Chabad Lubavitch of Malta
Chabad-Lubavitch in Malta: the mission opened by Chaim Shalom and Chaya Mushka Segal in 2012–13 at the request of local Jewish leaders, its L'Chaim kosher restaurant, and the Chabad Malta Foundation's synagogue in Sliema's former post office, approved by the Planning Authority in 2023
| Chabad Lubavitch of Malta
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| Type | Jewish religious organisation (Chabad-Lubavitch) |
| Founded | 2013 (Chabad's date; other sources give December 2012) |
| Founder(s) | Chaim Shalom and Chaya Mushka Segal |
| Headquarters | Sliema |
| Location | 118 Manwel Dimech Street, Sliema |
| Area served | Malta |
| Services | Synagogue services, Jewish studies, bar mitzvah preparation, kosher restaurant, youth and children's clubs, summer camp, services for tourists |
| Key people | Chaim Segal (head emissary) |
| Website | https://www.jewishmalta.com |
| Remarks | Its legal body for the Sliema synagogue project is the Chabad Malta Foundation |
Chabad Lubavitch of Malta (Chabad Jewish Center of Malta) is the Chabad-Lubavitch mission in Malta, led by Rabbi Chaim Shalom Segal and his wife, Chaya Mushka (spelled Segel on its website).[1][2] It was the first Chabad presence in the country.[3] In 2023 Malta's Planning Authority approved its plan to turn Sliema's former post office into a synagogue, kosher restaurant and classrooms.[4]
History
Founding date
Sources differ on when Chabad began in Malta. The Chabad Jewish Center of Malta says it was established in 2013 (the Hebrew year 5773).[1] MaltaToday also gives 2013.[5] YeahThatsKosher reported in July 2013 that Chabad of Malta had opened "just 8 months ago in December 2012".[6] Writing in June 2013, Dan Fellner said the Segals had moved to Malta "in December" and opened their centre several weeks later; he was told the facility had opened four months before his visit.[3]
Arrival
Dan Fellner reported in the Arizona Jewish News that the Segals, both from Israel, had asked to be sent to a country with no Chabad presence. Leaders of Malta's small Jewish community, which had a synagogue in a flat in Ta' Xbiex but no rabbi, had written to Chabad asking it to send one. The Segals' first act was to put up a large Chanukah menorah near the Parliament building in Valletta; the local community, which had long kept a low profile, was at first wary, but agreed after the Segals consulted security officials in Israel. About 200 people came on the first night, including the mayor of Valletta. Fellner described the centre, then in rented premises in Buġibba, as including a small synagogue and the L'Chaim kosher restaurant, and reported that most Shabbat worshippers were tourists, about 90 per cent of them Israelis.[3] YeahThatsKosher described L'Chaim as importing glatt kosher food from Israel and Belgium.[6]
MaltaToday later described the centre as having been founded in Borg Olivier Street, St Julian's, with the L'Chaim restaurant.[5]
Sliema synagogue
In February 2022 MaltaToday reported that Rabbi Chaim Segal had applied, on behalf of the Chabad Malta Foundation, to develop the former post office in Manwel Dimech Street, Sliema, opposite the police station, as a synagogue, kosher restaurant and classrooms for religious instruction. The plan kept and restored the façade and added two floors. The foundation called it the "first Jewish centre on the island of Malta after more than 2,000 years of Jewish presence in the history of Malta".[5]
The Planning Authority approved the plan in February 2023. MaltaToday reported that the authority waived a €74,000 parking obligation after the foundation's architect argued that worshippers do not drive on the Sabbath and that most members live in Sliema. In return it required a deed restricting use of the whole building, apart from the restaurant, to "the Orthodox Jewish Community" and barring its sale to third parties without a new permit. The synagogue has 41 seats.[4]
MaltaToday put Malta's Jewish community at about 250 members, and said two other synagogues operated in residential buildings in St Julian's and Ta' Xbiex.[4]
Activities
The Chabad Jewish Center of Malta lists Jewish studies, the sale and lending of religious books and items, bar mitzvah preparation, Shabbat and holiday services and guidance on Jewish life.[1] Chabad headquarters lists CTeen Malta, CKids and a Gan Israel summer school.[2]
Centres
Chabad headquarters lists Chabad of Malta at 118 Manwel Dimech Street, Sliema.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "About Us", Chabad Jewish Center of Malta, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Chabad of Malta", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters (lubavitch.com), accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Dan Fellner, "Chabad on the harbor: A visit to Malta", Jewish News (jewishaz.com), Arizona, 27 June 2013.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 James Debono, "Orthodox Jews get synagogue in former Sliema post office", MaltaToday, 23 February 2023.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 James Debono, "Synagogue and kosher restaurant for prominent Sliema location", MaltaToday, 11 February 2022.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "First-Ever Kosher Restaurant & Chabad Open in Malta", YeahThatsKosher, 29 July 2013.