Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum

I attended the Jewish-Greek festival on Broome, outside of Kehila Kedosha Janina. It was a wonderful event with great live music. Honestly the best Spanokopita and Dolmades that I’ve ever had.

Interesting link to a small and very old Jewish community from the western region of Greece, speaking Greek and not Ladino, that has been established in the US for over a century, synagogue has a restored interior with an interesting museum upstairs and interesting cultural programming monthly about Sephardic and Romaniote culture and religious subjects. Services are regular and community is welcoming.

Unique one-of-a-kind synagogue, museum, and cultural center to learn about Romaniote traditions and Greek Jewish history. A must visit.

Visited the incredible important Kedosha Janina Synagogue on 280 Broome Street awhile ago during Greek-Jewish Festival. This year was walking in the city. Wondering a video will be in the works about the Greek-Jewish Festival,2025?

Incredible center for Greek Jewish life. The only place in the Western hemisphere to learn about Romaniote Greek Jewish history and still see it practiced today. Delicious food, beautiful traditions, warm and welcoming people. They host an amazing Greek Jewish Festival every spring. Must visit.

KKJ upholds a tradition that brings you into pre-WWII Greece & opens the books of history on the Romaniote Jews. The congregants are friendly & the museum in the balcony is amazing.

Cool little synagogue built in 1927, with a very friendly staff and a museum upstairs. Nice to see that while so much has changed on the Lower East Side in the past century, there are still pockets of cultural preservation and Jewish history in little pockets around the neighborhood.

Very interesting synagogue, given its origins in Janina, Greece. Well run museum and tours. Founded in 1907. Photos can be seen in the book, "Ten Times Chai: 180 Orthodox Synagogues of New York City."

This is the only Romaniote synagogue in the Western Hemisphere! If you're Jewish and a history nerd, this is a good place to check out if you're in the area, or if you need a place for Shabbat. It's spacious and has thousands of members, but they do have trouble even getting minyan for a regular Shabbat service, maybe because it's such a small and humble community, so they're not that popular. The second floor women's gallery has a museum with artifacts, exhibits, and Judaica on Jewish life in Greece and the history of Greek Jews as well as a gift shop. Each Sunday, they offer free tours to visitors and by special appointment. Every May, they do a Greek Jewish festival and a whole weekend of celebrations. The festival is cute, might be underwhelming for New Yorkers, but worth checking out if you're curious. There's so much history and culture to learn about Greek Jews. Visit this special little synagogue, get involved, or go to one of their events (like Greek Jewish cooking classes!) to support them! Even if you're not Jewish, it's a hundred-year-old cultural gem.

I came down to the Lower East Side for a Greek Jewish festival. The festival itself was very nice, and it was my first Greek festival outside of Astoria, but my visit to this synagogue was truly special. Yes, part of it is my love of historical places, as well as my interest in studying various religions. Kehila Kedosha Janina was built in 1927 for Greek speaking Jews and is the only Romaniote (the Greek Jewish community that dates back to the Roman and Byzantine empires) synagogue is the western hemisphere. The synagogue is also a museum which contains many items, such as Torah scrolls, a 19th century wedding dress, photos, etc. The synagogue is small, both in size and congregation. According to the man giving a lecture today, they barely have enough people to form a minyan (10 person minimum) for Shabbat services. But there are still many things to see. According to a sign outside, the synagogue is open during the week for visitors. Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the hours, but you could probably look them up online. So, if you are Jewish, or even a Catholic boy like me, I would heartily recommend visiting this cultural treasure in the Lower East Side!

Very unique. I believe it's the only Greek Jewish synagogue in America. Possibly outside Greece. The Jewish community in Greece suffered one of the worst death rates in the Holocaust, I believe somewhere around 90%. And the general anti-Semitic atmosphere in Greece has led to an exodus of Jews. This may not be the easiest synagogue to attend due to the unique prayer nusach of Romaniote Jews (Greek), but it is well worth a visit.