Grateful for My JDC Entwine Journey Inside Jewish Athens and Thessaloniki
Inside Jewish Greece participants on the steps of the Temple of Athena, on a guided tour of Athens’ Acropolis.
Written by Ben Berman, May 27, 2025
Earlier this month, a group of young Jewish adults from the Seattle area traveled to Greece for Inside Jewish Greece, a JDC Entwine experience presented in partnership with Jconnect Seattle. The trip explored Jewish life in Athens and Thessaloniki, offering participants a deeper understanding of the country’s historic and modern Jewish communities.
Led by JDC—the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian organization—the trip highlighted JDC’s long-standing work in Greece, from supporting vulnerable Jewish populations to preserving centuries of Sephardic heritage. JDC is a core partner of the Federation system in supporting Jewish communities around the world. As part of our local Federation’s investment in world Jewry, this year, Federation allocated nearly $250,000 to JDC to support their work.
This immersive journey was made possible through the generosity of Stan and Michele Rosen and family, and was proudly funded in part by the Federation.
Ben Berman, the Federation’s Digital Marketing & Communications Associate, participated in the trip. Read his reflection below.
From the very first moments in Athens, I was struck by how deep the roots of Jewish history were embedded in Greek culture. The Athens synagogue we visited was built from the same marble used to construct the Acropolis. Even the word synagogue itself comes from the Greek syna, meaning “to gather.” And yet, today, Athens’ entire Jewish community is 3,500 people, part of the 5,000 Jews in all of Greece. Of the original 29 Jewish communities, only 8 survived the Holocaust.
In Thessaloniki, we traced the history of a once-majority Jewish city, shaped by Sephardic Jews who arrived after the Spanish Inquisition and thrived for centuries. Much of their story was lost in the 20th century, first in a fire that occurred in 1917, then during World War II, when almost the entire Jewish population was lost to the Holocaust. Today, only one active synagogue remains. Visiting the old train station, where the deportations began, was among the most emotional parts of the trip for me. Even though the train cars weren’t the original ones brought to and from Auschwitz, I won’t forget how heavy the atmosphere still was with zachor, a sense of remembrance. Our group gathered quietly, and my colleague, Federation’s Rabbi Samuel Klein, led us in reciting the Mourner’s Kaddish to honor all those who weren’t able to return home to Thessaloniki.
Top: Beth Shalom Synagogue in Athens.
Bottom Left: Preserved headstones from Thessaloniki’s Jewish cemetery, which was destroyed by the Nazis.
Bottom Right: 19th-century Athenian Jewish clothing on display at the Jewish Museum of Greece.
A mural depicting the thousands of Salonican Jews murdered in the Holocaust, located just outside the railyard we visited.
Cattle cars on the original tracks used to deport Thessaloniki’s Jews to Auschwitz, some marked with Israeli flags.
Even in that space of loss, I felt the strength of our presence. As we drove away, I noticed Israeli flags affixed to the cars, presumably from a prior tour group, and felt they were a good reminder of the enduring continuity of Jewish peoplehood. Remembrance is not passive. It calls us to assiyah—to act. Our tour guide, herself the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, shared that she leads these tours each week to honor her father’s experience and to ensure that no generation forgets what happened.
And that responsibility was reflected throughout the trip, not only in commemorating the past but in meeting the people who are shaping Jewish life in Greece today. JDC, a key Federation partner, has supported Jewish life in Greece since after WWII, funding initiatives like vocational training, loan programs, and now, essential community institutions. We met with the leadership of the Jewish Community of Athens (JCA) to see how their educational and cultural programs, from daycare to young adults, bring together many of the 3,500 Athenian Jews each day. At the Restion Home, we saw firsthand how Jewish elders are cared for with dignity and independence. We toured their facility and shared stories and laughter with them. These places reminded me that Jewish continuity is sustained by people showing up, generation after generation.
Left: Learning how to play the lyre at the Seikilo Museum of Ancient Music in Thessaloniki.
Right: Havdalah ceremony, led by Rabbi Samuel Klein at a restaurant in Athens.
And of course, there was so much joy. We swam in the Mediterranean beneath the 2,000-year-old Temple of Poseidon, shared meals of dolmas and fresh fish, listened to and played the ancient lyre, and on our food tour, learned how to fortune-tell using the grounds in your coffee cup! Shabbat dinner with the Athens community, who treated us like family, felt intimate and joyful; Havdalah, beneath the lights of the Acropolis, was grounding and beautiful.
Traveling with Seattle’s Jewish community, a group largely brought together by Jconnect, Hillel UW’s program for 20s and 30s young adults, made the experience all the more special. While we were exploring Jewish life abroad, we were also deepening connections we’d have the opportunity to carry forward at home. We returned to Seattle not just with good memories, but with a shared sense of responsibility.
Thank you to JDC Entwine for the opportunity to see, to feel, and to connect.
Entwine is building a generation of young Jews who lead and live a life of action with global Jewish responsibility at its core. Click here to explore how you can be part of a future trip.
The Inside Jewish Greece cohort enjoying a dinner in Athens.
The Temple of Poseidon in Sounion.
