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In a cordial atmosphere, the meeting of the presidium of the Union of Greek Police Officers of Central Macedonia, with the president of the Israeli Community of Thessaloniki (IKTH), David Saltiel, took place at the offices of the Greek Police in the center of the city.
As emphasized in the relevant announcement of the Union, "with the president, Mr. Saltiel, we share our love for the city of Thessaloniki and the willingness to offer to its citizens. After all, his contribution and his support to the Hellenic Police Force is expected to boost citizens' sense of security and to improve the quality of their everyday life.
The discussion that took place with the president of the Israeli Community and other members of it was very constructive. In fact, Mr. Saltiel showed particular interest and enthusiasm for the various aspects of our Union's actions, as well as for its general course."
At the end of the meeting, the Union of Greek Police Officers of Central Macedonia, through its president, Mr. Psarogiannis Ioannis, received a commemorative plaque of the Israelite Community of Thessaloniki, which was presented to the Union by Mr. Saltiel.
Source: GRtimes.gr, 7.7.2023
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We will refer to Thessaloniki and the Maccabean Gymnasium, also known as the Maccabi Gymnasium of the Jewish community, to describe its historical path. In addition to the team file, our valuable interlocutor from the club was Mr. Dzakos Aruch, who describes the main points of the club's progress.
-When was the group founded and who were the first founding board members?
The club was founded on December 12, 1908 as Aguda Leitalmud Mackavi, (Greek: Maccabean Jewish Gymnastic Association) when Thessaloniki still belonged to the Ottoman Empire, by H. Arditis, S. Frances, I. Cohen, L. Sides, I. Alvo , L. Pinchas, A. Matarraso, M. Agostaris and S. Venezia. In addition to sports activities, Makabi maintained a choir, organized excursions and offered Hebrew language and history lessons to anyone who wished.
After the great fire of 1917, Makabi experienced a period of decline, the offices, the club's facilities and almost the entire Jewish quarter of the city were destroyed. In 1917 he joined the also Jewish sports clubs of Thessaloniki Max Nordau, Kandima and Bnei Tsion in a club named: Theodoros Herzl. In November 1924 members of Maccabi left and founded Akoh which also maintained several divisions and were together with Maccabi the two largest clubs of the Jewish community that starred in the local leagues.
More: THE HISTORY OF MACABI THESSALONIKI FROM 1908 TO THE PRESENT
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Unknown musical treasures of Greek Jews, Sephardim and Romanites, were presented on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, in an event organized for World Music Day by the Israelite Community of Thessaloniki, together with the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
The event entitled "The Musical Tradition of the Greek Jews" took place with the support of MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art, in the Amphitheater of the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The event, which was organized on the occasion of the completion of two research programs under the auspices of the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, was introduced by the Museum's scientific associate, Dr. Mariandzela Hadjistamatiou, and the Museum's scientific manager, Dr. Xenia Eleftheriou.
In the show, edited and performed by the soprano Mariangela Hadjistamatiou and the band Pellegrinaggio Al Levante Ensemble, live songs from the CD "Unknown Musical Treasures of the Greek Jews" were presented, which constitutes an important contribution to the musical tradition of the Jewish population of Greece.
The cd is a production of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki through the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, from which it is available. At the same time it is also available for streaming from platforms such as Amazon, Spotify, iTunes and Youtube.
- Informations
In the context of World Music Day and on the occasion of the completion of the two research programs under the auspices of the Jewish Museum of I.K. Thessaloniki, the Israelite Community of Thessaloniki organizes a concert entitled: "The Musical Tradition of the Greek Jews" Which will take place on Wednesday 21 June 2023, at 19.30 at the MOMus Amphitheater of the Museum of Contemporary Art (Egnatias 154 - inside TIF-Helexpo).
The event will be prefaced by the scientific associate of the EMTH, Deputy Dr. Mariangela Hadjistamatiou and the scientific manager of the EMS, Dr. Xenia Eleftheriou.
Edited - Performed by: Mariandzela Hadjistamatiou - Pellegrinaggio Al Levante Ensemble.
Admission free to the public.
Courtesy of MOMus
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"At home, my grandmothers made stuffing in three different ways: orphans (only with rice), as most people in Greece know and do today, with pine nuts and raisins, as the citizens did, and with ground rice (a thick mixture of rice and minced meat, much like what we do for yuvarlakia), which was their Jewish version," says Aliki Aruch, a member of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki. The kitchen is a place where cultures and people's stories intersect. Especially for Thessaloniki with its multi-ethnic past, one cannot talk about culinary history without mentioning the fact that Jews, Turks, Greeks, and more, once lived there together. A leisurely stroll through the modern city reveals its oriental influences rather easily: from bougatsa leaves and suzukakia to patzazidika and ouzo. Of the imprint of Jewish cooking, however, we seem to know very little, even though Sephardic Jews once played a central role in the life of the city.
A brief historical review
The beginning was made in 1492, when the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, in the context of Christianity, expelled the Jews from their kingdom. Ottoman promises of economic concessions and political protection convinced the Spanish-speaking Jews, who moved to various cities and formed their largest settlement in Thessaloniki. In 1520, more than half of the city's 30.000 inhabitants were Jewish. They ate pan d'espanya (almond sponge cake) on holidays, rodanchas (pumpkin pies), pastel de kuzo (sesame cheese pie), fijones kon karne (veal stew with beans), keftikes de poyo (chicken meatballs) and offered guests dulce de muez verde (green walnut spoon sweet). They also chewed melon pasatempo. Because of their influence, many non-Jews spoke Latino (Hispanic Hebrew, the language of the Sephardim).
With various ups and downs, the Sephardic presence continued in the city for centuries. Until 1912 the Jews were still the largest ethnic group in Thessaloniki, while on Saturdays the docks were empty, as from Friday afternoon commercial activity ceased and the city effectively closed for the holy Shabbat, a day of holiday and rest. From one source we read that in the large Jewish quarter 151, the Jewish grocer Avramatzi sold kezo blanco (white cheese) to both Greek and Jewish housewives and that the language used in daily shopping combined Turkish with Hebrew-Spanish and Greek words.
Elias Petropoulos in the book "For the Jews of Thessaloniki" remembers the smells of the Jewish houses of his neighborhood in the 30s: "A mixture of rose water, fried onion and ripe melon". In Thessaloniki, as elsewhere, the abrupt and violent end of centuries of Jewish life was brought about by the Nazis. In 1943, around 50.000 people – one fifth of the city's population – were sent to Auschwitz. Of those, only 1.950 returned. Today the Jewish community of Thessaloniki has approximately 1.000 members. Of the 32 synagogues that once functioned, two remain. There is also a primary school, a nursing home and the Jewish Museum.
Where are Sephardic flavors in Thessaloniki today?
Despite the city's rich Jewish past, it seems difficult to discern traces of Sephardic tradition in what is cooked today in Thessaloniki households or outside, in shops. The restaurant of the Astoria Hotel serves kosher cuisine and a few other measured places do so by appointment. The Akadimia restaurant in Agios Minas now and then presents special menus or dishes of the day based on Sephardic cuisine, such as bean salad with beef or meatballs with walnut and parsley. The only restaurant in Thessaloniki entirely dedicated to kosher food stopped working days before the completion of the report. And yet, Thessaloniki was once the "Jerusalem of the Balkans". The absence of Sephardic flavors is attributed by some to the simple and tragic facts: since people have disappeared, how can anything be left behind? Vasiliki Kravva, professor of social anthropology and anthropology of consumption at the Democritus University of Thrace, who studies food and nutrition as "repositories of past material" suggests a different interpretation. According to her, Sephardic cuisine has left its mark, as long as we want to distinguish it.
"In the 90s, when I was finishing the Department of History and Archeology in Thessaloniki, the topic "Jewishness in Greece" was still taboo. At my school then, I had not heard anything about Jewish Thessaloniki. On the other hand, however, I heard my grandmother talking to me about bar mitzvahs, about Jewish friends, about Jewish synagogues. For a Thessaloniki that was, for me and most, unknown," he says. Looking for the "strangers in her own city", she started field research and ended up writing a book about the food and identity of the Jews of Thessaloniki (Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you if you are Jewish: Food and discourses of identity).
"The cuisine of the city of Thessaloniki was fermented and shaped by Jewish cuisine and Jewish recipes. When the Jews came and built their own synagogues, in the 16th and 17th centuries, in addition to their official name, they also took names from the various ingredients that dominated their cuisine. There was, for example, the "Garlic" Synagogue or the "Onion" Synagogue. The love of Sephardic cooking for both garlic and onion, and especially for eggplant (there are endless recipes for this vegetable in their recipe book), has also spread to the city," says Mrs. Kravva. "Thessalonian cuisine is not something that emerged in a vacuum. He received long lasting influences. From the Muslim element, the Jewish element and of course the arrival of the refugees from Asia Minor. There were admixtures, borrowings and interactions. Speaking of patties, you can't help but refer to the Jewish borekitas. Or for meatballs and don't talk about keftikes in Spanish Hebrew, which are de prasa, de patata, de espinaca and so on. Today's imprint of Jewish cuisine in Thessaloniki cooking exists, but as a subject it is largely neglected,” he says. "To say that Jewish and Thessalonian cuisine complement and contain each other is perhaps still a bit of a taboo subject."
So is Sephardic cuisine missing from today's culinary face of the city, or in fact, at least a piece of it, was never lost? There is no easy answer, but by asking other questions we can certainly learn a lot.
Source: Gastronomos website, 30.5.2023
