Chabad Opens on Mykonos Island

“There was nothing Jewish here,” says Ori Philosof, a businessman who has called the island of Mykonos home for the past several years. “We were here, but completely disconnected. No minyan, no kosher food — nothing.” He used to arrange Shabbat and holiday meals for his Jewish employees, but it was always a struggle. “We’d have to ship kosher food from Israel or Athens and pray that everything worked out.”

With dozens of locals and thousands of Jewish tourists visiting each year, Mykonos — Greece’s glitziest getaway, known for its beaches and nightlife — has long needed Jewish infrastructure. Opening on the island this year, Chabad has made Mykonos a place where Jewish life can flourish for travelers and locals alike.

“I didn’t know much about Mykonos,” admits Rabbi Uziel Moshe Friedland. “But after visiting a few times, I realized there was a lot to be done here.” He and his wife, Shterna Sara, were recruited by Rabbi Mendel Hendel of Chabad of Greece to establish the island’s first Chabad presence. They arrived just after Passover and began laying the groundwork — meeting with locals, locating kosher suppliers, and finding a home for Chabad.

After searching for several months, they found the perfect location. “We signed the lease the day we flew out,” says Rabbi Friedland. Located right near some of Mykonos’s most popular beaches, the new Chabad House stands atop a hill overlooking the Aegean Sea. The same sunsets that draw partygoers now also shine over a Shabbat table.

Chabad will welcome a new Torah scroll right after Shavuot, just in time for the busy summer season ahead. “Services and Shabbat meals will be part of our regular programming,” says Rabbi Friedland. Upscale kosher catering is also available, which makes bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings, and other milestone celebrations now much more of a possibility.

For locals like Philosof, the new center fills a long-standing gap. “It was something we were truly missing,” he says. “Not just for tourists — but for all of us here year-round.”

Oranit Lion Mor, who has lived on Mykonos for five years, is grateful. “It’s finally possible to celebrate Jewish life on the island.”