Due to the economic crisis that is endemic everywhere It was expected that we not have a great attendance for either Rosh HaShanah or Yom Kipour though we did for both have a minyan.  As usual during the interim days the shofar was blown every morning to announce Selihot prayers and on the Eve of Yom Kipour, Lior Asher arrived from Tel Aviv.  This is the third year that Lior has been with us and this year he led the entire prayer service for Y-K.  His gift to the Synagogue is deeply appreciated as he has not only a family in Tel Aviv but also has to leave two hours after the Fast has ended in order to catch his 2:00 AM plane back home.

We were all especially touched when he told us that he always felt that Etz Hayyim had no roof and that his prayers went directly up into the heavens with none of the normal interference and distraction of political in-fighting in other communities. After Neilah when he blew the Yemeni shofar that we have, we broke the fast in the Synagogue as it was raining (which for us is always a propitious sign), and then after a dinner together he left by taxi for Herakleion.  Next year he plans to bring his wife who is at present pregnant along with his son to spend R-HaShanah and Yom Kipour with us.  Like the rain, Lior is a special blessing for us here.

Guests of Note:  Ruth Padel the poet and great-great grand-daughter of Charles Darwin was with us for a week after giving a poetry reading in Loutro. We managed to set in motion for a poetry work-shop to be held in the new Resource Centre in the Spring.  The author of several books for children, Doreen Rapapport and her husband Bob Rosegarten, the Emeritus Mayor of Great Neck were also with us for Yom Kipour.  Both have been friends of the Synagogue from the days when initial work was being carried out for its renovation in 1999.

N.S.

Σας Ευχόμαστε Καλή Χρονιά και Χρόνια Πολλά.

Σσανά Τοβά

-5772-

Shana Tova

We wish you all a Blessed New Year.

Σας προσκαλούμε να γιορτάσετε μαζί μας τη

Ροσς Ασσανά, Τέταρτη, 28 Σεπτεμβρίου.

Οι προσευχές θα αρχήσουν στις 19:00 και θα ακολουθήσει γεύμα στο εστιατόριο Έλα (Οδός

Κονδυλάκη) ώρα 20:30.

Για την κράτηση θέσεων παρακαλούμε επικοινωνήστε μαζί μας έως της 23 Σεπτεμβρίου. Το γεύμα θα είναι €20 το άτομο.

We invite you to join us for the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, on Wednesday, September 28th.

Services will be held at the Synagogue at 19:00, followed by a meal at Ela Restaurant (Kondylaki St.) at 20:30.

Any one interested should RSVP by September 23rd. The cost for the meal will be €20 per person.

As part of their summer camp on Crete, a group of about fifty high school students from Germany visited the Synagogue on 11 August. The Protestant parish of Ehrenkirchen-Bollschweil in southwest Germany organizes this biannual summer camp which is integrated in the History and Religious Studies curriculum at the students’ high school and allows them to explore the history, culture and nature of Crete.

After a first visit in 2009, parish minister and high school teacher for Religious Studies Ulrich Greder brought also this year’s participants of the summer camp to Etz Hayyim Synagogue to hear a presentation about the history of Etz Hayyim Synagogue and the Jews of Crete as well as some general information about Judaism and Jewish holidays as they are observed at our Synagogue.

The next visit of participants of the summer camp to Etz Hayyim Synagogue is already planned for next year, when parish priest Adela Strobel will take on the organization of the summer camp.

Etz Hayyim Synagogue regularly welcomes groups of high school and university students either from Hania, Greece or abroad.

Όπως κάθε χρόνο, από το 2001, έτσι και φέτος στην Συναγωγή Χανιών (Ετζ Χαγιιμ) πραγματοποιήθηκε  επιμνημόσυνη δέηση για τα μέλη της εβραϊκής κοινότητας των Χανίων που σκοτώθηκαν το 1944 κατά την διάρκεια της Ναζιστικής κατοχής. Ο χώρος της Συναγωγής ήταν γεμάτος με πολίτες των Χανίων καθώς και επισήμους εκπροσώπους της Τοπικής Ορθόδοξης και Καθολικής εκκλησίας, τον αντιπεριφερειάρχη Χανιών κ. Απόστολο Βουλγαράκη, εκπρόσωπο του Δήμαρχου Χανίων, εκπρόσωπο του Κεντρικού Ισραηλίτικου Συμβουλίου Ελλάδος, της εβραϊκής κοινότητας Αθήνας καθώς και μέλη των εβραϊκών Κοινοτήτων Ηρακλείου και Ρεθύμνου.

Η τελετή άρχισε με τον χαιρετισμό προς τους καλεσμένους από τον κ. Νίκο Σταυρουλάκη. Στη συνεχεία ακολούθησε  ένα λεπτό σιγή καθώς και μια έκκληση προς όλους να συλλογιστούμε όχι μόνο τον χαμό της κοινότητας άλλα και όλων αυτών που έχουν χάσει τη ζωή τους, κάτω από παρόμοιες συνθήκες σε όλο τον κόσμο, τα τελευταία 60 χρόνια.

Ακολούθησαν  προσευχές και η επιμνημόσυνη δέηση, το διάβασμα του ποιήματος της Ζέλντα Μισκόβσκυ «Ο ΚΑΘΕΝΑΣ ΜΑΣ ΕΧΕΙ ΕΝΑ ΟΝΟΜΑ» και, αμέσως μετά, το διάβασμα των ονομάτων των 276 θυμάτων και το άναμα κεριών. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο έκλεισε η τελετή.

Since 2001 we have been able to have a memorial service for the Jewish Community of Hania that perished in 1944. This year was especially significant as we had not only a very large attendance (a full synagogue) but the memory of the Community was honored by the presence of official representatives of the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, City- Council as well as the Jewish Community of Athens and the Central Board of Jewish Communities of Greece.  The service opened with a short homily by the director of the Synagogue (Cf. below) and then as is normal with us – the service was taken over by members of the fraternity. Leon Gavrielides recited the prayers, blessings and admonitions of the Shema. Gabriel Negrin led the Amidah of Arvith and Nataly Ventura read a poem – Each of us has a Name.  As we had more than a formal minyan Roger recited the Kaddish and then the Ehal was opened and in common we formally recited the Yizchor for Martyrs and read out the names of all of the 276 member of the Community who perished in 1944. At the end of this votive candles were lit and distributed throughout the two gardens of the Synagogue.

*

This is not an event that calls for us to make long speeches that do little more than stress something about ourselves.  Neither, to my mind, is it necessary for us to linger over the pain and suffering of a community that was left in 1941 with no leadership and that perished in some form of wonderment.  Ten years ago I spoke here at the re-dedication ceremony and re-defined the new role of the Synagogue – not as a focal point for a Jewish community but rather as a place of prayer, recollection and reconciliation. In some strange way Etz Hayyim has done this and at the same time has remained a vivid sign of memory of the tragedy of 1944 when its last formal community ironically met its death – not in the camps of Germany and Poland but embraced in the Cretan Sea.

What meaning we can give this is to be found only in how we respond now to our lives and to the world about us which for many has not really changed appreciably.  Genocide, hunger, displacement and insecurity are still with us - hidden and at times justified in another context dictated by time and the abuse of language.

Before we begin I should like us all to sit in silence and see if there is any meaning that we can give to the death of our community in 1944 – or in the deaths under similar circumstances that have followed in the course of the past 60 years. If there is no meaning then these tragedies are empty and futile.

N. Stavroulakis

This year Passover was celebrated with some 70 people attending the community Seder.  Most attended the Arvith service that was held in the Synagogue and led by Rabbi Nicholas de Lange of Cambridge University.  At the end of the service everyone assembled at the Myrovolos Restaurant which was reserved for the Seder.

We have been experimenting with various Haggadoth over the years and it appears that we have finally managed to create our own that is suited to our needs and circumstances.  Apart from members of the Havurah we can usually expect to find a varied number of people who wish to  touch on the inner life of the Synagogue and especially during the Holidays there are challenges in insuring that the services are meaningful and clear – thus over the past four years our own Hania Haggadah has evolved.

Though led by Stavroulakis and de Lange a large portion of the Haggadah was divided to be read by the participants. As it was Holy Week it was impossible for the Capucin Friars to be with us, but guests from Greece, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Israel and the US did attend.

The readings were done in Greek, Hebrew and English and after the Blessing of the Cup of Elijah four members of the Havurah led the participants in singing Ladino songs that they had been preparing under the direction of Lorenzo (Ovadiah).

On the morning of Passover a good number of people came to the Synagogue and Shahrith prayers were said after which there was a Torah study group who were led in examining the scriptural text of the festival.

N.S.

Tu B’Shevat is a strange festival as it has had a very interesting change in character over the past 2000 years or so. In Torah it is designated as a Festival that had a quite practical purpose – that of setting tithes on trees and for guaranteeing that those newly planted had a suitable period of time to mature to guarantee that the fruit was kosher. After the destruction of the Temple it naturally became a somewhat minor festival and it was only in the 16th century that it became again of importance – especially amongst the mystics gathered around R. Isaac Luria in Sephat.  Today it has assumed a somewhat important place as the contemporary interest in mysticism but more importantly perhaps, the concern for ecology has given to the festival a more pointed significance. This framework is what determines our annual celebration of Tu B’Shevat at Etz Hayyim in Hania.  

The seder was held in the Synagogue where everyone gathered around a table laden with fruits and nuts and wine.  As an introduction to the evening Stavroulakis gave a talk on the history of the festival as well as mentioning the great importance that trees play in the symbolic language of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He especially underlined the importance of trees in our lives as part of the ‘garden’ in which we are all trees…and the obligation that we have to nurture life around us.

A general kiddush was said over the bowl of Assoure that Anya, our librarian had prepared and after that the seder proceeded as is our custom here.

A potted mango tree was prominently present in the centre of the table and all of those present signed a slip of paper that will be inserted in a sealed bottle that will be buried when tree is planted next month in front of the Synagogue.