Patrick Comerford
The Jewish Community in Gibraltar this week (7 November 2024) celebrated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Great Synagogue of Gibraltar.
The history of the Jews in Gibraltar dates back more than 650 years. During that time, there have been periods of persecution, but for the most part the Jews of Gibraltar have prospered and been one of the largest religious minorities on ‘the Rock’.
Significantly, they have faced almost no official anti-Semitism over their centuries, and during Gibraltar’s tercentenary celebration in 2004, the former Chief Rabbi, the late Lord (Jonathan) Sacks, said, ‘In the dark times of expulsion and inquisition, Gibraltar lit the beacon of tolerance,’ and that Gibraltar In the dark times of expulsion and inquisition, Gibraltar lit the beacon of tolerance,’
When I visited Gibraltar some years ago, the Jewish presence was visible on the streets, but I missed the opportunity to visit any of the four synagogues in the city. So it was interesting to hear this week about the celebrations marking the tercentenary of Shaar Hashamyim Synagogue, or the Great Synagogue in Gibraltar, the oldest synagogue in continuous use in Gibraltar, which was founded in 1724.
The Great Synagogue in Gibraltar was founded by Isaac Nieto, who was also the Haham or rabbi and spiritual leader of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation in London, Sha’are Hashamayim, popularly known as Bevis Marks Synagogue.
However, the first record of Jews in Gibraltar dates from 1356 CE, under Muslim rule, when the community appealed for help in securing the ransom of a group of Jews captured by Barbary pirates. In 1474, 12 years after the Christian takeover, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, sold Gibraltar to a group of Jewish conversos from Cordova and Seville led by Pedro de Herrera in exchange for maintaining the garrison of the town for two years.
When the two years were up, however, the 4,350 Jews in Gibraltar were expelled by the Duke, and their fate is unknown. Many may have returned to Cordova where they faced persecution at the Inquisition directed by Torquemada from 1488, until Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497.
Under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Gibraltar came under British rule. But in the treaty, Spain insisted on including a clause barring Jews and Moors from the city. Under pressure from Spain, Jews were expelled Jews from Gibraltar once again in 1717. However, when Britain sought to reopen trade talks with the Sultan of Morocco, he refused to negotiate unless Jews and Muslims were allowed to settle in Gibraltar.
General William Hargrave, Governor of Gibraltar, presented a piece of land in Engineer Lane to a Jewish merchant, Isaac Nieto (1702-1774), in 1724, and he used the site to build a small synagogue.
Nieto was the Governor’s secretary when it came to relations with Morocco, and so was an influential figure.
Nieto had been born in Leghorn, the son of David Nieto (1654-1728), a doctor and rabbi from Venice. His father brought him to London at a young age when he became Chief Rabbi of the Sephardi congregation at Bevis Marks in 1702. Bevis Marks synagogue was founded from the Sephardi synagogue in Amsterdam, which explains many similarities with the features of the Sha’ar HaShamayim synagogue in Gibraltar.
Isaac Nieto is regarded as the founder and first religious leader of the modern Jewish community in Gibraltar. He organised the community in 1724 along similar lines to those at Bevis Marks and gave it the same name Kahal Kadosh Sha’ar HaShamayim or ‘Holy Congregation Gate of Heaven’. However, it became known as the Great Synagogue or Esnoga Grande, so the Great Synagogue in Gibraltar is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in Gibraltar.
Following the death of his father in 1728, Isaac Nieto returned to London and in 1732 he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Bevis Marks Synagogue.
The Great Synagogue of Gibraltar at 49 Engineer Lane is behind a three-storey domestic-looking façade with round-headed windows and a round-headed doorway.
The Great Synagogue has been rebuilt several times in the 300 years that have followed. The original building had its entrance in what is now Serfaty’s Passage, but this building was destroyed in the great rainstorm of 30 December 1766, when 80 people drowned. This access, from a narrow alley was once colloquially referred to as ‘Synagogue Lane’.
The same storm caused a breach in the Line Wall that had to be hastily repaired by William Green and his engineers. A new larger building was built with a new entrance in Engineer Lane, and the date in Hebrew can still be seen on the façade. At the time, there were 600 Jews in Gibraltar, making up one-third of the civilian population.
The building, like most in the town, was destroyed again on 17 May 1781 during indiscriminate Spanish gunfire following the arrival of the second relief convoy escorted by Admiral Darby’s fleet.
The synagogue was rebuilt in 1812 after it was damaged by a fire and the present vaulted ceiling dates from that time. It is possible that the Engineer Street entrance dates from the 1812 rebuilding.
The present building shares many common features with the Spanish and Portuguese synagogues of Amsterdam (1675) and Bevis Marks in London (1701). The appearance is typical, with shuttered windows, although it lacks the characteristic iron works balconies of Regency Gibraltar. The plain building is rendered and painted with stone quoins and surrounds. The interior features include colourful tiles, wrought-iron balustrades, dark wooden furnishings and marble floors.
Some alterations were made in 1912, as the inscriptions in the stone window heads flanking the main door attests.
Three other synagogues in Gibraltar function on Shabbat and feast days and can be found behind the façades of typical early 19th century terraces in the narrow streets of the Old Town.
The Ets Hayim (Tree of Life) or Little Synagogue (Esnoga Chica) was founded in 1759 by Moroccan Jews who wanted a less formal service. It still stands at 91 Irish Town. Irish Town is an important commercial street in the heart of Gibraltar. In Ulysses, James Joyce says Leopold Bloom’s wife Molly is from Gibraltar, and over the centuries many Governors were of Irish birth or from Irish families.
The lavish Flemish Synagogue (Esnoga Flamenca) or Nefutsot Yehuda (Dispersed of Judah) synagogue was built in 1799-1800 on Line Wall Road in response to the request of some people for a return to more formal, Dutch and London customs.
The fourth synagogue in Gibraltar, the Abudarham Synagogue (Esnoga Abudarham), was founded in 1820 at 19 Parliament Lane by recent Moroccan immigrants and is named after Rabbi Solomon Abudarham.
By 1805, Jews represented half of Gibraltar’s population.
Gibraltar City Hall on John Mackintosh Square, once known as Connaught House, was built in 1819 as his family home by Aaron Nunez Cardozo (1762-1834), a prosperous London merchant of Jewish Portuguese descent and consul for Tunis and Algiers in Gibraltar.
During World War II, most Jews were evacuated from Gibraltar to the United Kingdom during World War II. Some Jews opted to stay in the UK, but most returned after the war.
Several Jews have held senior positions in Gibraltar. Sir Joshua Hassan (1915-1997) was the Chief Minister in 1964-1969 and again in 1972-1987; his nephew Solomon Levy (1936-2016) was the Mayor of Gibraltar in 2008-2009.
Gibraltar today has a Jewish population of about 750, five kosher institutions, a Jewish primary school and two Jewish secondary schools.
Throughout the years, the Jewish community in Gibraltar has maintained strong links with the Spanish and Portugues community in Britain and Bevis Marks synagogue in London. More recently, Solomon Levy’s brother, Rabbi Abraham Levy (1939-2022), who was born in Gibraltar, was the senior rabbi at Bevis Marks from 1962 to 2012.
Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום
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