Helpful Links and Resources
The Jewish Museum of Greece
The official website of the Jewish Museum of Greece. Located in central Athens, the museum hosts a number of exhibits, educational programs, research initiatives, and tours devoted to telling the story of the Jews of Greece and encouraging tolerance for peoples of all religions and backgrounds.
The Etz Hayyim Synagogue of Hania Crete
Until 1999 Etz Hayyim was a desecrated house of prayer that remained the sole Jewish monument on the Island of Crete after the destruction of our Jewish community in 1944. Essentially it stood as a monument to the success of the Nazis in obliterating 2,300 years of Jewish life on the island of Crete. From 1996 until the year of its re-dedication in 1999 the structure was painstakingly restored. The philosophy that directed this work is summed up in the Hebrew ‘Am Israel Hayy’ – ‘The people of Israel live’. In 1996, the Synagogue was mentioned on the World Monument Fund’s list of most endangered sites, but today it stands as a vibrant statement of Jewish life, vitality and values.
Romaniote Memories, a Jewish Journey from Ioannina, Greece to Manhattan: Photographs by Vincent Giordano
Beginning in 2001 and guided by members of the KKJ community, Giordano documented the Romaniote community in New York and Greece including the religious art of the congregation using film, video, and audio.
The Salonika and Greece Jewry Heritage Center in Memory of Leon Recanati
An experiential, homelike, and inspiring environment located in Petah Tikva, Israel, the center is a nexus for the Greek-Jewish community and a wonderful resource for anyone who wishes to look back in time. The Center’s team has created a wide variety of activities for every type of audience and for every occasion, from educational programs for elementary students, through research activity for college students and scholars, to culture days for soldiers, family gatherings, and culture and language evenings.
Sephardic Jews and the Holocaust: In Search of Uncle Salomon
A brief documentary by Prof. Devin Naar of the University of Washington's Sephardic Studies Program, Stroum Jewish Studies Department, and History Department explains the twist of fate that led him to piece together his own Sephardic Jewish family's experience in Salonica (Thessaloniki), Greece, during the Holocaust. His journey led him to the serious study of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and a new perspective on the stories that Jewish historians need to tell.
Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America
The Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America is the largest Sephardic benevolent organization of its kind in the United States. Our mission is to support the financial, social, educational, and religious welfare of Sephardic families who derive their lineage from the Ladino-speaking Jewish communities of Turkey, Greece, and the Balkans. Through a host of services and programs, the Brotherhood is dedicated to caring for and strengthening our Sephardic community.
Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy
An educational and cultural organization representing many Lower East Side synagogues, schools, and cultural institutions. The Conservancy was created with two initial goals: to support, enhance and activate the Lower East Side’s community of living synagogues and other historic structures, and to raise public awareness of the Lower East Side’s distinct cultural identity.
The Tenement Museum
The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the history of immigration through the personal experiences of the generations of newcomers who settled in and built lives on Manhattan's Lower East Side, America's iconic immigrant neighborhood; forges emotional connections between visitors and immigrants past and present; and enhances appreciation for the profound role immigration has played and continues to play in shaping America's evolving national identity.
The Museum at Eldridge Street
The Museum at Eldridge street offers an intimate, authentic portal to the past for people of all backgrounds. Step into the footsteps of the synagogue's immigrant founders. Explore digital displays. Discover how the immigrant experience transformed and continues to transform communities today.
Lower East Side Preservation Initiative
The Lower East Side Preservation Initiative: we’re local residents and preservationists who want to preserve what’s left of the historic architecture and streetscapes of Manhattan’s historic Lower East Side. This area, which is one of the city's - and country's - most diverse and historically rich communities, includes such neighborhoods as the East Village, Lower East Side below Houston St., Chinatown, Little Italy and the Bowery, extending from East 14th Street south to Fulton and Franklin Streets, and Broadway east to the East River. We're a grass roots not-for-profit organization, formed in 2007.
Friends of the Lower East Side
Friends of the Lower East Side is a grass roots organization founded in 2011 by Linda Jones, Mitchell Grubler, and Joyce Mendelsohn. It is dedicated to preserving the architectural and cultural heritage of this historic center of immigrant life in lower Manhattan. The area, located between East Houston and Water Street, stretching from the East River to the Bowery, contains a number of significant buildings reflecting its history as the first home in America for immigrants from throughout the world.