History of the Jews in Malta

In the 19th and 20th century, the Jewish community in Malta welcomed refugees from Italy and Central Europe, escaping Nazi rule.

Traditionally, the first Jew to have set foot on Malta was Paul of Tarsus, whose ship according to the legend foundered there in 62 CE.

[8] In medieval Mdina, the Jewish quarter, il-Giudecco, was the street along the north side of the Cathedral of the Assumption, Gozo (today's Triq il-Fosos); Jews paid a special tax to the town's Universita, being granted in exchange a monopoly on apothecaries and dyers.

[6] In 1479 Malta and Sicily came under Aragonese rule and the 1492 Alhambra Decree by the Catholic Monarchs forced all Jews to leave Spanish territory.

Because they made up such a large portion of the island's population, the Spanish Crown forced them even to pay compensation for the tax losses caused by their own expulsion.

[10][11] In 1530 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, gave Malta to the Knights Hospitaller, who ruled the island until 1798.

Those Sicilian conversos who had moved to Malta, attracted by the Knights' liberal policy towards the Jews of Rhodes, had to continue practicing their religion in secrecy.

[12] The Knights would capture Jews and Muslims during corsairing raids against Ottoman merchant ships and coastal towns and keep them hostage in the bagnos (prisons) of Birgu, Valletta or Senglea, to extort ransom.

Failing rescue, Jews would be sold as indentured servants and given a Christian name, to be freed by their master only on deathbed.

In 1749 a converso, Giuseppe Antonio Cohen, revealed to the authorities the 1749 Muslim slave revolt plot in Malta.

For his deed, he was granted a pension of 500 scudi and the ownership of a building in Strada Mercanti, Valletta, which from 1773 owned the Monte di Pietà.

[12] The first Jewish families to move to Malta were the Abeasis (Abiaziz) from Gibraltar and the Borges da Silva from Portugal.

Following the revolutions of 1848, several impoverished Jewish families from Hungary, France and Germany found refuge in Malta; to cater for their needs, the community appealed to the Pidion and to the Rabbinate of London.

[14] In 1372 King Fredrick III granted a piece of land at Tabia (today's Qbur il-Lhud at Ghariexem, Mtarfa) to the Universitate Judeorum, the Jewish community, for use as a cemetery.

[29][30] A Hebrew-language tombstone, found on site, was dedicated to Rach[el], spouse of Yeshu’a; it is now preserved at Rabat's Domvs Romana.

[31] A Jewish cemetery was established in Kalkara (Strada Rinella) in 1784 "by the Leghorn fund for ransoming Hebrew slaves, at its own expense, for the burial of the dead of its race".

[17] A second burial place for the Maltese Jews was established circa 1836 in a section of the Ta' Braxia Cemetery; it was used until 1891.