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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 AUGUST 2021 5 CULTURAL From 'The Jew of Malta' to the Jews of Malta AUDREY JANDIN THE Franco-Maltese Respire festival closed on 15 July with a lecture in French entitled 'From the Jew of Malta to the Jews of Malta' at St Paul's Missionary College in Rabat with historian Nathalie Cohen. 'The Jew of Malta', the play written by Christopher Mar- lowe in 1589, consists of an original story of religious con- flict, intrigue and revenge against the backdrop of the struggle for supremacy in the Mediterranean between Spain and the Ottoman Empire. It is considered to have been a major influence on William Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice'. The main character, Barabas the Jew, is a complex charac- ter, probably to provoke mixed reactions among the audi- ence. 'The Jew of Malta' was a success when it was first per- formed at The Rose Theatre in early 1592, when actor Edward Alleyn played the lead role. The play remained popular for the next fifty years until the thea- tres in England closed in 1642. Nathalie Cohen is a historian by training and author of the book 'Une etrange rencontre: Juifs, Grecs et Romains'. Fasci- nated by Malta since her youth, she was born in Djarba, daugh- ter of Tunisian Jews from Tri- politania, on the border of Lib- ya. Her parents had had a lot of contact with Maltese Jews in their youth – a rare encounter – and once also being present at her parents' Shabbat table. For this Jewish community, the Maltese were like close broth- ers. "My relationship with Mal- ta has always been one of close- ness. On the other hand I used to hear my paternal grandpar- ents speaking Arabic all the time, and when I arrived in Malta and heard people speak- ing I felt like I was hearing my grandparents again and I real- ized that I understood a lot of the Maltese language." Malta is certainly better known for its eight-pointed cross and the Order of Knights than for its Jewish community. Numerically small, the latter has almost always existed and is doing well. The saying that in Malta – "neither rats nor Jews could exist" – is far from the truth. "For the love of Our Father Jahve" – this inscription in Phoenician characters attests to the fact that Malta's small Jewish community dates back to the conquest of the island by Phoenician merchants nearly three millennia ago. The Mal- tese archipelago, comprising the islands of Malta and Gozo, has been conquered many times in the course of its histo- ry: after the Phoenicians, it was the turn of the Romans, the Turks, the Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem, and finally the English. The Jewish presence is also found in place names such as the Tal-Lhudi field, the Qbur Il-Lhud cemetery, a Lhudi po- terne ("Lhud" meaning Jews). And in Rabat a series of Jew- ish catacombs are mixed with Christian tombs dating from the 1st century BC. The apostle St. Paul is the first Jewish wit- ness in Malta. At the time of the arrival of the Normans, during the Mus- lim occupation from 870 to 1061, the Jews, settled with- in the walls of Mdina or the port of Birgu, exercised all the professions – merchants, bro- kers, pawnbrokers, and small craftsmen such as blacksmiths and candle makers – and were allowed to own land and prop- erty. Most were literate, which allowed them to practice pro- fessions such as doctors and notaries, which were known as far away as southern Italy. The Jews of Malta enjoyed a number of privileges and a de- gree of tolerance. The king of Sicily, the suzerain of Malta, protected them because they constituted a significant source of revenue for the Treasury. In compensation, they were obliged to do chores such as supplying water, tools and ma- terials. To distinguish them from the Christians, they wore the "rotella" on their clothes, a red cloth circle. In Malta and Sicily during this period, the Jews and Christians became Is- lamic in order not to pay taxes. In medieval times, the Jewish quarter in Mdina was located in the street along the north side of the cathedral (Triq il-Fos- os). The University of Malta became Catholic. The Jews had to pay a special tax to the city's university in exchange for be- ing granted a monopoly on apothecaries and dyers. Under Hohenstaufen owner- ship, Frederic II aligned him- self with the pope's desire to Catholicize the island. In 1250, Malta had 47 Christian fami- lies, 600 Muslim families and 25 Jews. Gozo has 8 Jewish families. In 1372, Frederic III granted land to the Jews in Ta- bia (the present Qbur il-Lhud in Ghariexem, Mtarfa) for use as a cemetery. Under the kingdom of Arag- om in 1479 and the Edict of Allhambra of 1492, the Jews were expelled from the coun- try. The Jews who did not want to convert to Christianity went to Sicily and the Catholics of Sicily came to Malta. Because they made up a large part of the island's population, the Span- ish Crown forced them to pay compensation for the tax losses caused by their own expulsion. Many Maltese still have sur- names of Jewish origin. During the time of the Knights of Malta, in 1530, Spain offered Malta to the Knights of the Or- der of St. John of Jerusalem to defend the archipelago threat- ened by the Ottoman Turks. In fact, the Knights' main ac- tivity was the taking of hos- tages, demanding the payment of a ransom for their release. Jewish merchants, who were practically the only ones who traded between the shores of the Mediterranean at their own risk, were particularly target- ed. They had their own prison in the center of Valletta, the new capital of the island. While waiting for a hypothetical re- demption, they were allowed to leave during the day to do odd jobs or even to trade, but cer- tainly not to the point of mak- ing a fortune. Marlowe's 'The Jew of Mal- ta' evokes a rich Jew of Malta, but is anachronistic. The idea that Jews have money is over- estimated. For three centuries there was no free Jewish popu- lation on the islands. The Sicilian conversos settled in Malta, attracted by the lib- eral policy of the Knights to- wards the Jews of Rhodes, had to continue to practice their re- ligion in secret. In the absence of a ransom, the Jews were sold as indentured servants, given a Christian name and released by the Master only on their death- bed. Jews (especially women) who peddled their services as healers and diviners, were of- ten confronted by the Inquisi- tion. Napoleon Bonaparte, on his way to Egypt in 1798, seized the archipelago and enforced the laws of the Republic, nota- bly equality between all citizens and the abolition of slavery. Four years later, the British re- placed the French, and Valletta became an important stopover on the route to the Levant and the Far East. Jews from Gi- braltar, followed by Jews from North Africa and other Medi- terranean cities, settled on the archipelago. During the Second World War, Jews fleeing Nazism were not required to have a visa to arrive in Malta, which allowed thousands of them to take ref- uge there. Many Maltese Jews joined the British Army at that time. As a result of neigh- borhood renovation projects, the old Malta Synagogue was destroyed in 1979. However, with the support of English and American Jews, a new synagogue was built in 2000 which also serves as a commu- nity center. In 2013, a Chabad House was also established on the island. There are three Jewish cem- eteries in Malta. The Kalka- ra cemetery, the oldest, dates from the 18th century. In the suburb of Marsa is the second, which dates from the mid-20th century. The third is in Tal Braxia and is abandoned. In 2019, the Jewish commu- nity of Malta gathers about 150 people, most of whom are el- derly. Among the new genera- tion, some have settled abroad, notably in England and Israel. Cohen wanted to talk about the Maltese Jew in Malta be- cause she believes that "Mal- ta maintains a duality with its Jewish identity." A historian of religions, her specialty is ancient Judaism and the for- mation of Christianity. This is why she wanted to reflect on the Jewish presence in Malta. "I wanted to see it through Marlowe's play, which is said to be anti-Semitic, but I think it is a true satirical comedy, a critique of Maltese Catholi- cism above all. "I was also interested in the figure of Barabas because he is a character that fits into many Maltese legends." Barabas comes from the bib- lical figure, Barabbas, a notori- ous bandit and murderer, con- demned to death along with Christ. At the request of the crowd, it was he, not Jesus, that Pontius Pilate freed. Barabas, which in Aramaic means the son of the father, is a deceitful criminal in the play. "One can imagine a Louis De Funes as Barabas. In this play there is a lot of irony and ste- reotypes about the Jews. The Turkish slave symbolizes the East, he is greedy and blasphe- mous. We can also perceive the framework of Moliere's miser in this play. The Jew Barabas who sacrifices his daughter (symbolizes the chretitian) is a criticism of Catholicism. This work, which denounces mon- asteries and condemns slavery, appears as a geopolitical satire where the Jew is the character who links the two religions," Cohen said.