JewishmalteseFamily

משפחה יהודית בוולטה בתחילת המאה ה-20
Jewish Family in Valletta - Early 20th century

Jacob Israel was born in Corfu in 1834 and came to Malta at the age of 35. He set himself up in business first of all as a ship’s chandler and then as an importer/exporter. His wife Giulia, seated in front of him, was born in Sfax in Tunisia and came to Malta with her father, Rabbi Samuel Zanzuri, following a famine in the south of Tunisia which drove away many Europeans. Of the daughters, to Jacob’s left, standing, Rachele, who alone of all the family stayed in Malta and had children there. In front of her is her sister Elise who married an Ottoman Jew and finally settled in Paris. The boy, seated in front, Daniel, studied Medicine at the Catolica Hospital in Rome, but practiced most of his life in Tunis. To the right of the father, standing, is Mary who married a businessman from Sfax and settled there. In front of her, seated, is Emilia who settled in Lyon in France where her husband was a textile manufacturer, a business taken over later by one of his sons. Missing from the photo are two elder brothers who had left for Peru where they became rich in the trade of rubber. Another sister, Rebecca, settled in Cairo. This scattering throughout the Mediterranean was typical of many Jewish families and also of Catholic Maltese of the time, Malta being such a small and once a very poor place with few opportunities.