MOTHER OF ISRAEL This is how the poet Samuel Usque named Salonika in the 1550s. At the time the city was under Ottoman rule, and an important center of Jewish life. Even sixty years ago, in Thessaloniki, a Greek city since 1912, the Jewish community still ranked among the most important Sephardi centers, with a population of nearly sixty thousand, and no less than sixty synagogues and midrashim scattered throughout the historic city center and its environs.
In this article, we will investigate briefly the history of the synagogues of Salonika, and we will focus on the three consecutive central synagogues of the city: Talmud Torah Hagadol (1520/40-1917), Beit Shaul (1917-1943), and Monastirioton (1944-today).
Salonika's synagogues date from two broad time-periods: antiquity, and the period before and after the expulsion of the Jews of Spain. The Romaniot synagogue Etz ha-Haim, the origins of which are believed to be lost in antiquity, is thought to be the location where St. Paul the Apostle preached Christianity in the city, in the first century CE.
According to most historians, synagogues were established in the fourteenth century by Jews from Eastern Europe (Ashkenazim) and France, in the early fifteenth century by Italian Jews, and after 1492 by Jews from Spain (Sephardim). These buildings were repeatedly re-built, often at new locations, due to the destructive fires that devastated the city center through the centuries. Consequently we lack substantial knowledge on these early buildings.
Prior to the Tanzimat reformations (firmans of 1839 and 1856) that granted equality among the religious millets in the Ottoman Empire, the synagogues in Salonika, similar to those of northern Greece, were hardly visible. They were inconspicuously built within the urban fabric of the city, to such a degree that they were often not even mentioned in official Ottoman documents or in reports of fire casualties.
However, after 1839, and especially after the fires of 1890, 1898, and 1917, the Jewish congregations of Salonika commissioned renowned architects to build imposing synagogues in the eclectic style of the period, with Moorish, Assyrian, Byzantine, Renaissance, and Baroque influences; such was the case with the synagogues Beit Shaul (1898) by the Salonika-based Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli, and Monasitirlis (1927) by the local Jewish architect Eli Levy.
The fire of August 18-19, 1917, of unprecedented scale, was a turning point to the centuries-old Jewish presence in the city. The fire devastated 120 hectares of the city center, destroying most of the Jewish quarters, leaving 56,000 Jews homeless. According to community documents, it reduced to ashes 32 synagogues, 17 public and 65 private prayer rooms (midrashim) containing 450 Torah scrolls. It also destroyed the Chief Rabbinate, the five schools of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, ten rabbinical libraries, five religious schools (yeshivot), and one seminary.
The synagogues and midrashim that had been destroyed in the great fire, were soon re-established in new locations. Some were re-located in the new neighborhoods at the north and south edges of the historic center, such as Agia Paraskevi, Vardar, and 151. Others were re-established within the old city, which had been now turned into a modern urban center, based on the plans of French architect Ernest Hebrard (1875-1933). By 1919 fifty-three synagogues and midrashim were already in use in Thessaloniki. Although in new locations, these synagogues retained the historic names and traditions of their predecessors: Provencia, Sicilia, Kastilia, Catalan, Lisbon, Portugal, Evora, and others.
On the eve of World War II there were nearly sixty synagogues and midrashim scattered throughout Thessaloniki. By the fall of 1943, the German forces of occupation had systematically deported the majority of the Jews of the city, had destroyed the centuries-old Jewish cemetery, and had erased from existence most of the synagogues and midrashim: two synagogues are known to have been blown up, Beit Shaul and Beit Israel; and only six synagogues and a midrash have been documented to be still standing after the war, Monastirioton, Ashkenaz, Harilaou, Vardar, Yeniserli (or Larissinon), Kiana, and Midrash Beit Yaakov. Most of these synagogues were later demolished to make space for the new development that sprung up in the city.
TALMUD TORAH HAGADOL synagogue was originally established in 1520 (or 1540) as Salonika's main synagogue, representing all the Jewish congregations of the city. Talmud Torah included a synagogue, a religious school, and libraries, and was administered by a committee of representatives of all Jewish congregations of Salonika
Talmud Torah was heavily damaged by fires throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and was repeatedly repaired. After its destruction in the fire of July 21, 1898, the cornerstone for the new building was laid in August 1899, on Rabbinate Square, in the Kadi quarter. The new Talmud Torah building covered an area of 1,600 square meters. The construction cost was more than 4,500 golden liras, which was raised through the efforts of a committee headed by Rabbi Shmoel Simcha. The construction was not only supported by donations and lotteries, but by every single member of the Jewish community, who contributed the amount of half a Turkish lira.
The inauguration ceremony for the new Talmud Torah synagogue took place on December 11, 1904. This synagogue was considered the splendor of the community, and the largest and most important synagogue to have been built in Salonika to that date. It was laid out in a square plan, with a row of arched columns wrapping around a higher central area. The elaborate white marble teivah was located against the western wall, but extended nearly to the center of the hall. The women's balcony was located behind the arched columns in a "U" shape. The heikhal on the east wall, was elaborately built with an arch capping the opening of the ark. Talmud Torah was destroyed by fire in 1917, and was never re-built.
BEIT SHAUL synagogue was built in 1898 in the Hamidie quarter, east of the historic city center. The building was designed by the Salonika-based Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli (1838-1918). The establishment of the synagogue was undertaken by the widow of Shaul Modiano, Fakima, who dedicated it to his memory. It was also known as Cal de la Siniora Fakima. The synagogue was quite elaborate in its decoration, and showed influences from European synagogues of the same period, such as Temple de la Victoire (1874) in Paris, France.
The interior of the synagogue, painted to resemble marble, was rectangle in plan and covered by a vaulted ceiling. The heikhal was located on the east wall, near the teivah, in a Reform arrangement, influenced by the progressive European synagogues of the 19th century. The area of the heikhal was emphasized by a grand arch. After the great fire of 1917, when Talmud Torah Hagadol, among most of Thessaloniki's synagogues, was destroyed, Beit Shaul was used by the community as the city's central synagogue. It was in this synagogue that the reception for King George II on June 27, 1936, took place. Beit Shaul was blown up by the Nazis in 1943, after the deportation of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki.
MONASTIRIOTON (MONASTIRLIS) synagogue was established by Jews that came to Salonika from Monastir (Bitjola). Among the founders of the synagogue was the prominent Aroesti family. It was designed by Jewish architect Eli Levy, and was located on Syngrou street, in zone V of the newly-designed city center.
The building is organized in two stories. The first consists of the main prayer hall and a small midrash, while the second floor contains the ezrat nashim and some auxiliary rooms. The plan of the main prayer hall is laid out as a basilica, with a central nave and two side aisles, over which is the women's gallery in a "U" shape. A courtyard surrounds the building on three sides.
The main entrance is on Syngrou street. The recessed entrance foyer is marked by two round marble columns. The recessed foyer opens to the main prayer hall, the midrash, and the enclosed staircase to the ezrat nashim. The main entrance is influenced by Beit Shaul, and 19th century European synagogues.
During the German occupation the synagogue was occupied by the Red Cross and was therefore spared. The interiors of the building were renovated
after the war. The building suffered some serious damage during recent earthquakes. Today, it serves as Thessaloniki's principal synagogue.
ELIAS V. MESSINAS has been studying the history and architecture
of the synagogues of Greece since 1993. His architectural and photographic
field documentation includes a number of synagogues that have since been
demolished. His exhibition on the synagogues of Salonika has been exhibited
at Princeton University and New York City, and at the Goethe Institute
in Thessaloniki, Greece. He is a graduate of Yale School of Architecture,
Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, and currently a Ph.D. candidate in Architecture
and Town Planning at the National Technical University of Athens. His doctorate
thesis is on the history and architecture of Greek synagogues. He is currently
living in Jerusalem, practicing in Israel and Greece, and teaching architecture
in Israel. He has lectured widely in Greece, Israel and the United States,
and has written on the Greek synagogues since 1993. He is the author of
the book "The Synagogues of Salonika and Veroia".