Chania lighthouse
Chania lighthouse

By Naomi Baum

A short hop over from Israel brings one to Crete, the largest and most populated of the Greek isles. For Israeli vacationers as well as those touring Israel, Crete is a wonderful destination with affordable package deals from Ben-Gurion Airport to Heraklion, a mere 90-minute flight away. With Greece’s economy in a shambles, now is a good time to visit Greece–you can take advantage of low prices, and feel good about helping a country in distress.

Spreading 260 kilometers east to west, and only 60 kilometers at its widest point, Crete has a population of slightly more than half a million people. The coastlines are filled with hotels and vacation accommodations geared to all levels and pocketbooks, and holiday-goers abound. What makes Crete special, however, beyond the fun of a beach holiday with turquoise sea views, water, sun, good food, and fun, is the history of Crete, the ancient civilizations that made their home here, and the accessibility of world-class archaeological sites.

During our recent vacation, we set our sights on Jewish Crete, the center of which is Chania, an ancient city with a rich history and a decidedly Venetian flavor. We rented a car on the second day of our four-day vacation–after spending the first day on the beach getting our fill of sun and relaxation–and headed westward towards Chania. Traveling the 170 kilometers on Crete’s main highway, which occasionally became four lanes but more often remained a meandering two-lane highway, we enjoyed the sea views to the right and the mountains rising to the left. As we had only one destination on our itinerary, we enjoyed the leisurely drive and learned much about the Cretan people by observing their driving habits.

When we arrived in charming Chania, we walked to the Venetian port, enjoying the sea breezes, the old buildings that housed churches, and then mosques, armaments, customs and duty buildings, as well as the iconic lighthouse, one of the oldest lighthouses in the world, built by the Venetians when they ruled here in 1501. Making our way up from the port to the old Jewish quarter called the Ovraiki (can you find the word Hebrew embedded within?), it was easy enough to find the Etz Hayyim Synagogue located on Kondylaki Street with a big sign over its door.

Crete was home to the Jews as early as Hellenistic times, and mention is made of them in Second Maccabees. Chania itself was home to a thriving Jewish population and at least two synagogues over the centuries. The 2,500-year history of the Jews of Crete came to a heartbreaking end in 1944, when all the Jews of Crete, some 263 of them, were rounded up by the Nazis, imprisoned for nine days in abominable conditions, and then herded onto a ship headed for Auschwitz. The boat never arrived at its destination, as it was torpedoed and sunk by Allied forces. No one survived.

The Etz Hayyim Synagogue of Chania, which had been active until 1944, lay in ruins until 1995, used as apartments and garbage dumps, until Nikos Stavroulakis, born to a Greek Orthodox father and Jewish mother from Istanbul, decided to dedicate himself to the renovation of the abandoned synagogue. In his words, allowing the synagogue to crumble was a victory to the Nazis. Today the synagogue stands proudly renovated and is used for weekly prayer services, although there is rarely a minyan.

The synagogue consists of a main room, with a beautifully restored  wooden ark, and seating in the Sephardic tradition. Standing in the sanctuary and praying the Minchah service was both reaffirming and terribly sad. Am Yisrael Chai! Yes, we are here today, and Jewish communities the world over are thriving. Yet the Jewish community of Crete is virtually nonexistent, and this synagogue, while home to an occasional prayer service, is one more reminder of our people’s bloody history. Once again, our journeys remind us that Jews reached far-flung places on this earth, and stubbornly brought with them their religious practices and the traditions of their forefathers. A source of pride, mixed with the sadness of the community’s tragic end.

Naomi L. Baum, Ph.D., is a psychologist and consults in the field of trauma and resilience worldwide. She likes to spend her spare time traveling with her husband, and scuba-diving and hiking with her children and grandchildren.

 

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