Χαυια: September 21, 22

The old city of Chania is a mix of medieval rock walls, touristy stores, and quiet, winding alleys.  The streets, too narrow for cars, are paved with cobblestones and packed with an international group of tourists.  Walking along, I could hear Hebrew, French, English, German and Spanish being spoken all around me. 

My family and I are more adventurous than most tourists and we would frequently duck into deserted side alleys to escape the crowd.  The noise of the main streets disappears and the walls lean in as if whispering secrets to each other.  The old walls are hung with purple bougainvilleas and grape arbors.  In one place, I stood in the middle of a street so narrow that I had both hands flat on opposite walls.  I learned later that it was the old gate to the Jewish quarter.  Through the cross streets I can catch glimpses of the sea—a glaring, harsh aqua-blue that stands out like a jewel against the dirty stone walls of the city.

Part of the Venetian Wall

Walking through Chania is like a constant history lesson.  The oldest walls in the city are relics from the Byzantine occupation of Crete, from 400 CE.  I was surprised that a wall could survive 1600 years, until I realized that people would have repaired the wall continually since then.  The city also has relicts of its long Venetian occupation.  The city is still dominated by stout walls from both the Byzantine and Venetian eras. Each wall, however, curves around different parts of the city, implying that the ruling civilizations shifting epicenter for the town.

The old medieval city, where we mostly hung out, was built by the Venetians starting in the 1200’s.  Looking back at the city from the lighthouse across the harbour, we all thought we could be looking at Venice.  The city was built right to the water’s edge and lined with tavernas and storefronts.  Many stores sold intricate glass creations and pottery a deep turquoise the colour of the ocean over sand.  The Venetians, and the Nazis, thought that Chania had a strategically important port for their expanding empires.  The Nazis in particular went to great lengths to secure the city of Chania. 

Looking Back at the Harbour Wall

Before leaving Chania in our rental car, there was one last sight we had to see.  The Etz Chayim synagogue is definitely the oldest synagogue with the most history in which I have ever stood.  The synagogue is classified as a museum in our guidebook, so I thought I would be weird to have our own culture on display as an extinct aspect of Chania’s history.  However, the reality of the experience was entirely the opposite. 

The synagogue is set back from a courtyard filled with tall grape vines and shrubs.  As I ducked through the door, I immediately got a sense of entering a sacred place.  The synagogue comes from the Romaniot tradition, which, as I learned, means many things.  In a purely physical sense, one of the more apparent differences is that all the benches face towards the center.  The other obvious change is that the bimah (podium) is on the opposite side of the sanctuary to the ark – unlike the “normal” pattern for most Synagogues around the world.

When we think of the Jewish subcultures, we tend to think of the Ashkenazy and Sephardic traditions.  The Ashkenazim are the Eastern European Jews with whom most people are familiar.  The Sephardim are descended from Jews who flourished in Spain when it was under Islamic rule, but were evicted during the inquisition.   However, there is a third group of people—the Romaniot, who lived in Greece from at least Byzantine times and identify with this areas culture and history.  This group of Jews had completely distinct teachings, traditions, and DNA from everyone else.  Unfortunately, since the second world war, few of these culturally distinct Jews are left. 

Etz Chayim is now the only Synagogue on Crete and has a permanent congregation of 12.  All the Jews of Crete were removed by the Nazis and most were drowned in a convoy on their way to Auschwitz.  This Jewish community had existed for 2400 years and was one of the oldest in Europe.  We had a remarkable conversation with Alex Phoundoulakis, who has been the guiding force behind rebuilding the synagogue and the community, on everything from Israeli politics, the loss of cultural diversity, and Jewish history.  It was truly inspiring.