Communauté juive de Rhodes — Kahal Shalom Congregation

The Kahal Shalom synagogue, founded in 1577 in the old city of Rhodes, is the oldest active synagogue in Europe and the only surviving Jewish place of worship of a Sephardic community re-established after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. The congregation, which numbered 4,000 members before 1944 (90% of whom were deported to Auschwitz), maintains a minyan during the summer visits of the Rhodesian diaspora living in Rhodes Town, South Africa, the United States, and São Paulo. The synagogue is managed by a committee heir to the original kahal, which has undertaken a restoration with the support of the Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Greek government. It houses seventeenth-century Sephardic liturgical objects of exceptional heritage value.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗