History Highlights: Salonika

In History Highlights this week we head to Yavan! That’s right Greece. But not the Greece of Antiochus or Alexander the Great. We head to Greece of a much later time when Jews lived in the port city of Salonika (right next to the Mediterranean Sea). The non-Jews called it Thessaloniki. 

We’ll find out about some great rabbanim interesting people and some villains who lived there

Two Millennia

Jews have been in Salonika Greece for almost 2000 years. In fact the oldest shul there was called the Etz Hayyim shul built almost 1 900 years ago. It stood until 1917 when it was destroyed in a fire. Jews of that time lived under the Roman Empire which treated them badly. This lasted until the 1400s when the Ottoman Empire took over Greece.

Jews under the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was based in what is now Turkey. They were Muslim and they controlled most of the countries in the Middle East (where Eretz Yisrael is) as well as parts of Europe. In 1492 when the Spanish King and Queen exiled all Jews from Spain (unless they agreed to become Christians) many of the Spanish Jews went to Salonika where they were welcomed although Jews in the Ottoman Empire weren’t considered equal to the Muslims. Jews (and other non-Muslims) were called dhimmi literally “protected person.” But Jews didn’t mind their status in the Ottoman Empire since they were treated far better there than in Europe.