Romaniote traditions are separate from those of both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Judaism, deriving their lineage in the Eastern Mediterranean for nearly 2000 years, long before the Spanish Inquisition.

After the Second World War, many congregants moved to other boroughs and parts of Manhattan, including Harlem, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, though these communities are no longer active.

[4] The Janina Landsmanshaft has a burial plot at Wellwood Cemetery where there is a memorial to the Jews of Ioannina murdered in the Shoah.

The second floor women's gallery contains a museum with artifacts, exhibits, and Judaica on Jewish life in Greece and the history of Greek Jews as well as a gift shop.

Exhibited items are housed in cases along the walls on either side behind the seats, as well as in the area immediately in front of the staircase.