Chabad Welcomed in Mountain Principality of Andorra

There was a time when Jews were not allowed to stay overnight in Andorra. Now, the country has a Jewish community that will be welcoming its first-ever rabbi. Rabbi Kuty and Rochel Kalmenson have moved from Ningbo, China to the tiny mountainous country to establish Chabad of Andorra and to lead the local Jewish community. 

Situated in the eastern Pyrenees between France and Spain, Andorra is a tiny, landlocked country that until very recently, was closed to Jews — and for that matter, to anyone who wasn’t Catholic. Since the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula in the 1400s, Andorra had not had a recorded Jewish community — “Historically, Jews were not even allowed to stay the night in Andorra,” Kalmenson relates. “You had to be Catholic to live there.”

But in the past century, the small, remote country has welcomed Jews escaping persecution in neighboring countries. During the Holocaust, thousands of Jews fled Vichy France for Andorra and then traveled on to Spain. And after the State of Israel defeated its hostile neighbors during the Six Day War, and life became difficult for Jews living in Morocco, many crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and found a new home in Andorra. 

“Today, Andorra has a close-knit Jewish community consisting largely of Moroccan families that moved here in the 60s and 70s,” said Kalmenson. “In recent years, with the rise of remote work, Andorra has also become an attractive destination for people who want to benefit from low tax rates in comparison to neighboring countries, and more Jews have moved in.” 

A hundred or so of them now live in Andorra, where well over 90% of the population is Catholic, and where non-Catholics are prohibited from building houses of worship — instead, they are registered as cultural associations.

For decades, Rabbi Haim Hilel Matusof of Chabad of Toulouse — located a three-hour drive distance from Andorra— served the needs of the country’s small Jewish community. Matusof performed circumcisions, taught bar mitzvah lessons, and otherwise served the community’s religious needs. With the growth of the community, Matusof began a search for a suitable couple to move there.

At the same time, the Kalmensons were on a search of their own. They had served as Chabad shluchim to Ningbo, China, but in the wake of the Covid pandemic, that city’s Jewish community had all but entirely moved away, leaving the rabbi and rebbetzin without a flock.

The Kalmensons visited Andorra, and met with Iszak Benchlouch, the President of the country’s Jewish community. “We have long sought a rabbi of our own,” Benchlouch said. “But because our community is so small, it was something we never achieved.”

“The first generation of the Jewish community had more knowledge, so we managed with lay-leadership, but now, we are realizing more and more how much it is needed,” he said. “We have been waiting and hoping that someone would take up the post.”

This new posting would have its challenges. The community meets to pray in the Center for Jewish Culture, but still may not officially build a synagogue. There is no Jewish cemetery. There is no Jewish day school or Hebrew school, leaving the younger generation of Jews without any formal Jewish education. They’d have their bar mitzvah, and join Torah classes when Rabbi Matusof visited, but — as Benchlouch told the Kalmensons — they were eager for more.

So one of Rabbi Kalmenson’s priorities will be organizing Torah classes for the community. They’ll launch small local chapters of CKids, CTeen, and other clubs to serve every demographic in the community. And they will reach out to the Jewish people who have moved to Andorra in recent years — many of whom haven’t yet found their footing in the small community.

Once the needs of the local community have been addressed, the Kalmensons plan to turn to another area of urgent need: serving the thousands of Jewish tourists who visit Andorra each year. The country welcomes more than 10 million visitors — mostly skiers, but many shoppers, hikers and other tourists — annually. 

“In the short period of time since we were listed on the internet, dozens of inquiries have come in, with people asking about Shabbat accommodations, kosher food, minyanim,” Kalmenson related. “So the next step after we establish our space for the community is going to be to open a visitor center, a kosher restaurant, and other accommodations. That’s on the horizon.”