18B
Friday, September 28, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
LOUIS & FLO BLOCH & FAMILY
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
MOLLIE & LUDWIG BORAKS
Largo, Fl
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family
BERNARD & IRENE SCHLUSSEL
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May the coming year be
one filled with health,
happiness and
prosperity for all our
friends and family.
JULIUS ROSS MOVING CO.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER—JULIUS ROSS
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD GLORIA ROSS
To All Our
Relatives
and Friends,
Our wish for a
year filled with
happiness,
health and prosperity
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
DAVE & ETHEL NATINSKY
MRS. ZAL AARON & SON
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Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
to all
our friends
and relatives
MR. & MRS.
HYMAN ARONSON
FAY, LEO & LORI
SCHOENFELD, Piano, Tx.
MR. & MRS.
JOSEF BERKOVIC
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'to all
our friends
and relatives
LARRY WIZEL & FAMILY
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to all .
• our friends
and relatives •
May the New Year Bring
To All Our Friends
and Family
Health,
Joy, Prosperity
and Everything
Good in Life
JACK & CAROL COHEN & STAFF
SHOE TIME - HARVARD ROW MALL
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
STEVEN, LISA &
JAMIE BINDER
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
MILDRED & RALPH
FRIEDMAN
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
MR. & MRS.
MAX GELMAN & FAMILY
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
ANITA, JOEY &
DARRYL GOLDBERG
May the coming
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
year be filled
with health and
all our family
and friends
AgE5REEziliil
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
MR. & MRS.
HARRY YAFFE
happiness for
SALLY & BEN PASMAN & DARIN
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
JULES & ANN DONESON
LILLIAN EFROS KAUFMAN
& JUDIE
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
MARSHA & HARRY KORN
& FAMILY
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
HERMAN & YETTA OPATOWSKI
Wishing all our family and
friends a year of
health and happiness
MR. & MRS.
NORMAN ADELSBERG & SANDY
Wishing all our family and
friends a year of
health and happiness
EVELYN, HARRY,
ILENE & JONI BERM
NEWS
The Jews of
Chalkis, Greece
BY SHELDON KIRSHNER
Chalkis, Greece (JTA) — Sixty
miles northeast of Athens, on the
island of Evia, is a Jewish com-
munity that is the • oldest
continuously-inhabited one in all
of Europe.
It is quite a distinction for the
100 Jews of Chalkis, the capital of
this green, pleasant island which
has been ruled by the Persians,
Thebians, Romans, Crusaders,
Venetians, Turks and Nazis.
But Leon Levy, the 48-year-old
president of Chalkis Jewry, takes
it all in his stride. By now, he is
accustomed to the Jewish visitors
from abroad who come here to be
at one with history.
A merchant, Levy has no idea
how long his family has lived in
Chalkis, (which is also known as
Halkida and has a population of
60,000). But Levy says the Jews
here can trace their roots back at
least 2,250 yearg. Local records
indicate that Jews were brought
to Chalkis as captives of An-
tiochus, but some scholars believe
they arrived as followers of the
returning soldiers of Alexander
the Great.
•
Chalkis' white-washed syna-
gogue, the foundations of which
go back some 1,500 years; has
been rebuilt six times. On Good
Friday, 1845, a Christian fanatic
set fire to the building and it was
not reconstructed until 1849.
Strangely enough, the walls of
the synagogue, on Kotsou St., are
embedded with ancient Jewish
gravestones. During the Venetian
era, the Italian overlords used the
Jewish cemetery as a quarry to
build castle walls. And when the
ruined walls were demolished 23
years ago, the stones were re-
turned to the Jews. They, in turn,
placed them into the synagogue
walls.
Chalkis' Jewish communal cen-
ter is small, and replete with
framed photographs of Theodor
Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, and
three Israeli Presidents.
Leon Levy was barely out of
diapers when Italy invaded
Greece, but he knows that the
first Greek army officer to fall in
battle was Col. Mordechai
a Jew whose family has lived on
Evia reportedly for 13 genera-
tions. A marble bust of Frizis
stands today in Chalkis' Military
Square.
World War II was a terrible
time for the Jews, yet the Levys
were lucky. At first, Evia and
environs were under Italian occu-
pation — a fortuitous stroke be-
casue italy did not harass the
Jews, nor attempt to ship them off
to concentration camps. Later, the
Germans replaced the Italians,
and the tragedy began.
All told, the Germans managed
to kill two Jews from Chalkis and
about 25 from the vicinity, Levy
says.
In the wake of the war, 120
Jews emigratd to Israel and the
U.s.
Intermarriage is still an un-
known phenomenon in Chalkis. A
hazzan conducts regular services.
On the major holidays, a rabbi
from Athens leads the congrega-
tion in prayer. A butcher in