Eliyahu’s respected occupation could well have enabled him to have sufficient income to support his large family and perhaps also support his parents. Rabbis were highly respected and valuable members of the community. In the small colony of Gibraltar, life of virtually all Jews would have revolved around the synagogue, its Rabbis and Judaism to an unbelievable extent.
Eliyahu needed a large income as his family was large. Asibuena (per GH) was the name of his eldest daughter born in 1817. Unsurprisingly she had been given the name of her paternal grandmother. On 18th December 1836 she would marry Vidal Benzaquen widower son of Ester Taurel and Isaac Benzaquenon. Like her younger brother Judah, she was to travel to live in Brazil for part of her life.
Their next daughter Estrella (per GH) was born in 1819 and probably named after her maternal grandmother. Estrella born 11th February 1827 was on 1st August 1850 to marry Reverend Moses Israel (born 11th February 1827 and died 1907, the son of Isaac Israel born in 1799 and Rachel Benzimra). I recalled that Judah’s will would express the desire that his children be concerned for the welfare of Uncle Moses as he did need some special care.
Rev Moses’s father Isaac was possibly a son of Solomon and a brother of Moses. This was likely the marriage of two Israel blood cousins. Benzimra was an important local family and Benzimra’s Alley in Gibraltar commemorates this importance.
The eldest son of Eliyahu I would also expect to have been named Moses- in his case named after his paternal grandfather. Perhaps he was the Moses Israel who died on 5th October 1828 appearing only in ” GIB extracts” Death at a young age in these generations seems to have been common. Sete (GIB extracts) the fourth daughter for Eliyahu and Sara, was born in 1826 and died unmarried on 1 October 1846. My ancestor Judah was born on 22nd July 1830 with his grandfather “ Moses Israel” named as his godfather. The next son was Solomon “Haim” born on 6th Dec 1832 “Haim” in his name suggests that there had been an earlier son named Solomon who unfortunately had also died young.
The last son Eliyahu was born on 31 July 1835 and given his father’s name because he had died on 10 May 1835 at the age of only 40 leaving his widow with a large family to care for on her own. Rabbi Eliyahu did not live to see his eldest daughter married and likely not even the marriages of his two eldest sons. Eliyahu married Zahra Anahory on 12 August 1868 who was the daughter of his sister Macnin and her husband Abraham.
I was continuing to contemplate that there might be siblings of Eliyahu living in Gibraltar. I noticed my Gibraltar Extracts include Solomon, a son for a Moses had been born on 5 March 1818. Another extract is for Isaac – a son for a Moses and born a year before Solomon on 24 January 1817.
My family’s life story was interwoven with the history of Gibraltar for the two centuries following its capture from the Spanish. This connection continued after Judah ben Eliyahu departed on his Brazilian Adventure. In the Twentieth Century it’s connectivity with me tailed off but did not disappear entirely. The local economy shifted from its almost exclusive focus on the military barracks increasingly to services related to the colony’s status as an offshore tax haven.
In 1991 you could have witnessed the departure of the last “British” regiment from Gibraltar leaving only the Royal Gibraltar Regiment in occupation. This was not the disastrous economic event it once would have been. Offshore banking and allied activities were by then at the center of the colony’s economy. Homes were being constructed for the rich who wished to be able to reside there and to be able to claim that Gibraltar was their residence for tax purposes there, I also had an accountancy office there for many years.
While I was there on business as I mentioned earlier I grabbed an opportunity to study the Torah , to meet Sir Joshua Hassan the first Chief Minister of Gibraltar (in my tree) and to direct legal business to James Levy (in my tree). I also met the first wife of Abraham Anahory (in my tree) – the brother in law of Sir Joshua – who I had met in London many years before.
My office sponsored a function at which troops from the barracks marched and played music. I was interviewed on Gibraltarian TV. I attended a Commonwealth Finance Ministers Conference in Jamaica in company with the Chief Minister Joseph Bossano. I checked that the Barbary Apes were still resident in the Colony since it is said so long as they are living there Gibraltar will remain British. Spain still wants the colony back but the apes refuse to go. To this day I still feel close to Gibraltar,
