Against all odds: Malta's tiny Jewish community refuses to surrender Israel today

60 people, a third of them members of the same family:

this is the entire permanent Jewish population living in the island nation of Malta these days.

One synagogue, a Chabad house and an aging community, but one that, even after hundreds of years of challenges, wars and even anti-Semitism, refuses to disappear from the map.

"What are rabbis looking for in Malta", I was asked a few weeks ago when I went to Malta, which is a relatively short distance from the island of Sicily.

Last November, a conference of the Conference of European Rabbis was held in Malta, at the urging of the Catholic island nation, which wishes to strengthen ties with the Jews and the people of Israel.

Quite a few public figures from Malta came to the conference, in the center of which the winners of a prestigious startup competition led by the conference were announced every year, including representatives of the tiny Jewish community.

The first Jews who arrived in Malta settled there already during the rule of the Roman Empire on the island, and possibly as early as the days of the Phoenicians.

A continuous Jewish presence existed under the rule of the Byzantines, the Arabs as well as the Kingdom of Sicily.

However, when the Kingdom of Sicily was united with the Kingdom of Aragon, the attitude towards the Jews changed and they were expelled from the island as part of the expulsion from Spain in 1492.

The streets of Malta.

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Over the years, Jews arrived from different countries, including those who were captured by the Knights Hospitallers.

These Jews established a new community on the island.

During the period of British rule on the island, which began in the 19th century, a limited immigration of Jews to Malta began, and during the Second World War even a few Jews arrived from the countries occupied by the Nazis.

However, the community never managed to grow beyond a few hundred people.

"We are around 60 local Jews, with the Ohion family being the largest family, with 17 grandchildren. Most of my family lives here, except for my daughter, who lives in Israel with her family," says Israel Ohion, vice president of the Jewish community of Malta.

His brother is the president of the community.

"We were more Jewish, but unfortunately we lost most of our elderly in recent years. The last one to die was 99 years old. He fled Austria before Hitler took over the country."

Mezuzahs in houses in Malta.

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Along with the local Jews, there are other Jews, mainly Israelis and French, who come to the country for a few years and are counted as part of the community, which together with them numbers about 200 people.

"The community is active. There is prayer every Shabbat in the only synagogue in the country, in the city of Tashbish, sometimes with a minyan but sometimes it's a problem. My family is mainly involved in textiles, but the professions in which the Jews are engaged are very diverse - finance, engineers, gambling and more."

Malta is a country with spectacular landscapes.

The central island, where most of the citizens live, is a small place, and you can cross it from side to side in about an hour and a half.

The country is very Christian, and you can find Catholic churches and statues in every corner, but occasionally you can also see reminders of the Jewish history in it: in the city of Rabat, which is considered one of the tourist gems of the island, a door was discovered with a mezuzah beside it also a small Christian statue, all of which the husband is Jewish and the wife is not , and it is a kind of compromise between the couple.

For the past decade, a Chabad house has been operating in Malta, and until the Corona virus, the Chabadniks even operated a kosher restaurant, the only one of its kind in the country.

They provide the Jews with various kosher products.

Anti-Semitism, one can be reassured, does not really exist in the country.

Although there are thousands of Muslims living on the island, overall it is a tolerant community.

"There was some anti-Semitism, but the government acted strongly against it and now it is very safe here," says Ohion.

Breathtaking views.

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The minority of Jews on the island raises the question of whether the community has a chance to survive in the future.

Ohion smiles when I ask the obvious question: "A few years ago there were Israelis here and one of the women asked me the same question. I told her that it is likely that my grandfather also answered the same question 90 years ago and we are still here. We are not going anywhere."

"We want to create a new partnership between the Jewish community, Israel and Malta," says Adrian Seld, one of the senior officials of "Mimcol" - the umbrella organization of the government companies in the country, who led the conference alongside members of the Conference of Rabbis of Europe, an organization of approximately 700 rabbis from all over Europe.

"The relationship between Malta and Judaism has existed since Roman times, but in the last 60 years, since we gained independence, the relationship has not been continuous.

"Now is the time to bridge the gaps again and create cooperation. There are quite a few things we can learn from Israel and they from us. We have a lot in common - we are small countries that have to face many challenges. Never, throughout history, have we had any problems with Israel and the Jewish community, and now we want to get to know each other. Our two countries don't have many natural resources, and what's left is our brains. We and you both have technologies, we're on the same wavelength, and we need to deepen the relationship between us."

Malta's Minister of Economy, Silvo Sachembri, also clarified that this is an important task and expressed his joy that it is rabbis who bridge the gaps between Malta, a Catholic country, and the Jewish state.

"We hope for close cooperation. I am a big believer in economic diplomacy, and it is possible to sit down and think about cooperation and engage in various issues in an open manner, to trust each other," he told Israel Hayom.

According to him, "We always talk about peace and believe that when there is peace there is more prosperity for all countries. We maintain ourselves as a neutral country, and this allows us to sit down with each country and deal with the various issues. I believe that we will not only benefit from the new collaborations - but that this will bring more collaborations ".

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