About Malta
Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast. It's a nation known for historic sites related to a succession of rulers including the Romans, Moors, Knights of Saint John, French and British. It has numerous fortresses, megalithic temples and the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, a subterranean complex of halls and burial chambers dating to circa 4000 B.C. Malta's location in the middle of the Mediterranean has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base, and a succession of powers, including the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Moors, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, Knights of St. John, French and British, have ruled the islands. Malta has a Mediterranean climate with very mild winters and warm to hot summers. Rain occurs mainly in autumn and winter, with summer being generally dry. According to International Living, Malta is the country with the best climate in the world. Average annual temperature of the sea is 20 °C (68 °F). Malta is a popular tourist destination, with 1.6 million tourists per year.
Jewish History, POI & Kosher Establishments in Malta
Almost all the Jews of Malta live in or around Valletta, the capital, the eminent scholar Cecil Roth suggests that the Jews almost certainly came to Malta with the ancient Phoenicians, the ruins of whose settlements are found throughout the Maltese Islands. The first Jew known by name to have set foot on Malta in the Common Era was the apostle Paul of Tarsus, whose ship foundered there in 62 C.E. Greek inscriptions and menorah-decorated tombs indicate that Jews lived in Malta in the Roman era. From the 8th to the 11th centuries the Arab rulers allowed the presence of a few dozen Jewish families who engaged in commerce, farming and medicine. In the following centuries, when the island was under Sicilian rule, Jews lived on Malta until their expulsion in 1492. During the rule of the Knights of St. John (16th to 18th centuries), Jewish prisoners captured in raids on Turkey were held on Malta until ransomed. Due to the island's proximity to North Africa, it is from this area that most of today's Jewish community is descended. All told, there are some 20–25 Jewish families permanently living in the country. Most came from Libya, but others settled in Malta from the UK, Portugal and Austria. Most Jews make their living in businesses such as importing jewellery, textiles and clothing; others earn their livelihood in the free professions. Nearly all have close family ties to Israel. Although there are no kosher restaurants or shops in Malta, a schochet from Jerusalem comes to the island regularly to provide meat. In part thanks to generous donations from overseas, a permanent synagogue and community centre was opened in Valletta in 2000. This was the first property owned by a Jewish community in 500 years. Though most community members are Sephardic, they use the Ashkenazi prayer book. Services are held on Shabbat and on the first day of all Jewish festivals.
