La Juderia
Encyclopedia
La Juderia, was the former Jewish quarter
Jewish Quarter (diaspora)
In the Jewish Diaspora, a Jewish quarter is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were often the outgrowths of segregated ghettos instituted by the surrounding Christian authorities. A Yiddish term for a Jewish quarter or...

 of Rhodes, Greece
Rhodes, Greece
Rhodes is the principal city and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It has a population of approximately 80,000. Rhodes has been famous...

. The quarter was inhabited by Sephardic, Ladino-speaking Jews.

History

Although there has been a Jewish presence of some sort on the island of Rhodes for nearly 2,000 years, the inhabitants of La Juderia did not arrive until the 16th century, after they were expelled from Spain. The Jews of Rhodes prospered until the persecutions of Italian Fascism began in the 1930s, and at its peak the population of the Jewish quarter was more than 4,000.

Geography and features

La Juderia is located in the eastern part of the Old City of Rhodes, near a pier used by cruise ships. It is primarily centered around the Dossiadou Street where the Kahal Shalom Synagogue
Kahal Shalom Synagogue
The Kahal Shalom Synagogue is a Sephardic synagogue in La Juderia, the Jewish quarter of the city of Rhodes on the Greek island of Rhodes. It is the oldest synagogue in Greece today.-History:...

, the lone remaining Jewish house of worship on the island of the six that once stood, is located, along with the Jewish Museum of Rhodes. Other features in the quarter include the Square of the Martyred Jews, which pays tribute to the Jews of Rhodes who died in the Holocaust, located near the heart of the neighborhood, the Alliance Israélite Universelle
Alliance Israélite Universelle
The Alliance Israélite Universelle is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world...

 school, the former site of the Kahal Grande Synagogue, and a number of plaques throughout the quarter in Ladino, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

. Outside the Juderia is the Jewish cemetery of Rhodes, which dates from the 16th century and is one of the best preserved in Europe.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK