Kahal Shalom Synagogue, Jewish synagogue in La Juderia quarter, Rhodes, Greece
Kahal Shalom Synagogue, completed in 1577, is the oldest synagogue in Greece, set in the La Juderia quarter of Rhodes. Its sanctuary follows the Sephardic and Ottoman pattern: the bimah stands at the centre, the floor is laid with black and white local stones, and two hekháls flank the door to the interior courtyard. A women's gallery was added in 1930.
The building was constructed in 1577 and stands as the oldest synagogue in Greece and the only Jewish place of worship still in use on Rhodes. The structure survived conflicts and upheaval to remain an active center for the community.
The bimah stands at the centre of the sanctuary, as in most Sephardic houses of worship, and two hekháls flank the door to the interior courtyard. Plaques in Ladino, Hebrew and French honour those who maintained the synagogue and the community members murdered in the Holocaust.
The synagogue is used for services only in summer, when Jewish tourists and Rhodeslis return, and on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; the Jewish Museum of Rhodes occupies the southern part and adjoining rooms. The bimah faces southeast toward Jerusalem, and a plaque in the eastern courtyard is carved with the date 5338, the Hebrew year of construction.
Before the 1930 women's gallery was built, women sat in rooms along the synagogue's south wall and watched the bimah through decorated latticed windows. One of those small rooms served as a mikveh. In the eastern courtyard, where a fountain once served the Kohanim before the priestly blessings, a wall plaque is carved with the date 5338, the month of Kislev, probably from the 1577 construction.
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