Etz Hayyim Synagogue’s Post

Intern and Volunteer Testimonials #3: Clara (Clara Goolsby) Clara was one of the two inaugural interns from LMU at Etz Hayyim Synagogue. During her internship, she helped create a catalogue of the Nikos Stavroulakis collection. Read more about her internship experience below: In July of 2023, I came to Crete as an intern for Etz Hayyim. As one of the two inaugural interns from the partnership between Loyola Marymount University and Etz Hayyim, I had no idea what to expect once I arrived halfway across the world from my home. But within my first days in Chania, I began to feel at home in the library of the synagogue, where I spent my four weeks cataloguing the Nikos Stavroulakis collection. I have never been to a place so full of love. Nikos’s love for his community is built into the walls, the courtyard, the air, even though he had been gone for years before I even set foot on the island. As the cataloger of Nikos’s documents and his library, I was able to see so much of what people loved about Etz Hayyim. The letters people wrote to him, the emails he printed out, the articles about the synagogue, he kept it all. You could feel how proud he was of Etz Hayyim and all of the people who walked the grounds. I am incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to so intimately explore the history of the place and the people there, and the struggle of reviving a community that had experienced so much suffering. In the 1310 items I catalogued I witnessed the reflection of making Etz Hayyim what it is today. I will forever think of my experience as the greatest gift of my life. Stories matter. History matters. Nikos Stavroulakis will not be forgotten, and, because of him, Etz Hayyim can stand as a beacon of hope and a story within itself. Helping to preserve the legacy is the most wonderful thing I have ever done, and I am glad to be part of Etz Hayyim’s story.