When Jews expelled from Spain reached Saloniki, they founded synagogues according to the region or the locality they came
from. At the beginning there were seven synagogues:
Aragon, Gerush Sefarad, Calabria, Mayor, Sicilia, Calalunia and Castilla. With time, more synagogues were founded as new immigrants arrived or when the old ones splitted.
It was only after the 1917 big fire which destroyed the whole Jewish section of Saloniki, that these reminders
of the past disappeared.
The index provides
408 surnames and the
29 synagogues Salonician Jews used to pray in.
In several instances one will also find the occupation most of the family members had held for generations.
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