The chair of Mayor Ioannitinos has strong legs and has withstood very heavy names on it. First, Giyabeis, the last representative of the Ottoman Empire and for another three years the mayor of the Greek city of Ioannina, is a convincing proof of the harmonious coexistence of religions and the rare and smooth change of regime. There have been other big names in the past: Vassilios Pirsinellas, Dimitrios Vlachleidis, and more recently, the intellectual physician Philippos Filios and the Methodist engineer Thomas Begas.

To get to Moses Elisaph, with the adjective “unique” that characterizes his personality. He was the only Jew in Greece who managed to overcome the otherwise unsurpassed “you’re not a Christian, you’re not a Greek” and convince the people of Ioannito to vote for their mayor, their university professor, their good doctor, Ioannito’s outstanding personality.

Those in the know say and write that his contribution to medical science research is unique in its importance and originality. The President of the Spiritual Center, before becoming mayor, led its development as one of the leaders in Greece. Perhaps he was also unique as a mayor who would have much to offer his city if life gave him the opportunity. He is prolific and sharp with his pen, deeply immersed in his philosophical reflections, simple as a man, good as a friend.

He also remained until the end the president of the local Jewish community, and the Greek Jews – the few that remained in the country – will forever remember the uniqueness of his contribution to it.

When Ioannina was annexed to free Greece in 1913, the Jewish element was Greek-speaking, with a purely Greek mind and behaviour. This fact led his leadership during the Nazi occupation to complacency. “We are not like the Sephardim of Thessaloniki displaced by the Nazis. We are Greeks, and they will not disturb us, ”they assured before the inhuman resettlement on March 25, 1944. Almost 2,000 souls have gone, today there are about 50 people left. Among those rescued was the Elisaf family, who managed to escape to Palestine.

The word “ashes” is the most appropriate to describe the situation in which Elisaf found himself when he became the President of the Community. And from the ashes, he slowly and methodically revived her. He created the Community Council, collected the ruins of the miraculously saved synagogue, cleared the ownership of the cemetery overgrown with vines. The size of the Community, of course, was small and did not allow the appointment of a permanent rabbi, so that the synagogue could function normally. But Elizaf found a solution.

So strong are the foundations on which you have built your creation that even the great earthquake of your untimely loss will not destroy it.

His reasoning was simple but brilliant: “There are few Romanians left in Ioannina, but there are still many of them in the world. Let’s mobilize them!” He found the right visiting religious minister, found Romanians all over the world and invited them to come and celebrate the greatest Jewish holiday in their homeland.

Year after year, Yom Kippur in Ioannina has become a meeting place for hundreds of Ioannina residents from all over the world. The synagogue came to life for a day, old Yanina came to life again for a while. Many Christian friends celebrated alongside them, including prominent figures from Epirus and the rest of Greece. The ceremony ended with a joyful dinner, where every year the Community honored a Romanian personality. It was organized two years ago by Makis Matsa, who signed the “coup”, and Elisaf himself became the owner of this honor and a beautiful estate – a symbolic lamp with seven bulbs, which Kostas Varotsos philanthropically created for him.

Many say that for the Jewish community of Ioannina, Elisaf will break the “no one is indispensable” rule. I dare to disagree and offer him one last assurance: so strong are the foundations on which you have built your creation that even the great earthquake of your unwanted loss will not destroy it.

The terms of reference that you wrote down for the future mission of the Public Council are clear. An order-invitation to a religious minister is irrevocable. In this way, “Yom Kippur in Yannen” will be immortalized so that Romanians around the world continue to come to their homeland to honor your memory and remember you.

open roads

“Okay, will you vote for a Jewish mayor?” some people told the residents of Gianni shortly before the 2019 municipal elections to get the answer: “Well, when you were sick, you went to him to treat you, now you are afraid that he will not become mayor?”. The sudden loss of Moses Elisaph, at an age when he had so much to offer his country and Greece, plunged his fellow citizens into mourning. Because in the person of a doctor, a university student, a sensitized citizen, Yanina found the ideal representative, opening the way for them both to the future and to the past. He was an honest, giving, persistent, patriotic man. As he himself said, it was not difficult to manage, but to be elected. And the truth is that during his tenure, Janina embraced extraversion and attempted to reconstruct the various “cephides” that formed the human mosaic. Elizaf will be remembered as a doctor who managed to heal the wounds of History.
M.P.

Mr. Rafael Moussi is Honorary President of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE).