ESC long term volunteering project in the Etz Hayim Synagogue of Chania, Crete.
The views on my walk to the synagogue every morning changed a lot in the last few weeks. Summer with all its characteristics has returned to Crete. Tourists are starting to fill the streets even in the less touristic areas. Restaurants, shops, and bars have been opened for a few weeks and the small touristic boats are back in the Venetian harbour. This summer version of Chania has affected my work in the synagogue as well. Almost every 5 minutes the bell of the main door rings with more tourists that want to see this place. My main work is now giving tours and taking care of everything regarding tourists like helping them with questions or with our bookshop. I give about 5-10 tours every day and am starting to talk to bigger groups.
Whenever I find a spare minute, I work on my research project about the Jews buried at the Suda Bay War Cemetery. I have now organized all the information I have gathered and am starting to write a little booklet on my work. The most interesting development in the last few months was when I found one of the descendants of the Canadian soldier on Facebook. Both of us are now trying to figure out if he was a practicing Jew in his time in the military.
The last few days were filled with Jewish holidays and other interesting events. First, we had Shavuot. It is a two-day holiday that commemorates the date when the Torah was given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. The special thing about this holiday is that it is accompanied by lectures. One of the topics this year was the relationship between Judaism and Orthodox Christianity. It was interesting to learn about their similarities and how both religions developed alongside and from another. One of the traditions of this holiday is eating dairy to mark the end of Passover. That’s why one of my tasks during these days was baking cheesecakes.
The biggest event of the weekend followed on the next day. We celebrated the arriving of our new Torah- scroll. Many people like representatives of the other Jewish communities of Greece and rabbis from the United Kingdom joined our celebrations. In a service the new Torah-scroll was introduced to our older scrolls and later we showed videos depicting the story of the synagogue, the restauration, and the story of the Torah-scroll.
The annual commem
oration event for the people who died on the Tanais (the Jewish community of Crete perished on the sinking ship Tanais in 1944) marked the end of the weekend. First there was a formal event at the Holocaust memorial at the harbour and later we had a service in the synagogue. We lit 270 candles, one for every community member that died on the Tanais and distributed them everywhere in the synagogue and the courtyard.
The last few weeks have been busier again and full of events. It was nice to have more people around again and to witness all these holidays. I am looking forward to the remaining three months and am sure there will be lots of other interesting moments….
Coordinated by FILOXENIA, Intercultural-Environmental Organisation
Written by the volunteer Thora-Marit Astrid Henrike from Germany.
This project was supported by the European Solidarity Corps of the European Union through the Greek National Agency “INEDIVIM”
