ue to economic instability in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, the first decade of the 20th century was the beginning of a period of great emigration.  Then, the Jewish émigrés of the territories, within the confines of present-day Greece, including Rhodes, made a significant impact on Sephardic life in the Americas and Africa, and were pioneers in the newly developing areas where they settled.  With little hope for the future, in the small and limited Dodecanese islands, where agriculture and commerce seemed dismal and confining, the sparsely educated male teenage Jewish youth from Rhodes sought their future in newly developing areas such as Rhodesia, the Belgian Congo, and the west coast of the United States, i.e. Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles.

Ready for adventure, and willing to go great distances, at the same time they also established themselves in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil, Montevideo, Uruguay, and in the south of the USA - in Atlanta and Montgomery, Alabama.  Following Greek-Orthodox townsmen  and friends, the Sephardic Jews arrived in Seattle and South America.  They established most of their independent communities and congregations in the United States, but their settlement and presence in Africa and South America was no less significant.

The 1890s and first decade of the 20th century were decades of uncertainty, strife and turmoil.  The Turkish wars with Russia, Italy, and the Balkan states had caused considerable economic and physical damage (1).  As the end of the Ottoman Empire became nearer and more lands were lost or in question, the young Sephardic Jews of Rhodes, like the other Sephardim of the Balkan Peninsula, were fearful of military conscription; in particular after its introduction following the Young Turk revolt of 1908. They also feared general political instability; alternative sovereignty to the Ottoman that they cherished; and continuing economic hardships in the light of political instability and change.

The Jews of Rhodes were youth in their teens and twenties, who were seeking their fortunes in 'virgin' newly settled areas of the Americas.  They started to arrive on America's shores already at the beginning of the century.  They were not fleeing Rhodes, because Ottoman rule was replaced by Italian rule, but because the island had great limitations economically.  They were unskilled and uneducated, but hardworking and adventurous.  After beginning as pedlars, in the course of time, many developed to be affluent merchants and businessmen.  The wave of emigration from Rhodes began in the second half of the first decade of the 20th century, but the trend was paved by the exodus to Africa of several youngsters who under coincidental circumstances established themselves in pioneering commercial enterprises in Central Africa.

The first Rhodian Jews to settle in Africa, were the brothers Mousa and Salomon Gabriel Benatar who arrived in Salisbury, Rhodesia in 1895 (2).  In the first years only a few individuals arrived.  It was only from 1905 onwards, during pronounced years of economic strife and uncertainty, that a much larger influx of Rhodian Jews arrived.  From modest beginnings in remote, primitive outposts like Chakari, Gatooma, Darwendale, Shamva, Eiffel Flats, Que Que, Openhalonga and Bindura, that they eventually established themselves in larger enterprises in the capital city of Salisbury (3).  Enduring long hours, flooded rivers, and adventure, they found their niche as merchants in newly developing areas.  These general stores that they set up, eventually would be commercial stepping-stones for many future wealthy Sephardi Rhodesli Jews.  The below description sheds light on their development in the outposts : With a limited knowledge of English, the early Sephardim were forced to settle in the bush areas, normally as small traders carrying on business near mines or in farming areas.  But their humble beginnings bore promise for the future.  First, they were determined to establish themselves and to make good.  Second, the local European population - mainly Anglo-Saxon - encouraged the setting up of trading stores while they engaged largely in farming and mining.  And third, the African population, exposed the European ways, began to buy readily from the stores.  But naturally in the course of time these scattered 'outposts' became unsatisfactory.  The desire grew among the Sephardim to be close together as they had been on Rhodes Island.  As wives were brought to the new colony, the need to educate children became urgent.  Gradually, therefore, the Sephardim began to leave their isolated trading stores and move into the towns.  Most of the Sephardim settled in Salisbury (4).

Kosmin explained that like the Jewish Livak and Rumanian immigrants, the Rhodians were involved in a 'patron-client form of chain migration' : One member of a family would go ahead and become established in the new land and he would then send for younger relatives and advance money for their fares, put up a guarantee if necessary, and often

offer the newcomer a job.  In return the immigrant normally agreed to pay off his debt by working for his patron over a certain number of years.  During his indentureship the newcomer hoped to learn the ways and language of the new country and build up the contacts and capital so that he could eventually establish himself as an independent businessman, perhaps to become a patron himself.  Most of the men were single and they would send home for a wife whereas a married man tried to establish himself so that he could bring out his wife and family (5).

Moussa Benatar created the foundation for the first chain, and he was followed by B.S. Leon, Mario Alhadeff, and Isaac Benveniste. In 1904 there were only four Sephardi Jews in the country, but by 1911 their numbers increased to 29 males and one  female (6). The immigration laws favoured guarantee of job or proof of support, while also compelling a literacy test in a European tongue under the Immigration Ordinance of 1904.  Unlike the Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants, whose Yiddish qualified as a European language, these Judeo-Spanish speaking Sephardi Jews had difficulties in qualifying in Spanish and Italian, due to their medieval Spanish dialect.  Thus, the Sephardi Rhodeslis had a higher percentage of prohibited immigrants than the other Jews, and many went to the Belgian Congo where entry regulations were more flexible.

The Rhodeslis were confined to being shopkeepers to enter other professions, and they lacked a previous knowledge of English. Since they entered as indentured immigrants to relatives and immediately went to work in rural stores, they had no chance to learn English or pursue other forms of employment.  They clung much more to their native language of Judeo-Spanish than the Ashkenazic settlers to Yiddish, and according to Kosmin, "overal they appeared less adaptable and opportunistic" (7).  From a wider historical perspective, while it is true that these diasporic Rhodian Jews retained their Sephardic culture and language and unusually much more so than other Balkan and Mediterranean Judeo-Spanish Sephardim, their experience in the Belgian Congo by no means conforms with the above inference concerning adaptation and opportunism.

Circumstances and coincidence led Rhodian Jews to Africa and the Belgian Congo, but it was their intuition, resourcefulness, calculation, and flexibility that led to their success and massive socio-economic contribution to the development of the Belgian Congo and the later Zaire.  The chain of events began when in 1895 at age 12, Salomon Benatar left Rhodes as a stowaway ship passenger and arrived in Islamiya, Egypt, where he established himself by first selling cigarettes and then opened a kiosk.  After attracting two brothers, Moussa and David, to resume his activities there, as a stowaway he headed for the southern part of Africa, where he heard about its diamonds and gold.  After arriving at the Port of Beira, in the Portuguese Colony of Mozambique, he opened the first shop for white people. He also prospered financially by receiving from the local government a five year concession in 1898 for the rights of oversee the bridge crossing the Zambezi river at the Rhodesian border.  A year after the outbreak f the Boers War in South Africa (1899-1902), his revenues were further increased when the British army transported supplies, equipment, artillery, and soldiers via the bridge.  He eventually sold his concession to the bridge and together with a Jew named Daniels, he opened up a store in Umtali, Rhodesia (8).

Salomon married in Rhodes, sold furniture for three years in Cairo, and returned to Umtali, where his brother Moussa maintained their store and had married in the meantime.  Since the store could not support two families, Salomon began to look elsewhere.  In great pursuit, he set out in an expedition to the Belgian Congo.  After a train ride, his entourage, consisting of 80 armed men, a tent, and food supplies, went by foot 800 kilometres to Elizabethville (9).

The town was already populated by Ashkenazi Jews arriving from South Africa in 1907.  When the city developed in 1910 and became the capital of the Katanga region, the construction of a railroad turned it into a very important centre since it was a junction for railroad travel to Salisbury, Rhodesia to the south, and the Lobito port, in Angola, to the west at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.  The Belgian Governor encouraged Salomon to settle there and open up stores for the 150,000 mine workers of the Union Minière and the 40,000 railroad workers, who previously had no way to purchase goods locally.

There was a great need to set up 15 stores for this purpose. After consultung with the project engineers, he requested to receive a lot between the train station and the post office.  He promised the Governor that he would return within 6 months in order to make preparations and then build the stores upon his return.  He convinced his brothers Avraham and Yitzhak to leave Southville, Rhodesia, and assist him with this new operation. Upon returning to Elizabethville, they built a store out of clay and Potopoto wood.  Shortly afterward, they were so successful that they ran out of

several activities; one of them was a Federal Credit Union set up in 1935, which in the course of its twenty-one year existence loaned out some $130,000.  When members of the Rhodes League moved away from their old homes Downtown and the majority moved to Brooklyn, they joined the Temple Torah Israel. In 1960, the League with its 220 members, celebrated its Golden Anniversary (19).

The first Rhodesli young boys in Seattle established themselves in the fishing, fruit, and grocery store businesses, as well as the shoeshine business, a task requiring only a little English. They sent for sweethearts that they had left behind, or contacted family or friends in Rhodes or in other Rhodian diaspora concentrations, who helped them establish correspondence with eligible girls.

Pictures were usually exchanged and eventually these 'picture brides' made the crossing to America or were met at home and brought to the New World by their American beaux (20).  During most of this period, the Seattle Sephardi community intended to make their fortune in America, and then return home to Rhodes or Marmara, but when the young brides arrived the community took on a more permanent nature.  After being misunderstood by the Ashkenazim and only a first accepting the Hirsh reform synagogue, a common phenomenon, these Sephardi Jews would only attend Orthodox synagogues.  After previously praying at the orthodox Ashkenazi Bikur Holim synagogue, in 1907 there was such an influx of Rhodian immigrants; many sent by the Industrial Removal Office (IRO), that the Sephardim rented a house on 10th and Yessler for the High Holiday services.  In 1908, the Rhodeslis, were determined to form their own organization, as they were the most homogeneous of all the Sephardi groups.  In 1909 they formed the philanthropi Koupa Ozer Dalim Anshe Rhodes.  They separated themselves from the Marmara group, originating from Rhodosto, Marmara, Gallipoli and Istanbul.

In 1910 there were 40 Sephardi families in Seattle divided into two distinct religious organizations and three mutual associations.  In 1914 the Rhodeslis founded the Ezra Bessarot Congregation, after they disbanded over disputes involving allocation of forms.  They had no cemetery or Talmud Torah.  In 1916 a third Sephardi synagogue was established by the Marmara Jews - Ahavat Ahim, whereas the Rhodosto Sephardim bought the former Ashkenazi Bikur Holim building and a space for a community centre.  During World War I, the Sephardim strengthned their business and economic professions.  They also became employed in shoemaking, tailoring, as bakers, and as barbers. They raised large families with five or more children.  In World War I, sentiments turned toward the allies, even though they retained positive feelings toward the Turks, and they began to feel more American.  By 1912 the community numbered 1,500 Sephardim.  The first Sephardi Rabbi Aharon Benezra from New York City was shortlived.  He lasted only tw years and left in 1916 in the midst of disparity.  In 1924 the astute Rabbi Abraham Maimon arrived from Tekirdag, Turkey.  Although he was well respected by the three congregations, he was unable to heal rifts and he served Bikur Holim solely.

Portland and Los Angeles were outgrowths of the Seattle Sephardic community.  The young single Sephardim arrived in Portland from Seattle in 1907.  They started the same businesses, grocery stores, produce, and the shoeshine trade.  The Menasche clan increased the local Sephardi population.  Most of the Sephardi Jews came from Rhodes.  By 1912 there were 80 Sephardim in Portland.  Those not from Rhodes came from Marmara and Tekirdag. They had difficulties in organizing religious services.  After several unsuccessful attempts at communal unification, a new society was established in 1912 as the Hesed Israel Anshe Rhodes with Yitzhak Beno as president.  It only lasted three years. Due to small numbers, the community had to integrate more with the Ashkenazim and they were helped by Ben Selling, an Ashkenazi Jew (21).

During World War I, there were only 50-60 families.  In 1916 the Ahavat Shalom was formed.  It reorganized in 1918-1919 as Ahavat Ahim.  In 1919 they met at the B'nai Brith Lodge for High Holiday and Sabbath services.  The small Sephardi community had its own kosher butcher and a Sephardi cafe run by Yehuda Levy.  For a short time the congregation ran its own Talmud Torah under the direction of Haham Haji Haim Levy, brought by the community from Los Angeles.  Shortly afterward, he died and in the aftermath the Sephardi children attended religious schools operated by the greater Jewish community.

In Los Angeles, a few Sephardim arrived between 1900-1914.  In 1908-1910 many Turkish and Rhodeslis started coming from Seattle and Portland.  Three young boys settled themselves in south-central Los Angeles between 6th Street and Pico Boulevard, and between Maple and Central Avenues.  At first they worked hard and shared living

quarters, even rotating beds between work shifts. They started as street-corner pedlar selling flowers, and produce, and worked as shoe-shiners.  Then, the able opened stands, which grew into large flowers stores or stalls in the wholesale mart or developed into markets or shoeshine concessions in large department stores.

By 1912 there were enough Turkinos and Rhodeslis to form a unified organization, Ahavat Shalom, which held religious services at Burbank Hall on Main Street.  The president was Yaakov Haim of Salonica, and the Rhodelsis Joseph B. Hasson and Marco Tarica were treasurer and collector respectively.  The spiritual leader was Abraham Caraco of Brusa, Turkey.  Hasson and Tarica went up and down the streets of the Sephardi neighbourhood dutifully collecting for the organization.  Immigration in World War I slowed down to a trickle.  By 1915 there were 160 Sephardim in Los Angeles.  In 1916, the new organization Ahdut (Unity) was formed, but it was short lived.  Ahavat Shalom, established in 1912, was in turmoil and the rapidly growing Rhodeslis sought autonomy.  Of the 52 founding members, 37 were from Rhodes.  In February 1917 the Rhodeslis broke away from Ahabvat Shalom to form the Peace and Progress Society.  They brought a Haham from Shanghai, China, who was followed by Haham Haji Haim Levy who then left the cogregation shortly afterward for the more peaceful Portland community.  After Haham Levy left for Portland, the Rhodeslis eventually secured Rabbi Solomon Mizrachi of Jerusalem.  After failing renewed attempts to unite with the other Sephardim, they built their own synagogue at 55th and Hoover in the heart of the Sephardi colony of that period. After acquiring funds from the deceased Sephardi of Shanghai, Albert Cohen, they received funds to dedicate their new syagogue Ohel Avraham.  At the same time they changed their name to the Sephardic Hebrew Centre.

In the south of the United States in Atlanta, Sephardi settlement started in 1906.  By the outbreak of World War I, more than half of the 150 Sephardim were from Rhodes.  Some were also from Crete as well as a significant Turkish minority.  Most were in their twenties and thirties, and were unmarried.  They arrived by way of the IRO.  After praying at first at Ashkenazi synagogues, they created their own due to the necessities of their strong religious and linguistic traditions.  In 1910, Ahavat Shalom was founded.  Most of the 40 members were natives of Rhodes.  The Turks split off in defense of their minhag (rite) and their 'keen sense of provincialism' and formed Congregation Or Hahayim in 1912.  In realizing the triviality of their division, in 1914 the two merged again to form the Oriental Hebrew Association Or Ve Shalom, shortened thereafter to Congregation Or Ve Shalom.  In 1916 property was purchased and in 1920 the new synagogue was dedicated.  Within the next five years a rabbi was engaged, and welare, burial and Sunday school societies were organized.

Why the Sephardim chose the south is unclear.  Pertaining to Atlanta, Hertzberg noted that "most of the newcomers preferred familiar salt water climates" (22).  He also noted that "perhaps like the founders of the Seattle Sephardic community, they were directed to the city by Greek acquaintances who had preceded them.  As soon as a few families had arrived, the multiplier effect and the work of the IRO led to further growth".

Sephardi migration to Atlanta changed the demographic balance of the Jewish community.  Whereas at the beginning of "the 1880s the Jews of Atlanta were a relatively prosperous, assimilation-minded people of Central European descent who worshipped at the same synagogue, by 1915 the Germans and their children had been reduced to a minority, and there were now six congregations, mirroring the community's deep national, economic, social and religious divisions" (23).

Noteworthy is the theme of incompatibility in these early years between the veteran Ashkenazim and the new-coming Sephardim. Hertzberg noted, "At first the Sephardim worshipped at Ahavath Achim and the She'arith Israel, but the Ashkenazim were suspicious of the swarthy-complexioned newcomers of the Levant. The Sephardim reciprocated with aloofness, partly in an attempt to maintain their self-respect, but also out of an impoverished hidalgo's sense of inner superiority" (24).
In Montgomery, Congregation Etz Ahayem, founded by Rhodian Jews, was the only Sephardi congregation in the state.  In 1906 the first Balkan Sephardim arrived, in 1908 services began, in 1910 a benevolent society was established, and by 1912 a full congregation was organized.  In 1916 a cemetery was established and in 1927, the congregation established a Talmud Torah. Judesmo (also knwon as Judeo-Spanish) was used along with Hebrew until 1951.  Today there are some 200 Sephardi families in Montgomery and most are related to each other (25).

In continuing their strong-knit diaspora structure, the Rhodian Jews also settled in South America - namely in

Argentina, but also in Brazil and in Uruguay.  In Buenos Aires, they formed the Kal Shalom.  Although the community was organized in 1926 (26) and the synagogue and social club were officially founded in 1929, as a result of the large principal migration of Rhodeslis of the 1920s (27), some had arrived as early as the first decade of the 20th century.  The bulk of the Rhodelsis managed to stay in Buenos Aires, because the first Rhodesli settlers, such as Shemarayahu Cohen, Mois Chami, and the Alderoki brothers, who became successful merchants, hired newly arriving fellow islanders in need of work.  Others branched out to more remote places, i.e. Rosario, Trenkelauken, and Missiones (28).  A small minority settled on Baron de Hirsh colonization ranches in places such as the colony of Basavilbaso (29). The Asociaçion Comunidad Israelita Sefardita de Buenos Aires (ACIS) was an outgrowth of the union ofJudeo-Spanish speaking congregations that former neighbourhood synagogues as early as 1930 (30).  In the centre of Buenos Aires in 1910 the Jews originating from Turkey founded the Etz Hayim synagogue and later a social club called Circulo Social Israelita, which met at the synagogue.  The Jews of Rhodes, along with other Sephardi Jews from Turkey, residing in the same area, created in 1914 the Zionist organization Benei Zion (31), which met in calle Reconquista.  In 1923 on calle Camargo the temple of the 'Associacion Comunidad Israelita Sefaradi' was founded.  It consisted of a group of Judeo-Spansih speakers from Istanbul, Izmir and Rhodes.  In 1919, ACIS, was founded as a single organization of immigrants from Turkey, Rhodes, and the Balkans. However, amongst the members the individual character of each city of oirigin remained.  It should also be noted that the affluent merchants from Salonika in Buenos Aires remained aloof from synagogue life and the closed Rhodesli community.

The Rhodian Jews brought with them to the Americas a rich cultural tradition. The community in Buenos Aires had the revered Judeo-Spanish poet Yehoshua Tarica, and in Seattle Reverend Isaac Behar's Judeo-Spanish and Arabic poetic and literary works were highlighted by the local Sephardi population.

In commenting about Argentinian Jewry, Elazar and Medding noted that the "Sephardi immigrants acculturated much more rapidly in terms of appearance, dress, and language than the Ashkenazic Jews did" (32).  They also remarked that the immigrants spoke Spanish stemming from the Judeo-Spanish that they spoke in their homes.  They came from a Mediterranean culture, thus making the adjustment to fitting into a Latin culture easier than their Ashkenazi brethren.  Since much of their culture was similar to that of the new environment, culture shock was only minimally encountered.  Thus, it is no surprise that some of the second generation succeeded in public life in South America.

In a situation where the old country is the pre-eminent basis for Jewish continuity (33), the second and third generations of Rhodian Jews continued to maintain their own communal organizations.  This is very pronounced amongst the Rhodian Jews of Buenos Aires.

The Jews of Rhodes were amongst the first Sephardim from the Balkans to arrive in Montevideo, Uruguay.  Asher Soriano arrived in 1910 with his falmily (34).  When he arrived there were less than a handful of Sephardic families.  The first synagogue 'Kehila Shalom' met in Soriano's home (35).  The first Talmud Tora also was conducted at the Soriano home.  In 1918, the Soçiedad Sionista Teodoro Herzl was founded, and its first office was located in the Soriano home.  However, that same year the communal activities were moved to number 327 Reconquista.  At that time, out of 15 families in the Sephardic community, five or six were from Rhodes.  As referred to above, after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, these Sephardic Jews were fleeing to avoid military conscription.
The process continued as wars were being fought; the 1908-1910 disturbances in Crete, the 1912 Balkan War, and World War I, which began in 1914.  Uruguay was another point for immigration for those heading toward South America.

As is seen in North America, more often than not, local differences amongst Sephardim in Latin America served as dividing factors (36).  In Buenos Aires, the Rhodians and the Salonikans took different paths, and neither did their social or organizational affiliations meet.  In Rio de Janeiro, the first Sephardim arrived as early as 1914.  They were from Izmir and Uria.  Only when the Rhodeslis came at the beginning of the 1920s, did the Sephardi community begin to organize.  (The noted Rhodian families settling in Rio de Janeiro were Menashe, Moussafir, and Israel).  At the end of the 1920s, the Salonikans arrived and plans crystallized to establish a synagogue (37). (In 1929, it was decided to buy a plot of land.  Four years later, there was a dedication for part of the place that was purchased.  The Ashkenazim were part of the endeavour, but eventually the Sephardim left and established their own synagogue in Copa Cabana).  Since the community was small and not heavily composed of a dominant group from a crtain locality in the Balkans, city of origin was not a decisive issue.

In Sao Paulo, the Jews of Greece and Turkey didn't initiate communal activity.  The numerous individual families from Rhodes and Salonika excelled in commerce, and devoted most of their time to personal matters.

The encounter of the Rhodian Jew with the Ashkenazi Jew in the diaspora was often a humiliating experience for the former.  Upon arriving in the USA, and in the Lower East Side of New York in particular, the Sephardi Jew was often the object of prejudice by the Ashkenazi.  Since the former knew no Yiddish, his Jewishness was doubted in the eyes of the latter.  This was translated into refusal to rent a room or receive work, or in adverse relations. The Sephardi Jew, preserving the Judeo-Spanish culture, which had survived nearly half a millenium in the Levant, was looked upon by the Ashkenazi Jew as a Turk.  This led the Sephardim to employ their own brethren or to rent a room together with other fellow Jewish townsmen or Sephardim.  Preferring their own prayer ritual, they tended not only to pray amongst Sephardim, but those from their own city of origin.  Kinship ties also were based primiraly upon their Sephardi 'landsmen'.  There remained a few old Sephardi diehards, who continued to be suspicious througout their lives of the Ashkenazi majority (38).  General alienation from the Ashkenazi community had some adverse aspects for following generations.  Lacking access to Ashkenazi friendship circles or religious education, many of the second and third generation felt closer to non-Jewish and Spanish-speaking society than to Ashkenazi Jews.  Such alienation led to intermarriage and attrition from Jewish communal life.

The Sephardi Rhodeslis in their first generation in the diaspora insulated themselves from outside influences.  They married through a marriage network stretching back to Rhodes via their diaspora location.  In Rhodesia, the marriage network reached Rhodes via the Belgian Congo.  In South America, it reached the home island via other Rhodelsi communities such as Seattle, or Atlanta.  Marriages were often arranged via family members and business associates.

In referring to the Rhodeslis, Cosmin noted that "In many ways, the Sephardim betrayed all the supposed attributes or remote islanders.  They tended to be withdrawn, self-centred and highly individualistic" (39).  As opposed to Rhodesia, where the original Rhodians were not very familiar with English and had no common language with the Ashkenazim from Lithuania, in the Congo, the Rhodians from their Alliance Israélite Universelle education had more in common with the colonial language and could converse more freely with the Ashkenazi Jews there.  In Rhodesia, even though both groups had small numbers, they established their own prayer groups.  In Elizabethville, in the Belgian Congo, both the Ashkenazim and Sephardim prayed together and united into one congregation from the very beginning -developing together a common prayer rite.

The Rhodian Jews preserved traditions, but were not religious or observant. Most of their descendants abandoned observant religious practices, but remained affiliated with the Rhodian synagogues and kept their tight-knit Rhodian social circles and affinity to the Sephardi heritage emanating from the Island of Rhodes.
When leaving the Island of Rhodes, the Sephardi Jew took secularization one step further.  Their combined secular and religious education of the early 20th century on the island already had removed them from their classical religious observance.  Upon leaving the island and voyaging and settling in far off lands with no organized Sephardi religious communities, where they could integrate or adapt their lifestyles in accordance, they abandoned Sabbath observances, kashrut, and prayer.  Only when they were able to organize enough of their fellow Sephardim and finance places of prayer, did they sporadically return to religious observance.  For the Sephardim in the Balkans their cultural identification with their city of origin dictated to what extent they would rent a hall or a house in the first phase of their new diaspora existence.  When synagogues were built or formed, ritual and observance became more regularized.

In the case of the Rhodeslis, the numerous amount of communities of former Rhodian Jews throughout the world served as an inspiration for continuity.  The fluctuating movement of former Rhodeslis between these communities, whether it be for changes of residency or frequent visits, strengthened communal identity.

In this situation where the old country is the pre-eminent basis for Jewish cointinuity (40), the second and third generations of Rhodians have continued to maintain their own communal organizations.

Future studies will test untested hypotheses about this unusual culture.  The following questions can be asked : to what extend did second and third generation Rhodeslis marry amongst themselves and continue organized communal

affiliation?  Did the second generation continue speaking Judeo-Spanish and to what extent was it transmitted to the third generation?

Rhodian Jewish diaspora migration and communal life is a rare phenomenon amongst the Sephardim and the Jewish people.  After leaving this small island, three generations have continued to practice diverse elements of the 14th century Castillian Judeo-Spanish culture and preserve many of the traditions.  In hindsight, it can be seen how adventurous settlement in Africa and the Americas led to the rescue of thousands of Jews who would have died in the Holocaust had they or their ancestors remained on the island.  Whereas the prolific Judeo-Spanish Salonikan communal experience terminated in the Holocaust or withered away through assimilation in the United States, France, or has been 'shelved' in the Zionist Israeli melting pot and no longer exists, in far away places throughout the globe one can still witness an unusual vitality in preserving the Sephardi heritage of the Rhodian Jewish community.

1. Yitzchak Kerem, 'The Settlement of Greek Jews in the United States; 1900 to the Present', Academic conference paper. Association for Jewish Studies, Twenty-Second Annual Conference. Boston, USA, December 1990; Steven Hertzberg Strangers Within The Gate City, The Jews of Atlanta 1845-1915 (Philadelphia 1978), 95-96.
   
2. Rabbi Dr. M. Papo, 'The Sephardic Community in Rhodesia', The Rhodesian Jewish Times (September 1950), 24-25; Harold Soref, 'The Sephardim of Rhodesia And The Congo', The Zionist Record (Friday, 3 Aug., 1951), 10.
   
3. Archives of The Sephardic Hebrew Congregation (ASHC), Salisbury, Rhodesia, 'The Sephardi Hebrew Congregation of Rhodesia', Historical fact sheet prepared by The Sephardic Hebrew Congregation, Salisbury, Rhodesia (date not listed; after 1944). See also Solly Alhadeff (ed.) Sephardi Hebrew Congregation of Rhodesia, Our Years of Progress 1931-1962 (Salisbury, 1962?), 40-41.