Here, in Greece

In this sunlit and hospitable land,

the Sephardim, expelled from Spain, found refuge.

Here, they met Jews

who had rooted before them, people with familiar faces.

Here, they carried their belongings and their sorrow,

their memories, their longing,

and the keys of the homes they had left behind.

Here, time stood still for a while.

Here, slowly,

they learned once more to rejoice,

to laugh, to dance, to sing.

Here, in short, they learned to live.

The Jews of Greece Leave Their Mark

Across the centuries, people move, take root, and begin again. With them, they carry far more than their possessions. New habits, traditions, flavors, knowledge, and ways of life leave a deep imprint on new worlds — complex, vibrant, and alive.

The Jews of Greece became porters in the harbors, greengrocers in the markets, butchers, cobblers, and tailors, coppersmiths, tobacco workers in Kavala, carters and peddlers in Thessaly, but also doctors, journalists, lawyers, writers, and humble workers of everyday life.

With them came the humble eggplant, the art of sericulture, weaving, the dyeing of threads, the delicate skill of hands over looms, printing houses and the art of the printed word, tanneries with the scents and textures of leather, and flour mills that ground the grains and fed generations.

As the years passed, they became artisans and industrialists, creators and employers, merchants, bankers, and politicians. They shaped the cities, the neighborhoods, their communities.

They left their mark, writing a history that is still being written.

Greek Jews – Jewish Greeks

Two families, the Sephardim and the Romaniotes, each with a different journey through history, meet in the same land: Greece.

A Long Journey Through the Centuries

The long-standing presence of Jews in Greece forms part of the history of a people who, throughout many periods, had to move in search of survival away from their ancestral land. A unique journey through history, stretching from the disappearance of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, the captivity and exile in Babylon (for the two remaining tribes, Benjamin and Judah), the destruction of the Temple of Solomon, and the laments of Jeremiah for an endless procession of people carrying the sacred vessels of the Temple — events that would forever shape the Jewish people.

Encounter with the World of Science

In exile, new challenges emerged for the people of the Bible, beginning with the conception of the Synagogue in place of the Temple and the transition from oral to written sacred tradition. In Babylonia, the people of the Bible encountered the world of science — astrology, astronomy, and mathematics. A new world opened before them, offering new paths, far from their land.

Return and Reconstruction of Identity

With time came return and reconstruction of the homeland, guided by figures such as Ezra and Nehemiah, who organized religious and communal life. The Tanakh was defined, forming the foundation of Judaism, and the community gained renewed cohesion.

The Hellenistic Period

Alexander the Great came to Judea: he conquered, yet showed respect. As a sign of respect, he did not ascend into the city of Jerusalem, and the name Alexander was henceforth honored in Jewish onomastics. It was a time when the upper classes learned Greek and were influenced by Greek culture.

The Translation of the Torah and Early Evidence of Jewish Presence in Greece

In Alexandria, one of the greatest undertakings of the era took place: the translation of the Holy Books, the Sifrei Torah, into Greek. During this period, commercial ties between Judea and Greece flourished, and many Jews migrated to areas of mainland and island Greece.

The earliest evidence of Jews in Greece is an inscription dated 300–200 BCE, found near Athens in Oropos. It refers to a Jewish slave, “Moschos, son of Moschion.” Another early witness is the ruins of the synagogue on the island of Delos, considered the oldest synagogue of the Diaspora.

Roman Conquest and Diaspora

During this period, Judea witnessed great spiritual flourishing, with Rabbis such as Hillel, Akiva, Bar Yochai, and Ben Zakkai delving into profound concepts that strengthened the Jewish people. Judah ha-Nasi compiled the Mishnah, gathering the commentaries of the Tannaim on Jewish religion and life.

It was then that the Roman conquerors besieged Judea, and the Temple was destroyed for the second time in 70 CE. Jews were exiled and enslaved. Their final stronghold, Masada, fell. The word “Diaspora” entered their daily vocabulary, along with the painful new reality of exile.

The Path of the Diaspora

From East to West, from North to South, Jews sought places to settle. Strangers in strange lands, they established communities across the Mediterranean, Spain, Greece, North Africa, the Caucasus, India, China, Arabia.

Ghettos, Discrimination, and Survival

Wherever they settled, Jews were subject to foreign laws and different ways of life. They were forced to live in segregated quarters within cities (ghettos), to wear distinguishing signs on their clothing, and to face suspicion and disdain. For centuries, they endured violence and exclusion.

Settlement in Spain

Despite the hardships, a period of relative flourishing followed with Jewish settlement in the Iberian Peninsula. Spain became, for a time, a place of cultural and spiritual flowering before the trials of the 15th century.

Jewish Presence in Greece

Hope was rekindled… Sepharad! Spain! After centuries of wandering and exile, the Jewish people found a land that offered them the chance to breathe again. Córdoba became the center of Jewish life, while other cities such as Girona, Seville, León, and Toledo also hosted vibrant communities.

The Birth of Ladino and Intellectual Flourishing

A new language was born: Ladino, a blend of Hebrew and Castilian, which accompanied life, prayer, stories, and lullabies. At the same time, great rabbis, scholars, commentators, and researchers of the mystical symbolism of the holy books — the Zohar and Kabbalah — found fertile ground.

In this land they learned to love as a second homeland, religious life flourished with synagogues and rabbinical schools. Jews played an active role in society: they were doctors, diplomats, ministers, tax collectors, merchants, winemakers, rich and poor alike. A vibrant community.

Persecutions and the Shattering of the Dream

The time of the Inquisition soon arrived. Persecutions, massacres, forced conversions, deaths at the stake, the trials of “purity of blood” (limpieza de sangre), blood libels — all marked by wounds and terror.

In 1492, with the Edict of Alhambra, the Sephardic Jews were declared unwanted. They were forced to abandon the country they had loved, leaving behind their ancestors’ graves, their synagogues, their holy books, their very homes.

The Key of Memory,la Υave

— la llave de Espanya.

The key

The key kept in a drawer.

The key carried by ancestors from their home in Spain.

They passed it on to their children, saying:

“This is the soul of our home.”

The key became a symbol.

Memory. Hope. A dream of return.

Wandering Again, New Homelands

And so, the wandering began anew. The scattered people once more took to the roads. Many found new refuge in the Ottoman Empire — in Adrianople, Smyrna, Bursa, Constantinople, Thessaloniki. Others moved to France, the Netherlands, Italy, England, North Africa, the Balkans.

The Diaspora acquired a new geography. Yet the Jews preserved their identity, their faith, their language, their traditions, and the memory of the home they had left behind.

Romaniotes and Sephardim: Their History in Greece

Though Romaniotes and Sephardim shared a common faith and tradition, their cultural expression differed: they had distinct melodies and chants, languages, clothing, cuisine, and even ritual practices.

The Romaniotes followed the Minhag Romaniote and the Mahzor Romaniote¹, while the Sephardim adhered to the traditions of the great schools of Babylonia and Jerusalem, such as the Shulchan Aruch² and the Me’am Loez³.

The Sephardim: The Memory of Spain and the New Beginning

After 1492 and the Edict of Alhambra, the Spanish Jews (Sephardim) were expelled from Spain. Many settled in North Africa, France, the Netherlands, England, and various regions of the Ottoman Empire: along the Asia Minor coast, in Macedonia, Thrace, Adrianople, Rhodes, the Ionian Islands, and chiefly in Thessaloniki. There they founded new communities—Jewish quarters (ovréika mahallades)—filled with scents, Spanish (Ladino) songs, quarrels, and memories of the old homeland. Their song “A la mar hay una torre” speaks of a Tower, the one standing upon the walls behind— a symbol of expectation—built in the city that would become the “Madre de Israel,” the Mother of Israel.

The Luso Sephardim

Among the groups of Jews who arrived from Spain were the “Marranos” (Crypto-Jews), the converted Conversos—Cristianos nuevos (New Christians)—and the Jews of Portugal, or Luso Sephardim. The term Luso derives from Lusitania, the Roman name for the region corresponding to modern Portugal. Expelled by decree of King Manuel (Dom Manuel) in 1496, they reached Thessaloniki; in 1497, the Marrano Jews of Castile also took refuge in the city, including members of affluent families, intellectuals, and several who had served at royal courts.

The Romaniotes: The Oldest Presence in Greece

And in this city they met kindred people—Jews like themselves, uprooted yet different—Greek-speaking Jews whose path had brought them long ago to Greece and Asia Minor, to Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire. They spoke their own language, Yevanic, a linguistic idiom derived from Hellenistic Koine with Hebrew influences and admixtures. The Romaniote Jews had different synagogue ritual, different customs, foods, and dress. Yet what united old residents and newcomers was common origin, common religion, and shared values. The Romaniotes—the Jews of Greece—are the oldest Jewish population group found in Greece. They arrived either as slaves or as resident aliens, when Roman authorities transferred them from Judea to the Dodecanese. Some slave groups worked on cutting the Corinth Canal; others found themselves freed on the Epirus coast, at Nicopolis, when the ships carrying them to Rome ran aground there. Thus they became Roman citizens, with the distinctive name Romaniotes, which they retained. They spoke Greek and integrated into the broader population. When the Apostle Paul preached Christianity, he found them worshipping in synagogues in Kavala, Thessaloniki, Veria, Athens, and Corinth—Greek-speaking Jews already deeply embedded in the land.

The Coexistence of Two Traditions

The arrival of the Sephardim brought new customs, songs, and languages. In Thessaloniki and elsewhere, they encountered the Romaniotes. These older residents spoke Yevanic, an idiom combining Hellenistic Greek with Hebrew admixtures. Their ritual differed, as did their cuisine and clothing. Yet what bound the two groups was deeper: common religion, origin, values—memory and expectation.

Ioannina: The Heart of the Romaniote World

Many Greek cities hosted Romaniotes: from Chalkida, Thebes, Patras, Rhodes, and Crete to Preveza and Arta. But Ioannina became the definitive center of Romaniote Judaism. Generations were born and raised there. There they sang, celebrated, and mourned. There they lived with their language, Yevanic, and their souls ever turned toward memory.

Joseph Eliya, “On the Lake of Ioannina”

“On the lake of Ioannina

—oh lake, in your sweet waters,

how many childhood dreams bathe…

But when I hear the past resound,

how I feel the eye of imagination—

ecstatic—begin to weep!”

(Joseph Eliya, from the Great Greek Encyclopedia, 1927)

Romaniotes and Sephardim, Yevanic and Ladino

Romaniotes and Sephardim constitute two major cultural traditions of Judaism in Greek and Mediterranean space. Their languages of communication—Yevanic and Ladino—reveal a synthesis of languages, customs, and historical memory that illuminates the continuous presence of Judaism in the Greek world.

The Romaniote Jews and the Yevanic Tradition

Historical Presence

The Romaniotes, that is, the Greek-speaking Jews, have been present in the Greek lands since the 4th century BCE. They settled in parts of Greece, Asia Minor, the Levant, and Alexandria, creating communities that endured for centuries. Jewish presence is recorded in Greece from the Hellenistic and Roman periods; during Byzantine and Ottoman times, strong Romaniote communities flourished in cities such as Ioannina, Arta, Preveza, and Rhodes (according to some accounts, the Rhodian Jews of the Hellenistic era spoke an idiom blending Greek and Hebrew).

Yevanic or “Greco-Jewish”

Yevanic (or Yevanik) is a hybrid form of Greek enriched with Hebrew and Aramaic vocabulary, written in the Hebrew script. The name derives from the word Yavan, meaning Ionia and, more broadly, Greece. The language was used in religious and daily life and has been preserved in prayer books (Mahzorim), glossaries, hymnals, and poems—characteristically the Mahzor Romana and Minhagim.

Religious Customs and Culture

The Romaniotes developed distinctive customs, unique to each community. Joseph M. Matsas mentions, for example, the “Pesachitikos” hymn of Ioannina, with verses such as:

«One is God, Barechu Baruch Shemo…»

Also important is the traditional song:

«Among the five hundred eighteen of us… I implore You, Yarabi, my God and Creator…»

These songs were recorded together with glossaries that show the evolution of spoken language.

Everyday Speech and Expressions

Romaniote everyday speech combined Greek, Hebrew, Turkish, and sometimes Italian elements.

Example of writing in “Yevanic” (transcribed into the Greek alphabet)

And the word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai, saying: “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim against it that its evil has risen before Me. ‘The evil of the people stands before Me.’” Michael PeterFustumum.

“Pesachitikos,” Passover hymn

In his study, Joseph Matsas notes that the Romaniotes developed their own religious customs, “minhagim,” which could be found only in Ioannina, Arta, and Preveza. One of these is the “Pesachitikos,” Passover hymn:

"One is God, Barechu Baruch Shemo."

Also the Jewish song: "now the gardens have blossomed…"

“And may they be words sweet and honored of God, not torn asunder”

Among the five hundred eighteen of us, we count Adar and it was March, and we sat to drink.

I implore You, Yarabi, my God and Creator, as long as I live and am, I owe to praise You!

Yevanic forms of words in everyday speech:

Hanoukaria (from Hanukiyah)

Talmiditou (talmid, student)

Psambata (Sabbaths)

Sabbatiou (Shabbat)

By Adonai (by God)

Tzaroth (misfortunes)

Akantos (God)

Gan Eden (Paradise)

Expressions:

“Kourban na s’ paou” (May I become a sacrifice for you)

“Inshallah na se rixo to taleth” ( In God’s name may I place the prayer shawl on you, said to a 13-year-old at his Bar Mitzvah blessing )

The Karaites and the Greco-Jewish Tradition

Beyond the Romaniotes, Yevanic was also used by the Karaite Jews of Constantinople, with roots in Babylonia and Persia from the 8th century BCE. The movement’s inspirer was Anan ben David. The Karaites were distinguished by strict adherence to the Tanakh and maintained communities in Byzantium, Alexandria, Crimea, and Lithuania.

Ladino, “Judeo-Español / Judesmo,” Judeo-Spanish

The Language of the Sephardim: Ladino

Origin and Features

In the Sephardic communities, the Judeo-Spanish dialect known as Ladino (also Judeo-Español, Judesmo) was used. It is a blend of Castilian Spanish with Hebrew and Aramaic elements, formed during the Jews’ residence in Spain up to their expulsion in 1492.

Evolution, Enrichment, and Current Status

After the Sephardim settled in the Ottoman Empire, Ladino was enriched with Turkish and, later, Greek elements, along with admixtures from other languages depending on the place of settlement. According to international ethnological sources, Ladino is spoken today by roughly 200,000 people, about 120,000 of whom live in Israel. Despite the decline in native speakers, the language continues to be taught and documented in research and cultural centers and programs.

Writing Systems: Solitreo and Rashi Script

Solitreo Script

The Sephardim used Solitreo in writing— a cursive calligraphic script based on the Hebrew alphabet. The name derives from the Portuguese solitrar, meaning “correct writing.” The script developed in the 15th century and was used mainly for personal documents and letters.

Rashi Script

They also used Rashi script, named after the rabbi and commentator Shlomo Yitzhaki (RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki—RASHI), who lived in Troyes, France. This script was primarily used in printed religious texts and books.

Ladino: Literature and Everyday Use

The living, everyday use of the language fostered the creation of prayer books (Haggadot), narratives of the Exodus, ethical teachings (Pirkei Avot—“Sayings of the Fathers”), analyses of biblical texts, poems, proverbs, anecdotes, and songs.

Sample in Solitreo (Transliteration and Rendering)

Transliteration: Karo bochor, esta fotografías el tsarsí (“Turk., market”), muévo, akí si vítes el pescádo, i até mití, i la otra fotografía ke veas esta ropa adientro del tsarsí. Mas no sé kuálo te eskrivír. Arón.

Rendering:

My dear firstborn (“affectionate term for the eldest brother”), this photograph is from the new market—here you can see the fish. I also included another photograph so you can see the fabrics inside the market. I don’t know what else to write to you. Aaron.