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Wednesday, June 18th 2008, 8:08 AM Related Articles Related Topics

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Ilias Church kicks out 'Angels and Demons'
Hadjis addressed a half-dozen people in Bush at Vatican meeting with pope
the women's section of a lower East Ruiz: Battling hate in our schools
Side synagogue. He pointed to cities on Islanders from Lesbos sue gay group over use of
a map of Greece and rattled off their term 'Lesbian'
Jewish populations.
David Villa's 3 goals lift Spain over Russia
"Athens is 3,000," he says. "One Gay bishop in a civil union
hundred in Halkis. One hundred on the
island of Corfu. One thousand in
Saloniki." And Janina (or Ioannina), the
northwestern Greek city that gives
name to the synagogue and museum
where Hadjis volunteers each week?
"Thirty nine."
Kehila Kedosha Janina, the Holy
Congregation of Janina, is home to a
New York community of Romaniote
Jews who trace their lineage not to
Eastern Europe like the predominant
Jewish culture in the neighborhood, but Lombard for News
to ancient Rome. Ilias Hadjis volunteers to give tours at the Kehila
Kedosha Janina synagogue.
The shrinking congregation was
founded in 1927 by 50 families. Two
thousand years prior, their ancestors were forced to leave ancient Israel on a slave ship
bound for Rome - thus the term Romaniote.
A storm forced the boat to land in Greece, where the immigrants developed a distinct
culture with its own Greek-Jewish dialect, its own prayer
books - in Greek and Hebrew - and its own signature foods.
Museum director Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos says the synagogue at 280 Broome St.
maintains a mailing list of 3,000 Romaniote families, most of them in the tristate area.
Fewer than a dozen still make their home on the lower East Side.
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Hadjis, 70, is a key player in keeping the community's traditions alive. He arrived in New
York in 1955 from Greece and took night classes in English at Washington Irving High 1. Gonzalez: Teamster big rips Yankees cash
School. 'disgrace'
2. Improved MTA service? Dream on
Since then, except for a brief stint in the Army, he has lived nearby. But even when the
neighborhood was predominantly Jewish, he was an outsider. 3. Big Town, Big Dreams: Spreading little-known
history of Romaniote Jews
"If you don't speak Yiddish, you're not a Jew," he says. "If you don't speak Ladino [the 4. Law would force civil courts to help abused teens
language of Sephardic Jews who trace their history to post-Inquisition Spain] you're not a Newsletter Signup
5. Graduation day at Rikers Island
Jew." 6. Offer to drop charges in NYC 50-shot protests Get the latest Updates.
Hadjis is clearly a member of the 7. 7 men charged in animal house hell
8. Lunch date with death SIGN UP NOW
tribe. He married an Ashkenazi woman and has a grown daughter - who won't forgive
him for not teaching her Greek. 9. A blueprint for the South Bronx
10. W.E.B. Du Bois homesite will be developed into
On Saturdays, he worships at the synagogue "85% to 90% of the time." memorial
On a recent Sabbath, only nine men were present, one short of the quorum needed to
pray in the Orthodox tradition.
But Hadjis and his peers relied on a solution that is kosher under Jewish Law. "We open Used Car New Car Find a Dealer
the Torah, we make the Torah the tenth man."
On Sundays, he welcomes visitors who come to the synagogue to learn about a heritage
that is still largely unknown.
Two Sundays ago, Hadjis sat in a high-backed chair in front of the Torah, a royal blue
skullcap crowning his full head of white hair.

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HOME AUTOS REAL ESTATE JOBS CLASSIFIEDS IN PRINT TICKETS CONTESTS

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His feet didn't always touch the floor and he massaged the rounded edge of the chair's
wooden armrests as if coaxing out stories of loss and survival.
Digg Del.icio.us Newsvine
He told a handful of visitors - Jewish and not, from the upper West Side and the
suburbs - about the history Reddit Furl
of the synagogue and of his family.
Born in Athens, Hadjis grew up in the city of Volos. During World War II, his immediate Related Articles Related Topics
family sought refuge in Athens.
Church kicks out 'Angels and Demons'
"My mother had to cook and clean for Germans," recalled Hadjis, "selling her jewelry to Bush at Vatican meeting with pope
survive." Sixty-five percent of Greece's Jews were exterminated during the Holocaust, Ruiz: Battling hate in our schools
he said.
Islanders from Lesbos sue gay group over use of
H adjis, his sister, brother and their parents survived. So did his mother's veduzas - the term 'Lesbian'
glass cups used to treat illness with cupping are on display in the museum. David Villa's 3 goals lift Spain over Russia
The extended family did not fare as well. Thirteen relatives - cousins, aunts, uncles and Gay bishop in a civil union
a grandfather - perished, many of them on March 25, 1944, Greek Independence Day.
"They did it to show the Greek government they don't care," says Hadjis of the Nazis.
"They wanted to take all the Jews."
The stories leave an imprint on visitors.
"I didn't expect it to be such a personal tour," said Alicia Colarossi of the upper West
Side.
Carly Helfand, 12, has Romaniote roots. Her grandfather's cousin's name
is engraved above the door to the synagogue sanctuary.
"It's nice to see we can learn more," she said. "It's nice that he can explain it to us."
The portly, friendly-faced Hadjis does more than bask in the light of the synagogue
skylights and describe the delicious leek croquettes - keftikes des prassa - a recipe that
appears in a Greek-Jewish cookbook sold at the museum.
During the week, Hadjis works as a merchandising manager for the Gristedes
supermarket chain, a job that began when his father opened a small grocery store with
his sons on the lower East Side.
"I've been dealing with people all my life, so it's easy for me to connect," he says.
Museum director Haddad Ikonomopoulos called him an integral part of the synagogue,
the museum and the community. What would they do without him?
"We'd have to close the doors," she says.
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Do you know an immigrant New Yorker who achieved his or her dream in our
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