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The Wandering Jew
The Wandering Jew Malta Where, What, When, & Why
By Hershel Lieber
What’s Malta?
Malta is one of the smallest and most densely populated nations of the world. Where’s Malta?
Malta is situated in the Mediterranean Sea below Italy and above Libya and Tunisia and is part of Europe. When Malta?
Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur of 2018. Why Malta?
Because we were never there before.
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Maltese history is so colorful and complex as is its multiethnic population. Malta was ruled by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Byzantines, Normans, French and British. Though the Muslim religion was predominant under the Arab rule, Christianity became entrenched with the Norman invasion in 1091. Later, in 1565, the famous knights of Malta repelled the Siege of Malta by the Ottomans.
Even the Maltese language is a hybrid of Sicilian and Arabic. Still, everyone speaks English and most know Italian as well.
Malta was a major Allied base during World War II in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Finally, in 1964, it won its independence from the United Kingdom, and in 1974 became a republic.
Jewish history is also part of the island’s fabric of multi-ethnicity. There were Jews present under most foreign nations that ruled this strategically important bastion of the Sea. There were Jews who arrived there as slaves of their captors. They are even catacombs with Jewish symbols dating back to the Roman and Byzantine periods. During the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Sicily, the Jewish presence in Malta came to an end. Only under French and British rule in the early 1800s did Jews from England, Turkey, Portugal, Gibraltar and neighboring North Africa return in small numbers. Presently, there are somewhere under two hundred Jews living in Malta, most of them in or near the capital, Valletta.
We arrived from Poland, on the main island, called Malta, on Wednesday, Tzom Gedalya. We settled into the Le Meridien Hotel, facing the beautiful sky-blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. As with many of our trips, we inquired about the status of Jewish life in general and about Chabad activities and amenities in particular, before leaving for Malta. What a blessing for our comfort was the presence of the Chabad-owned L’Chaim restaurant, which was open for dinner every night and had the option of reservations for Shabbos meals. I had previously spoken to the Chabad shliach Rabbi Chaim Segal, who was very welcoming and helpful in catering to our needs. The night we arrived, both Rabbi Segal and his rebbetzin were not at the restaurant, which was a ten-minute walk from our hotel. We were really hungry when we arrived, as we had not eaten all day due to Tzom Gedalya. We ordered a hot soup and a Middle Eastern-style main dish and topped it off with a cold glass of beer. Truly a mechaye after a full day of traveling and fasting. We then trekked back to our hotel and conked out as soon as our heads touched our pillows.
The next morning after Selichos and Shacharis, we had breakfast on our veranda facing the Sea. Our plans were to walk around the historic center of Valletta and take in the sights. The most convenient way of traveling was by city bus, whose bus stop was a mere block away from our hotel. The streets and the bus were very congested as can be expected in a nation with over a half million people within a 122-square-mile area. All structures in the city are apartment buildings or high-rises, since the only way one
A view of the walled city of Medina
A view of the harbor of Valletta
With Chabad Rabbi Chaim Segal
can expand living space is by building upwards.
The bus wound around the contours of the coast and maneuvered within the narrow streets until we reach a large plaza which was the entrance to the walled city of Valletta. We spent over three hours walking the streets, climbing the hills, and nonstop photo snapping. We sat down only momentarily for a cold drink, and then continued on, absorbing the views of historic edifices and magnificent vistas of the harbor. Before heading back, we went to see a fifty-minute film about the Siege of Malta, which brought the island’s history to life.
Back in our room, we ate the chicken and salad lunch which we bought the evening before at the restaurant. Then we relaxed on the veranda, learning Daf Hayomi and reading. Late evening, we headed back to L’Chaim for a falafel dinner. We returned by walking along the embankment of the harbor and stopped to say Tashlich, well aware that the time of the year was during the awesome Aseres Yemei Teshuva.
On Friday, we took a taxi to the fortified city of Medina and its contiguous town of Rabat. The city was once the capital of Malta and remains the center of Maltese nobility and religious authority. Since it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is on the top of the list of tourist attractions in Malta. The whole city can be viewed only by pedestrians, as no ve-
hicles are allowed in. Besides walking around and taking photos, we took a great informative tour of the palace called Palazzo Falson. The medieval architecture of the city’s buildings predates the Baroque additions of the 18th century. On the way into adjacent Rabat, we toured the first century Roman remains of the Domus Romana and continued on to the century’s old catacombs in the cemetery of Rabat. This day was truly a step into a distant past.
We rushed back to our hotel in the late afternoon to get ready for Shabbos. Then we walked over to L’Chaim, where Chabad conducted the Friday night davening and the Shabbos seudos. We finally met Rav Chaim Segal and his rebbetzin. We started davening with seven men but by the time we reached Maariv, we had our minyan. Three American teenagers who were in Uman for Rosh Hashana joined us. The boys had chassidishe backgrounds but seemed quite removed from their origins. The seudah was very nice with everyone introducing themselves, and many guests contributing a dvar Torah or a niggun to enhance the atmosphere. We developed friendships with a few Israelis who were also visiting the island. It was af-
ter midnight when we finally returned to our room.
I had made up with the three boys, two Israelis, and Rav Chaim to meet me by my hotel, so we would walk together to the shul. The shul was in an apartment building about a forty-minute walk away. Without the rav, it would have been difficult to find the place. We waited awhile, but the three teenagers did not show up! The walk was not easy, as most of it was uphill and many of the blocks were very steep. When we arrived in shul, we were joined by some locals who, together with us, added up to eleven people. The problem was that three of the locals were not Jewish. And so, we davened without a minyan, and though we leined the Torah, there were no aliyos given.
The walk back was, baruch Hashem, downhill, but the sun was beating down stronger than in the morning. We went straight to the restaurant where Pesi was waiting for me. Not surprisingly, the three boys did show up to the seudah. The food was delicious and plentiful, and the atmosphere was festive. We davened Mincha immediately after eating, and after taking a long nap, returned after Shabbos for Havdalah.
Sunday was our last full day in Malta. We planned to travel to the
At the entrance to the city of Medina The streets of Valletta
Rock formations in Gozo
other two islands that make up this nation, Gozo and Comino. We booked a cruise on a boat that would take us to the other islands.
The trip itself was spectacular! The ocean was sparkling from the sun, and the waters were bursting with energy. In Gozo, we boarded a bus that took us to its main city, Victoria, which we toured with a guide and then on our own. Later, we were taken by a fisherman to see the stunning caves and rock formations surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Blue Lagoon. Our last stop was the Caves of Camino situated in the ocean surrounding the island.
This was truly a full day as we left at 10 AM and did not return until 6 PM. Besides treating our eyes to a feast of beauty, the day was extremely calming and relaxing.
We ate dinner again at L’Chaim and bid farewell to our host Rav Chaim Segal. I also gave him a nice donation for the mikva that he was constructing. Our journey was successful, but we had to immediately change our mindsets to the upcoming Yom Hadin, as we were heading back to Poland for Yom Kippur.
The caves of Comino
Hershel Lieber has been involved in kiruv activities for over 30 years. As a founding member of the Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel he has traveled with his wife, Pesi, to the Soviet Union during the harsh years of the Communist regimes to advance Yiddishkeit. He has spearheaded a yeshiva in the city of Kishinev that had 12 successful years with many students making Torah their way of life. In Poland, he lectured in the summers at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation camp for nearly 30 years. He still travels to Warsaw every year – since 1979 – to be the chazzan for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for the Jews there. Together with Pesi, he organized and led trips to Europe on behalf of Gateways and Aish Hatorah for college students finding their paths to Jewish identity. His passion for travel has taken them to many interesting places and afforded them unique experiences. Their open home gave them opportunities to meet and develop relationships with a variety of people. Hershel’s column will appear in The Jewish Home on a bi-weekly basis.
