Jews in Malta

[futuramark]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Malta

Middle Ages
The Jewish population of Malta peaked in the Middle Ages under Norman rule. The Normans occupied the islands from 1090, with five hundred Jews living on the main island and 350 on the sister island, Gozo. The Jewish people generally prospered during this period and were not required to live in ghettos. Most owned agricultural land or worked as merchants. Avraham Abulafia, a well-known Jewish mystic, lived on Comino from 1285 to his death in the 1290s.[1]

In 1435 the Università (maltese university) demanded the abolition of a tax which was due to be imposed on the Jews.[3] This was well appreciated by the Jewish Community in Malta and Gozo and a Gozitan Jew named Xilorun was chosen as an ambassador of the Maltese Deputies to the court of Sicily.[3] In 1479 Malta and Sicily came under Aragonese rule and the 1492 Edict of Expulsion forced all Jews to leave the country. Because they made up such a large portion of the island's population the Spanish Crown forced them to pay compensation for the losses caused by their expulsion.

It is not clear where the Jews of Malta went, but they may have joined the Sicilian community in Levant.[1] It is also likely that several dozen Maltese Jews converted to Christianity in order to be able to remain in the country as did many Sicilian Jews. This is further evidenced by the large number of Maltese surnames thought to be of Jewish origin.

So we have jews in Malta who have converted to christianity in order to remain in Malta...and then there are jewish people here in this site who hate the Maltese people when in fact some of us may be jews without even knowing.



I checked about this I found out that we have Abela Ellul Azzopardi and Cohen surnames of whome we have loads of people with these surnames are jewish surnames...can someone confirm this please?

Abela Ellul and Azzopardi are very very common surnames in Malta ..therefore there are probably thousands of jews in Malta who converted to christianity. To give you an example Abela Ellul and Azzopardi are like the surname Smith in England..Cohen is not so common though.

http://www.laurence-pisani.co.uk/history/malta/surnames.htm

Did some more research wikipedia claims that they were Sephardic jews

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephardic_Jews

Can someone confirm?

[Boyana]

http://www.angelfire.com/al/AttardBezzinaLawrenc/


 

As in nearly every country of the world you will find a Jewish Community. Some are Very large numbering in thousands, whilst others are not so large and others are small.

The Jewish Community of Malta is one of the tiniest ones. It has been in continuous existence in these peaceful beautiful islands, in the middle of the Mediterranean sea from time immemorial.

Have a look at the following few pages and learn the fascinating history of this community now numbering only 120 persons.

Have Fun, Bookmark this Page and Visit us often!

Visit these pages and let us have your comments and suggestions.

[futuramark]

hmmm.. thanks nice site...there might also be much more Jews that don't actually know they are jews...becuase they converted to Christianity to stay in malta and avoid being expelled .The surnames are Abela Ellul Azzopardi and Cohen apparently . I would love to have someone confirm this though.

[mord]

Who hates Malta ?my brother ;liked it he found some Jews.Sicily also has alot of people of Jewish descent that became Christian or forgot that they were Jews

[Zelhar]

Shalom Mark,

First one thing needs to be cleared- those people who may have Jewsih ancestors who had converted 500 years ago are NOT Jewish, they are not my kinsmen, as far as I and any other Jew is concerned they are 100% gentiles.

Now I don't know where you came to think that most or many Jews hate the Maltese people. Most Jews don't even have an opinion of Malta. The Jewish community form Malta is so tiny, I never heard of any Jew from Malta living in Israel. I think the last time Malta made it into the headline news in Israel was in the mid 1990s, when the mosad assassinated the head of the Islamic Jihad, Fathi Shkaki, in Malta.

If you got your impression from "Babylonianjew" you should know he is a crazy internet troll who also hates Ashkenazi Jews.

Regarding the surnames you nmentioned- Cohen (=priest) and Ellul (the 12th month in the Hebrew calendar) are Hebrew surnames. Abela and Azzopardi are not, so either they were transformed from Hebrew or maybe not. I think Maltese stems from Phoenician, which itself is a sister language of Hebrew.

Lastly I just want to say I commend you fro resisting Islam and may all muslims be evicted from Mlata, Israel and the rest of the free world.

[futuramark]

hi ok thanks just wanted to confirm...becuase babylonianjew was hurling a lot a hate at us Maltese. I'm glad you all dont feel the same like him becuase we certainly do not carry any hate for jewish or israeli thanks . Yes I remember the case when that muslim extremist leader Fathi Shqaqi of hamas I think? was gunned down in Sliema ..all I remember is they said they were Mossad and they had a hired bike from sicily and machine gunned him down in front of diplomat hotel and were never caught. Good 

this is a link will get a better one later ..when I will log in later later since my girlfriend is here.

http://www.retiremalta.com/page.asp?n=newsdetails&i=8043
Take Care and Peace
Mark

[Lisa]

Futuramark, how do you know of "Babylonian Jew?"

[futuramark]

was reading previous posts about malta lisa.

[Lisa]

Oops! I just noticed, sorry.  Babylonian Jew, who's not even really Jewish was banned a long time ago. 

[futuramark]

ok thanks lisa. glad others dont feel the same

[mord]

Shalom Mark,

First one thing needs to be cleared- those people who may have Jewsih ancestors who had converted 500 years ago are NOT Jewish, they are not my kinsmen, as far as I and any other Jew is concerned they are 100% gentiles.

Now I don't know where you came to think that most or many Jews hate the Maltese people. Most Jews don't even have an opinion of Malta. The Jewish community form Malta is so tiny, I never heard of any Jew from Malta living in Israel. I think the last time Malta made it into the headline news in Israel was in the mid 1990s, when the mosad assassinated the head of the Islamic Jihad, Fathi Shkaki, in Malta.

If you got your impression from "Babylonianjew" you should know he is a crazy internet troll who also hates Ashkenazi Jews.

Regarding the surnames you nmentioned- Cohen (=priest) and Ellul (the 12th month in the Hebrew calendar) are Hebrew surnames. Abela and Azzopardi are not, so either they were transformed from Hebrew or maybe not. I think Maltese stems from Phoenician, which itself is a sister language of Hebrew.

Lastly I just want to say I commend you fro resisting Islam and may all muslims be evicted from Mlata, Israel and the rest of the free world.

I think the name Jewish             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azzopardi

[futuramark]

Hmmm interesting mord.

Don't worry we Maltese will never let them dominate us..there are only about 5000 muslims, so I dont think they'de stand a chance against 400,000 maltese heh. Also Maltese muslims never really bothered us...until recently when they are increasing in their number becuase of immigration. But we will keep them in check and if they try anything they will get what's coming to them. Many of us hate their satanic/brutal ideaology and we were born and bred hating them really...I remember as a kid only 8 years old we were going camping once and when we passed next to the only mosque they have in Poala..everyone started singing...'alla hanin u muhammed hanzir' which means...god is merciful ..muhammed is a pig..lol
So you can imagine ...we were brainwashed against them.
We are not in the least afraid of them. I think they are more afraid of us really that is why they are very quiet here. heh. But we dont trust them still.

[Every Jew AK47]

Does pig means hanzir in Maltese?  It means chozer in Hebrew..  Interesting at how close Maltese sounds to Hebrew..

You are right.. Mohammad is a chozer..

Malta seems like a very interesting , ancient and religious Catholic country.   I am very concerned though about all the North african muslim scum that is trying to take over your country.   You Maltese need to deport all the raghead filth from your land before your country gets overtaken by these barbarians.

[futuramark]

Yes pig is 'hanzir' in Maltese ...I love the maltese language...it is the one thing I am glad we learn from the muslims..apart from irrigation. It is just makes complete sense the way it is constructed when compared to other languages like english.

For example a simple dot on a g changes the photenic sound of the letter completely...so instead of joining letters as in the english language...such as ch in church ..to make the c sound instead of k as in catch...we simply add a dot on the c and it becomes a C from a K.

I hope you understand it is hard to grasp at first but once it is learn it makes complete sense. I would love to learn jewish also one day.

re the n.african scum..we're lucky for now berlusconi made a deal with that as-hole gaddafi and they''re taking them back sometimes...altough we get criticized by human rights groups etc becuase of lack of human rights given to migrants from gaddafi ass-oles and co. heh

yes they are scum..the last story I heard ..an 11 year old girl was almost raped by one of them.