world
Greek Tragedy
Corfu Jews mourn loss of Torahs
and ancient texts in desecrated shul.
Gil Shefler
Jerusalem Post
M
embers of the Jewish communi-
ty of Corfu gathered at the local
synagogue on April 20 around
a pile of ashen prayer books set on fire by
vandals the day before and wept.
"It's very difficult for us," said Rabbi
Shlomo Naftali, an Israeli rabbi who was
flown over to Greece to conduct Passover
ceremonies. "We stood around the books
and cried. Now we'll have to bury them."
On Tuesday morning arsonists broke
into the island's only Jewish place of wor-
ship, piled prayer books and Torah scrolls
on the bimah and torched the ancient
texts, some of which were hundreds of
years old.
"They came at 3 a.m., put all the books
together and burned them," said Vino
Shoshi, a former president of the com-
munity "At first I was very upset. I was
ashamed that something like this hap-
pened here in Corfu, but we have received
the support of all the political parties
and the archbishop. They all came out in
support of us and told us they were our
brothers."
Most members of the Jewish commu-
nity of Corfu, whose history dates back
to antiquity, were murdered by the Nazis
during the Holocaust.
Nowadays, there are fewer than 100
Jews left on the Greek island. Their sacred
books, however, survived the war thanks
to gentiles entrusted with their safekeep-
ing.
"After the war, they gave us all our
books back;' Shoshi said. "We had books
from the 15th, 16th and 17th century from
Trieste, Padova and Verona. Now they are
gone."
The Greek government strongly con-
demned the attack in a press release on
Wednesday vowing to stamp out anti-
Semitism in the Mediterranean nation.
"The burglary that took place in the
Jewish synagogue in Corfu and the
destruction of sacred liturgical books is
an immoral and appalling act, which the
Greek government condemns in the stron-
gest possible manner," Giorgos Petalotis,
a spokesman for the Greek government,
said."I've said before and I say once again,
under this unfortunate circumstance, that
bigotry and anti-Semitism are concepts
incompatible with Greek culture and alien
to the mentality of the Greek people.
This act cannot overshadow the long-
standing tradition of friendship and
mutual respect between the two peoples.
The Greek authorities have already
received instructions to carry out inten-
A charred Torah scroll from
the attack on the Greek
island's only synagogue.
sive efforts to identify the perpetrators
and bring them to justice!'
Meanwhile, local police have started an
investigation into the incident. Jewish offi-
cials said that while no suspects had yet
been apprehended they had faith in the
authorities.
"There's no fear here Shoshi said.
"There never has been any fear and there
never will. We are well-established in
Corfu and nobody will make us afraid."
Greek Jews living in the U.S. reacted
with "disgust and anger" to news of the
desecration in Corfu.
Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, presi-
dent of the Association of Friends of Greek
Jewry and director of a museum at Kehila
Kedosha Janina in New York, said she
deplored the attack but believed authori-
ties were doing all they could to battle hate
crimes against Jews.
Jordana Horn
Jerusalem Post
New York
Memorial to fallen Jewish clergy
proposed for Arlington Cemet
"II
I
Graves at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C.
40
May 5 - 2011
T
wo New York politicians are
heading up an effort to put up
a plaque at Arlington National
Cemetery in Virginia to honor Jewish
chaplains who died in the line of duty.
Arlington, America's military cem-
etery, currently has memorials honoring
Protestant and Catholic chaplains who
died while in the service, as well as one
for chaplains killed in World War I, but
has no commemoration of the 13 Jewish
chaplains who died while serving in the
U.S. Armed Forces in World War II, Korea
and Vietnam.
The current chaplain memorials were
erected by different groups of benefac-
tors. A joint congressional resolution
sponsored by New York Rep. Anthony
Weiner and New York Sen. Charles
Schumer calls for a new plaque, similar in
"Many would probably use this as
another example of continuing anti-Semi-
tism in Greece she wrote in an email.
"Having a very close relationship with
many Jewish communities in Greece and
with representatives of the Greek govern-
ment here in the United States, I sincerely
believe that the present government is
trying to deal with anti-Semitism in
Greece."
As an instance of local pride in Corfu's
Jewish heritage, Haddad Ikonomopoulos
cited a series of events planned to take
place on May 8 honoring Corfu-born
Jewish writer Albert Cohen at the initiative
of a local Greek-Christian historian.
She added that the Greek-Jewish com-
munity in the U.S. would immediately
start a campaign to raise money to replace
the destroyed prayer books and repair
damage caused to the synagogue.
size and style to the other three, honoring
the late Jewish chaplains. All Arlington
memorials require a joint concurrent
resolution by Congress.
"These chaplains who served their
country so honorably deserve this memo-
rial, just like those of other faiths:' Weiner
said in a press release. "I believe there will
be strong support for this resolution in
Congress, and I look forward to the day
when I can stand with my colleagues and
see this memorial unveiled at Arlington
National Cemetery."
The proposed bronze plaque mounted
on a granite slab would list the 13 names
as well as a Jewish proverb — "I ask
not for a lighter burden, but for broader
shoulders" — and an inscription with the
Star of David.
Rabbi Harold Robinson, the director of
the Jewish Welfare Board's Jewish Chaplains
Council and a leader of the effort, said, "This
is a miracle of American democracy, and
that's not a miracle that one learns about by
going to Arlington National Cemetery" Li