Greek Jewish Festival, New York, 2017
May 29, 2017
New York — Last Sunday’s third annual Greek Jewish Festival brought hundreds of people to Broome Street in the Lower East Side for kosher bourekas, bouzouki music, and arm-in-arm dancing.
The festival, hosted by the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum on Broome Street, offered an opportunity to learn about the Romaniote Greek and Sephardic communities that once filled the neighborhood.
They celebrated “the unique heritage of this historic community through traditional food, music, and community groups.” It was an authentic fest without the bells and whistles of the usual block parties in the area. Even though, there were also henna tattoos and Ladino music CDs.
Performers included: Stavros Theodorou Orchestra, Hellenic Dancers of New Jersey, Noga Group with Avram Pengas, Julia Kulakova, Dromeno, and Trio Sefardi.
Kehila Kedosha Janina began in 1907 when families from the Greek town of Janina (Ioannina) organized a congregation. The current facility was not erected until 1927, and is the only Romaniote synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. It remains one of the only Jewish congregations in the neighborhood with an active minyan (prayer) on Saturday mornings.
The building itself received landmark status in 2004, and underwent a major renovation two years later.