After more than a millennium without a rabbi, the tiny principality of Andorra is making Jewish history this month as Rabbi Kuty Kalmenson, his wife Rochel, and their five children arrive to establish the nation’s first permanent rabbinic presence, establishing Chabad-Lubavitch of Andorra.
For every inhabitant of Andorra, there are about 25 tourists a year. The high-elevation European micronation, nestled between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains, has a population of 85,000. Life there is tranquil, says Shimon Barsheshet, a Moroccan-born Jew who’s lived in the country since 1979 with his wife, Reina.
“It’s quiet here,” Barsheshet tells Chabad.org. “It is calm here. There’s no crime or antisemitism. You can walk the streets at midnight or two in the morning.”
While historically Andorra provided Jews with a safe haven—many Jewish families living there fled North Africa in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, when conditions for Jews in Muslim nations deteriorated—it did not easily allow for Jewish communal life to grow.
Barsheshet explains that because Andorra’s state religion is Roman Catholicism exclusively, the country does not permit the establishment of houses of worship of other religions.
It was only in 1998, after years of worshipping and gathering at private homes, that community leaders—including current Jewish community president Iszak Benchlouch and his brother, Salomon, a local political leader—succeeded in founding Andorra’s first official Jewish cultural center. This became the historic principality’s first dedicated space for Jews to congregate, pray and observe Jewish holidays and milestones.
The community is a traditional Moroccan one, Barsheshet says. Holidays are celebrated, and Shabbat services take place each week, although getting a minyan, the requisite prayer quorum of 10 men, can be a challenge. Barsheshet plays the role of lay rabbi, leading services and guiding community members on matters of faith, but he is overjoyed to hand over the pulpit to Rabbi Kalmenson, who moved to Andorra with his family in November.
“We needed a rabbi here,” Barsheshet says. “For Purim and Chanukah, Chabad in Toulouse [France] sent us rabbinical students, and for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, they helped us bring a rabbi from Paris.” He adds that Rabbi Yosef Y. Matusof of Chabad of Toulouse has for years traveled to Andorra to perform any brit milah that takes place. “He had been a tremendous help to our community,” he says. Rabbi Dovid Libersohn of Chabad of Barcelona also maintained contact with the community and assisted them, he says.
“We tried to do the maximum, but it is not easy without a rabbi, and we’ve never had one. There needed to be someone teaching the children, and someone teaching the adults Torah. Many of us keep to the traditions but don’t know much Torah learning. We needed to learn.”
The Kalmensons appointment was announced at the Sunday gala banquet of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim), which brought together some 6,500 Chabad rabbis and Jewish communal leaders from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.
‘We Hope to Bring Everyone Together’
Fortunately for Andorra, the Kalmensons come with a wealth of experience in community leadership. They founded Chabad of Ningbo, China, in 2013, and built a flourishing Jewish community there. Recent demographic shifts within China’s ex-pat Jewish community meant that their work in Ningbo was complete, and the Kalmensons set out to find a new posting.
“Andorra is remote and home to a very small community,” Rabbi Kalmenson tells Chabad.org. “We hope to bring everyone together—the veteran community members and those who’ve never been involved in Jewish life before.”
He estimates that there are at least 250 Jews in the nation, most of them unaffiliated with the community: “In addition to the historic Moroccan community, there are many newcomers who haven't found their place in the Jewish community,” the rabbi says.
With remote work opportunities and Andorra’s favorable tax conditions, the Jewish population is growing, and the Kalmensons are reaching out to everyone they can. They will establish children’s educational programs, regular Torah education for adults and work on making kosher food locally available. Barsheshet says that obtaining kosher food today requires making the three-hour trek to Toulouse, but the schlep can make it difficult.
Chabad will also cater to the needs of the many Jewish tourists who visit the nation, and Barsheshet is hopeful that the involvement of tourists will only add to their community.
Historically, most young Jews have moved away from Andorra. “We don’t have a university here and everyone leaves after high school,” he says. “There are many more opportunities overseas.” His own children and grandchildren live in France and Israel, and visit regularly. But he believes a more vigorous Jewish life will add incentive for Jews growing up in Andorra to see a future for themselves there.
“The chief rabbi of Barcelona once told me that I am here for a reason; G‑d placed me here for a purpose,” Barsheshet says. “I have done everything I can to support Jewish life here, and I will continue to do so. I am full of hope that with the arrival of the Kalmensons, our community will begin to flourish.”
Join the Discussion