mainly to North America.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Arta had about 100–200 Jewish families. After an appeal by the community president Jacob Ganis and the secretary Victor Elazar, the community received official recognition from the Greek government in 1920. During these years, the Jews enjoyed religious freedom and economic independence and were even appointed to the city council. The Jews of Arta lived in three neighborhoods: the Tsimenta neighborhood, the Ochtos neighborhood, which had a school, and the Roloi neighborhood, which had two synagogues - the old synagogue and the new synagogue, which also had a mikveh.

Between the Wars

After World War I, the Sephardic community in the area had a Jewish elementary school. During these years, the Zionist movement began to develop in the city.

World War II

In 1940, about 384-400 Jewish residents lived in Arta. The city was under Italian occupation, and relations between the Jewish community and the authorities were good. The Greek population in the city tried to make things easier for them, and life continued as usual for nearly three years, despite being required to wear the yellow badge and adhere to curfews.

In September 1943, the Germans entered Arta, and on March 24, 1944, a Gestapo unit from Agrinio arrived in the city. The Germans demanded and obtained the names and addresses of the Jews from the City Hall. According to the list they had, most of the Jews - 352 people - were arrested. The Germans concentrated them in the "Orpheus" cinema along with Jews deported from the town of Preveza. From there, on April 2, 1944, they were all transferred to the Haidari transit camp near Athens, and after a few days, they were sent by train to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. A few young people managed to hide.

One of the people who supported the Jews during this difficult time and maintained good relations with them was Bishop Spyridon Ginakas. When the Germans entered Arta, he approached them with a request to ease the burden on the Jews, but they rejected his request. Following the rejection, he advised members of the Jewish community to flee to nearby villages and hide, but only a few responded and escaped. One of his successors, Ignatios III, testified that Spyridon defended the Jews, identified with their vulnerability, and did everything in his power to prevent them from being harmed.

After World War II

After the war, about 50 Jews survived in Arta. 30 returned to the town and about 20 managed to survive because they were hiding in various villages in the area.

On March 22, 1946, shortly after the end of the war, Arta was visited by Kanari Konstandines who prepared a report for the Central Committee of Greek Communities. The report stated that there was enormous destruction in the place: the synagogues were destroyed (on the wall of the Poliyzi synagogue he noticed an inscription from March 12, 1882), the Jewish cemetery was destroyed, the shops and houses were not returned to their owners, there was no communal life, religious, administrative and educational institutions were destroyed, and there were no rabbis and teachers.

Despite the difficult situation of the Jews who returned to the city, efforts were made until 1948 to reorganize the community. The president of the community Raphael Yacouel, Baruch Abraham Baruch who was a teacher and the rest of the community members tried to bring someone from Corfu to fill various administrative roles, but this also failed.

This situation led to the emigration of most of the community members to Israel, the United States and Athens. In 1958, there were about 20 Jews left in Arta, and in 1959 there were no Jews left in Arta – the community was disbanded by government decree published in the Government Gazette on August 10, 1959. The synagogue and cemetery were converted to other uses in the town.

Scopa Street where Jews lived

Central Institutions in the Community

Synagogues

• The synagogue of the Holy Community of Residents, the oldest from the 11th century.
• The Greca (Greca) synagogue, established in the 13th century. In 1941, the city was bombed, and among the ruins was this synagogue, which contained the important library of the place from the 16th century by Benjamin Ze'ev ben Matityas (who was a judge of the Arta court). The ruins of the synagogue remained until the 1950s, and then a park was established in its place.
• The Pulieza (Pulieza) synagogue, established by refugees from Apulia and Calabria. After the war, the synagogue area was divided into three, and only the synagogue wall with a fountain remained, located on private property.
• In the year 1679, there was a synagogue called "K.K. Cloriso" (Calabria).

The Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery was located on Peranthi hill. The way to it was difficult, and they had to carry the deceased by hand. There was a section designated for the burial of rabbis, and the fence around it was built with funds from the estate of Yitzhak Susi. In a report written by Kanari Konstandines, he noted that the Jewish cemetery was completely destroyed, not a single tombstone remained intact, the graves were ruined, and only their remnants were a sign that there had been a Jewish cemetery there.

Commemoration

In front of the fortress walls, a monument was erected in 2000 in memory of the victims and the community that was annihilated. In April 2017, the monument was vandalized with paint, a few days after the community held a ceremony in memory of the Jewish community that existed in Arta before the war.

Jewish Families Who Lived in Arta

Very few of the Jewish houses survived in the Jewish quarter after the war. Among the houses that remained standing, a fountain and the wall of the Polizia synagogue remain, located to the left of the Chatzis family house, in an area where new buildings were constructed. Among the families who lived in the city were: the Mizan family, the Nissim Mionis family, the Bassos and Talenia Sabas family, the Moussis family, the Issi and Solomon Chatzis family. Additional family names that were typical of the Jews of Arta: Badola, Bili, Baruch, Barzilai, Bracha, Gabi, Grigo, Doili, Zafarna, Marato, Papo, Philosof, Frishko, Tsuri, Catalano, Kalio, Russo (Rosho), Romano, Matsa, De Mili, Navi, Sosi.

The Musical Tradition of the Jews of Arta

The community possessed manuscripts of piyyutim written in Greek or Greek and other languages in Hebrew letters. Additionally, the community members had a tradition of celebrating the holidays in a unique manner, for example, a special Purim tradition with traditional songs about the story of Esther.

Ketubot

The uniqueness of Greek Judaism is expressed in the Romaniote ketubot, which have survived in the communities of Arta, Ioannina, and other communities. What is special about these ketubot is that they are rich in motifs with strong colors of blooming and growth, which come to express the joy of the wedding. They are rich in selected blessing verses and elements of protection for the couple, and the text in them is unique. The text in these ketubot is written according to the Romaniote tradition, which has preserved the ancient and unique elements in the ketubah text and wedding customs.

further reading

• Esther Benavsa, Aharon Rodrigue, Jews of Spain in the Balkan countries fifteenth-twentieth century, translation: Aya Breuer, Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center, 2001.

• Il Genio, Israeli Communities in the East in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Greece, Jerusalem: Ministry of Education, Pedagogical Secretariat, Center for the Integration of the Heritage of Eastern Judaism, Ben Zvi Institute, 2014.