December 15, 2019

Join us on Sunday December 15 at 1pm. 

KKJ is honored to present "Shaddayoth and Siddurim: A Window into Romaniote Religious Traditions" - a new museum exhibit opening reception. 

Kehila Kedosha Janina is thrilled to unveil the latest addition to our museum: a new permanent exhibit of Shaddayoth and Siddurim from our private collection. Featuring items gathered from community members since our founding, this opening reception will explain the unique Romaniote tradition of Shaddayoth, which are silver dedicatory plaques traditionally hung on the Torah Ark Curtain (Parohet). Hidden from public view for decades, our recently rediscovered collection includes plaques from Ioannina as well as ones created in New York.

The second component of this new exhibit includes rare prayer books that were cherished by KKJ community members, including Sephardic Jews who joined our synagogue. These religious books date back centuries and range from antique printed Siddurim to hand-written Hebrew and Judeo-Greek liturgical poetry (piyyutim) unique to the Romaniote tradition.

Join us as we unveil these communal treasures and learn more about our rich heritage. The reception includes a presentation by the exhibit curators, including KKJ Museum Director Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, Rabbi Nissim Elnecavé, Executive Director of the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America, and Isaac Choua, KKJ Assistant Museum Curator. They will provide an explanation of the
materials and highlights from their work.
 

Refreshments will be served. 

RSVP required to Museum@kkjsm.org

October 21, 2019

Join us on Monday October 21 starting at 5:15pm.

We will celebrate Simhat Torah with Minha, Arvith, and Hakafot. Following services we will enjoy a traditional Greek Jewish dinner. 

מועדים לשמחה  Χαγκ Σαμεαχ  Moed Alegre

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Please RSVP to amarcus@kkjsm.org

October 13, 2019

Join us on Sunday October 13 at 2pm.

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KKJ is proud to welcome back Karen Batshaw to present her new book "Light and Shadows."

It is rare that one reads historical fiction and is so enraptured, both on the historical end and on the fictional end. Thus is the case with Karen Batshaw’s latest book, “Light and Shadows.” Karen has a knack for picking themes that many do not know about, as in her first book, “Hidden in Plain Sight,” covering the Holocaust of Jews in Salonika, Greece.
 

“Light and Shadows” takes on two rarely mentioned, but extremely painful historical events in the 20th century, the extermination of Jews from the Bulgarian Zone of Occupation in Greece (in March 1943) and the Population Exchange of Asia Minor Greeks (in 1923). Karen uses her protagonists, a Sephardic Jewish woman from Kavala, Greece, and a Greek-Orthodox Christian man from Asia Minor Turkey, to tell the stories. Karen is a rare author who has both the talents of a fiction writer, creating story lines and characters that are unforgettable, and the intense research necessary to present the historical events in an accurate way. Karen will be available to sign purchased books. Copies of her first book “Hidden in Plain Sight" will also be available.

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Refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to Museum@kkjsm.org