Chabad Lubavitch of Andorra
Chabad-Lubavitch in Andorra: the mission opened in late 2024 by Kuty and Rochel Kalmenson, formerly of Ningbo, China, who became the principality's first full-time rabbi and rebbetzin, after decades in which Chabad rabbis from Toulouse and Barcelona served its small, mainly Moroccan Jewish community
| Chabad Lubavitch of Andorra
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| Type | Jewish religious organisation (Chabad-Lubavitch) |
| Founded | 2024 |
| Founder(s) | Kuty Kalmenson and Rochel Kalmenson |
| Headquarters | Andorra la Vella |
| Location | Andorra la Vella |
| Area served | Andorra |
| Services | Torah classes, children's and teen clubs, kosher food, services for tourists |
| Key people | Kuty Kalmenson (rabbi) |
| Website | https://www.jewishandorra.org |
| Remarks | Andorra does not allow non-Catholic houses of worship; the Jewish community meets in a registered cultural centre |
Chabad Lubavitch of Andorra (Chabad of Andorra) is the Chabad-Lubavitch mission in Andorra, set up in late 2024 by Rabbi Kuty Kalmenson and his wife, Rochel. Kalmenson is the country's first full-time rabbi, and also leads the local Jewish community's cultural centre.[1][2][3]
Background
Andorra's state religion is Roman Catholicism, and other religions may not build houses of worship; they register as cultural associations instead.[1][3] According to Chabad.org, many of Andorra's Jews came from North Africa after the 1967 Six-Day War, and in 1998 community leaders, including the present community president, Iszak Benchlouch, and his brother Salomon, founded the country's first official Jewish cultural centre.[1] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that the community's cultural centre is in an underground office building, to get round the ban on synagogues.[2]
Before the Kalmensons arrived, Chabad rabbis from Toulouse in France and from Barcelona (see Chabad Lubavitch of Spain) served the community. Chabad.org quoted the lay leader Shimon Barsheshet as saying that Chabad of Toulouse sent rabbinical students for Purim and Chanukah, helped bring a rabbi from Paris for the High Holidays, and that Rabbi Yosef Y. Matusof of Chabad of Toulouse had for years performed circumcisions in Andorra; Rabbi Dovid Libersohn of Chabad of Barcelona also helped.[1] Lubavitch.com instead names Rabbi Haim Hilel Matusof of Chabad of Toulouse as having served the community for decades and as having looked for a couple to move there.[3]
Founding
The Kalmensons had founded Chabad of Ningbo, China, in 2013, and left after its expatriate Jewish community largely moved away.[1][3] Their appointment to Andorra was announced on 1 December 2024 at the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries in Brooklyn, New York.[1][2] Sources differ on when they arrived: Chabad.org said both that they were arriving "this month" (December 2024) and that Kalmenson had moved to Andorra in November, and JTA reported their arrival as "last month" (November 2024).[1][2]
Lubavitch.com quoted Benchlouch: "We have long sought a rabbi of our own… because our community is so small, it was something we never achieved."[3] Kalmenson said he planned Torah classes, CKids and CTeen clubs, local kosher food and, later, a visitor centre and kosher restaurant for the many Jewish tourists who visit Andorra.[1][3]
Size of the Jewish community
Figures for Andorra's Jewish population differ. Lubavitch.com said "a hundred or so" Jews lived there.[3] JTA reported that the official community had 73 members, and that Kalmenson believed the real number was about 250;[2] Chabad.org quoted him as estimating "at least 250 Jews", most of them unaffiliated.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Mendel Super, "With Chabad's Arrival, Andorra Gets Its First Rabbi", Chabad.org, 1 December 2024.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Andorra, where non-Catholic houses of worship are illegal, gets its first full-time rabbi", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 2 December 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 "Chabad Welcomed in Mountain Principality of Andorra", Lubavitch.com (Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters), 2 December 2024.