The saga of Saturday September 28, 2024 in Athens, Greece
Our accommodations have consistently been outside the center of the city, which also tends to be far from the local or Chabad shuls in the area. This Shabbat morning we had to wake up early enough to walk fifty minutes to get to the Beit Shalom Synagogue. When we arrived, we discovered that some young adolescent was having his bar mitzvah. In our community, most of the young men have to learn how to read from the Torah, read the Haftarah, lead services, and give a sermon – or some combination of these. We have the privilege of being part of a Jewishly educated community where this is a common expectation and there are plenty of bar mitzvah teachers to go around.
As we entered the synagogue I noticed a woman who looked like she knew what was happening. She informed us of the bar mitzvah and then invited our boys to participate in a children’s service. She also let us know that the food for the bar mitzvah was not kosher, but there would be a kosher kiddush for the Shabbat observant shul goers across the street and we were cordially invited to join. After the boys joined her for the children’s service, Chaim and I went to our respective seating areas to daven.
In the women’s section were a handful of women and young adolescent ladies, all presumably connected to the bar mitzvah boy. They were talking excitedly, taking pictures, and clearly very proud of him. Below, the bar mitzvah boy stood next to the rabbi/cantor as the rabbi/cantor led services. I was quite unfamiliar with Greek Jewish practices before this point. I learned that the rabbi/cantor dons clothing much like depictions of the Kohen Gadol/High Priest in the temple. His clothes are all white, with silver or gold trim, and he wears a hat and a breastplate. I was excited for the boys to witness a different tradition while listening to tunes and words that sounded so familiar. At the end of services, the bar mitzvah boy led the congregation in Adon Olam, the final prayer, as friends and family held a tallit over his head and threw rose petals at him. After davening, we joined the kosher kiddush across the street. This kiddush had a beautiful spread with fresh fruit, olives, vegetables, cheeses (including huge chunks of feta and parmesan cheese on every plate), lox, pretzel bagels (an Athens specialty), hard boiled eggs and more. It was a culinary delight for my taste buds.
We met (a new) Chaim, an Athens Jew whose family originated from Thessaloniki. He was riveting. Chaim explained that the lore in Greece is that the Jews in Greece originated from a shipwreck of slaves taken by the Romans after the destruction of the second temple in Israel in 70 C.E. Then he recounted how his family’s community in Thessaloniki was nearly obliterated under Nazi Germany. As Chaim shared, the rabbi of Thessaloniki at the time knew that his community was about to be deported or murdered because Nazi officers had come asking for a full list of community members. The rabbi requested two weeks to compile the list, to which the Nazi officers agreed. During these two weeks, the rabbi urged all of his congregants to flee. Tragically, Chaim’s father was one of the few who listened to the rabbi. According to Yad Vashem, 54,000 out of 56,000 of the Jews living in Thessaloniki were murdered during the Holocaust. This Jewish community has the second highest percentage of Jews wiped out after Poland.
It was hard to tear ourselves away from these important history lessons, but we had scheduled lunch at the Chabad nearby. The Chabad House must have had over one hundred people, and we were the only native English speakers in the room! Almost everyone else was from Israel. I never thought Hebrew would come in handy as a second language while traveling the world, but I had spoken more Hebrew in the last two months than I had in the last year.
After lunch we walked home through the Agora Market and Little Kook Streets. It was completely out of the way, but the boys were excited to show Chaim. About two-thirds of the way home we chanced upon a game store. Amichai, Matanel, and Shai wanted to explore inside even though we wouldn’t be able to buy anything. Eitan was eager to go home. After a quick huddle we decided to split up. Eitan and I walked home and enjoyed some important alone time. Once the others returned we spent the rest of Shabbat playing games.
That night we tried getting everyone to sleep early. Eitan’s pain was increasing, and I was worried he was going to have an ear infection. I spent most of the night trying to help alleviate his pain.
