Gibraltar has one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the British world. Its Jews, most of them of Moroccan Sephardi origin, settled on the Rock soon after it passed to Britain in 1704, and at times made up a third or more of its civilian population. Today about 750 Jews live in Gibraltar, with four historic synagogues, kosher shops and Jewish schools in a territory of fewer than 35,000 people. See also Moroccan Jews and Western Sephardim.
Medieval Gibraltar
The first record of Jews in Gibraltar dates from 1356, under Muslim rule, when the community raised ransom for Jews captured by pirates. After the Castilian conquest, in 1474, the Duke of Medina Sidonia sold Gibraltar to a group of conversos led by Pedro de Herrera; about 4,350 people settled there, but they were expelled two years later. In 1492 Spain expelled its Jews.
Under British rule
Britain captured Gibraltar in 1704. The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, at Spain’s insistence, barred Jews and Moors from living there, but the garrison depended on supplies from Morocco, and Moroccan Jewish merchants soon arrived. Treaties with the Sultan of Morocco in 1721 and 1729 allowed his Jewish subjects to live in Gibraltar, and in 1749 Jews won the right to settle permanently; see Gibraltar’s community between Britain and Morocco. That year Isaac Nieto founded the congregation Sha’ar HaShamayim. Jews numbered 575 of about 1,800 civilians in 1753, and by 1805 about half the population, most with roots in Tetouan, Tangier and other Moroccan towns.
The 20th century
- World War II. In 1940 most of Gibraltar’s civilians were evacuated, chiefly to Britain, with others sent to Madeira and Jamaica. Repatriation began in 1944, and some Jewish families never returned.
- Political life. Sir Joshua Hassan, a member of the Jewish community, led Gibraltar for most of the years from 1964 to 1987 as Chief Minister, and Solomon Levy served as Mayor in 2008–2009.
Religious life
All of Gibraltar’s synagogues are Orthodox and follow the Spanish and Portuguese and Moroccan Sephardi traditions. The four synagogues are Sha’ar HaShamayim, the Great Synagogue (1749); Nefusot Yehuda (see its Dutch Sephardic connection) and the Little Synagogue (both 1781); and the Abudarham Synagogue (1820). Rabbi Ron Hassid has served as Chief Rabbi since 1984.
Language and food
Gibraltar’s Jews speak English and Llanito, the local mixture of Andalusian Spanish and English, which has some 500 words of Hebrew origin; older generations also spoke Ladino and its Moroccan form, Haketia. Their cooking blends Moroccan Jewish and Andalusian dishes. See our Sephardic recipes.
The community today
The community numbers about 750, about 2 percent of Gibraltar’s population, and it has grown since 2008. It maintains four synagogues, kosher shops and restaurants, a Jewish primary school and two Jewish secondary schools, and its institutions serve visitors from Spain and Morocco.
Notable people
- Sir Joshua Hassan 1915–1997 · Gibraltar Lawyer from a Sephardi family of Moroccan and Menorcan roots; Chief Minister of Gibraltar, 1964–1969 and 1972–1987.
- Solomon Levy b. 1936 · Gibraltar Estate agent and community figure; Mayor of Gibraltar, 2008–2009.
Sources and further reading
- Mesod Benady, “The Settlement of Jews in Gibraltar, 1704–1783”, Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England 26.
- “History of the Jews in Gibraltar”, Wikipedia.
Published October 2026.
