Back يهود رومانيوت Arabic Romaniotlar Azerbaijani Романиоти Bulgarian Romaniotes Catalan Ρωμανιώτες Greek Romaniotoj Esperanto Romaniotes Spanish Romaniotes French רומניוטים HE Yahudi Romaniot ID
Ρωμανιώτες | |
|---|---|
 Members of the Romaniote Greek Jewish community of Volos: Rabbi Moshe Pesach (front left) with his sons (back). Prior to 1940. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Greece | 1,500+ [citation needed] |
 Israel | 45,000 [citation needed] |
 United States | 6,500 [citation needed] |
 Cyprus | 3,500?[1] |
 Turkey | 500 [citation needed] |
| Languages | |
| Greek (Yevanic), Hebrew, Ladino | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Jews, Greeks, Constantinopolitan Karaites | |
The Romaniote Jews or the Romaniotes (Greek: Ῥωμανιῶτες, Rhōmaniôtes; Hebrew: רומניוטים, romanized: Romanyotim) are a Greek-speaking ethnic Jewish community.[2] They are one of the oldest Jewish communities in existence and the oldest Jewish community in Europe. The Romaniotes have been, and remain, historically distinct from the Sephardim, some of whom settled in Ottoman Greece after the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal after 1492.
Their distinct language was Yevanic, a Greek dialect that contained Hebrew along with some Aramaic and Turkish words, but today's Romaniotes speak Modern Greek or the languages of their new home countries. Their name is derived from the endonym Rhōmanía (Ῥωμανία), which refers to the Eastern Roman Empire ("Empire of the Romans", Βασιλεία Ρωμαίων). Large Romaniote communities were located in Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Arta, Preveza, Volos, Chalcis, Thebes, Corinth, Patras, and on the islands of Corfu, Crete, Zakynthos, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, and Cyprus, among others.
Most of the Jews of Greece were murdered in the Holocaust after the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II and the deportation of most of the Jews to Nazi concentration camps. After the war, a majority of the survivors emigrated to Israel, the United States, and Western Europe. Today there are still functioning Romaniote synagogues in Chalkis (which represents the oldest Jewish congregation on European soil), Ioannina, Veria, Athens, New York City, and Israel.
- ^ Menelaos Hadjicostis, 'Jewish museum in Cyprus aims to build bridges to Arab world,' Associated Press 6 June 2018.
- ^ Mattheou, Dimitris (April 8, 2010). Changing Educational Landscapes: Educational Policies, Schooling Systems and Higher Education - a comparative perspective. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 160. ISBN 978-90-481-8534-4.