This year's Yom Kippur celebration in Ioannina brought together more than 250 people from Israel, America, France, England, Athens and Thessaloniki, who responded to the call of our Community and arrived by all means in our city to celebrate with us the greatest holiday of Judaism, to enjoy the genuine Romaniote melodies and to experience the unique emotions felt by anyone who observes Yom Kippur in our historic Synagogue.
Among them, the General Treasurer of KISE, Daniel (Danis) Benardout, the former President of the I.K. of Athens, Isaac Mordechai, the honorary members of our Community, Messrs. Raphael Moses and Avraam (Mimis) Cohen, the Mayor of Ioannina Thomas Begas, the former Mayor Dimitris Papageorgiou, representatives of the city authorities, University students, journalists from local newspapers as well as several ordinary citizens who have repeatedly expressed and continue to express in practice their friendship and support for our Community.
At noon on the eve of the great holiday, our religious minister, Mr. Haim Ishakis, held a memorial service at the tomb of our late Mayor and President, Moses Elisaf, and then recited a memorial prayer and the Kaddish in memory of the Giannitsa Jewish victims of the Holocaust, in front of the special monument-cenotaph of the cemetery.
On the eve of the festival, during the devotional service of Kal-Nidre, a memorial service was held - amidst great emotion - for the repose of the souls of the Israeli soldiers and civilians who lost their lives in the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023.
At the morning service, on the day of the great feast, all those who wished to commemorate their deceased relatives and make donations for the maintenance of our Community Synagogue and Cemetery were invited to the Sefer. Early in the afternoon, the Mincha service began, followed by the Neilah service, which concluded in a spirit of devotion with the Priestly Blessing performed by 4 attending Kohanim, and the moving sound of the Shofar.
Immediately afterwards, we broke our fast together at a hotel in our city where our Community hosted a celebratory dinner. After the dinner, the General Secretary of the Community, Mrs. Allegra Matsa, took the floor first, who, after thanking Mr. Ishakis for his amazing service, wished Happy New Year to all the visitors, thanking them for their presence in Ioannina. Immediately afterwards, the President of the Community, Markos Battinos, in turn thanked all the visitors for coming to Ioannina, wished Happy New Year and expressed hope for the end of the war and the return of the hostages to their homes.
This was followed by the awarding of Ms. Anna Bakola-Garti, a founding member of the Center for Greek Jewish Heritage, which operates in Israel and promotes Romaniote heritage, who was unable to attend last year's event as the main honoree, due to the cancellation of flights due to the war.
In her brief greeting, Ms. Bakola thanked the Community Council for the honor and stated with emotion that "wherever she is, she carries Ioannina within her."
Immediately afterwards, Ms. Matsa took the floor, presenting in detail the rich biography of Ms. Esther Solomon, Associate Professor of Museology at the Department of Visual Arts and Art Sciences of the University of Ioannina and scientific curator of the shocking documentary "Lost Ioannina", which, through the testimonies of survivors, sheds light on the economic and political conditions that led to the deportation of the Jews of Ioannina to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in March 1944 and the disappearance of a pre-war flourishing Romaniote Community, fully integrated into the social, economic and cultural life of the city. Ms. Solomon, who will be teaching at the University of Athens from the new academic year, thanked the Community for the honor and her family for their support in her work and promised to remain by the Community's side and visit Ioannina as often as her obligations allow.
The I.K. of Ioannina warmly thanks all the visitors who honored us this year with their presence, realizing the vision of our late President and Mayor of our city, Moses Elisaf, for the celebration of Yom Kippur in Ioannina in a Synagogue full of people from all corners of the Earth.
Their support gives life to our Community, which is struggling in very difficult times to survive and preserve what is left of its great cultural heritage. We are renewing our appointment for next year and invite all our fellow believers to come celebrate Yom Kippur with us in Ioannina for a truly unique experience!
I.K. IOANNINON