By Connor Hayes
Director of Community Programming

Members of the Lehigh Valley and Yoav, Israel, Partnership2Gether committees left their homes for a March 16-23 trip to Greece with several goals in mind. These were not only to hold the annual joint steering committee meeting, at which community programs on both sides of the partnership are decided, but also to explore the past and present of Jewish Greece in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki, and build bridges for collaborating with those communities, if possible. 

While a successful steering committee meeting was held March 19, and a meeting with the board of directors of the Athens Jewish community convened later that night at a Romaniote synagogue, the most impactful experiences were what Partnership2Gether is about at its core: person-to-person connections. 

For Lehigh Valley resident and committee member Margie Strauss, connecting (and reconnecting) was the most important part of her experience. “Aside from leaving with the history of what happened to the Jewish Greek community in the Holocaust,” she said, “I realized that Jews are Jews. We may be different in some ways, observe differently, but (our connection) makes me very sentimental. I also value the time and commitment of the steering committees, and while I knew many of the Israelis, I got to know a lot of the Lehigh Valley community members much better.”

Lehigh Valley steering committee chair Miriam Zager agreed. “For me, to see (and meet) the Jews in Athens and Thessaloniki just gives me the feeling of such a strong bond with them,” she said. “We need to learn from this and know that we have to stand together, whether you live in Israel or in the Diaspora. We have this common bond, and the team we have (in the Lehigh Valley and Yoav) is really amazing. Thessaloniki’s response, their hospitality, and their kindness, just blew me away…. The community members we met were incredible.”

Liat Efraim of the Yoav committee shared, “I think about the future, and I really hope that we can work together to bring all of the great project ideas (to fruition). It’s been a wonderful week, to be able to get together and get to know each other and feel closer to everyone.” 

A common theme among the trip participants’ discoveries was the revival of the community of present-day Jewish Greece. Lehigh Valley committee member Alicia Zahn said, “What was surprising to me was, despite the destruction of the community in the Holocaust, meeting the Jewish Greek community now. It’s not dark and it’s not focused on the past, and they are a vital, joyful community.”

Lehigh Valley committee member Ellen Sosis said much the same. “I did some studying before the trip about the community (in Greece),” she said, “and I’m touched by the people we’ve met here and how unified they are. I use the word ‘unified’ because it’s absolutely crucial for our people, and we should focus on that, for us in the partnership, but also with the Jewish Greeks of Thessaloniki and Athens.”

Margie’s husband, Jay Strauss, commented that despite his having visited many other Jewish sites around the world, this experience was very different. “My wife and I have visited a lot of different countries,” he said, “and we’ve visited synagogues and Jewish places, but they are always empty. I was just amazed and didn’t appreciate that there were communities like this.” 

For others, their hope was not only in fostering the connection between the Lehigh Valley and Yoav, but also in nurturing the bonds formed with the Jewish communities of Greece. Yoav committee chair Hana Bachar said, “I feel from everyone that there is a large commitment, and we accomplished all the objectives of the trip, like the joint steering committee. I am asking myself how we build on the connection to the Jewish Greek community and not let (the momentum) go.”

Likewise, Yoav committee member Mazal Malka commented on the potential for the future. “Between the two communities (Yoav and Lehigh Valley),” he said, “I feel we are more connected, more familiar. I feel here (in Greece) we have planted some seeds in the ground, and we hope that something will grow.”

Houman Ahdieh, who, along with his wife Lori, is a member of the Lehigh Valley committee, exemplified the feelings of how deeply Jewish Greece resonated with the trip’s participants. “It’s very impactful, significant, and touching what happened to the Jews in Greece,” he said. “I’m going to take that as a lesson and take it home and talk about it with as many people as I see. I want to keep the history of Jews in Greece alive.”