Man On the Rock: Mayor Solomon Levy and the Jews of Gibraltar (Michael Freeland)

This is the story of perhaps the world s most unusual Jewish community told through the eyes of the oldest member of one of its most unusual families. Solomon Momy Levy is one of the best known figures in Gibraltar. He was the Rock s first civic mayor and is a prominent and cherished part of both civic and Jewish life. His friendships with the Governors of the Rock are legion. His story, from his schooling at the Jewish private school Carmel College in Britain, his astonishingly close family, his dealings with a succession of Governors, his attachment to the Queen and all things British, and his relations with the local Catholic clergy, particularly its bishop, is told with a wonderfully humorous approach. The book is also very much the story of the Gibraltar community, which is Jewish in a way few others in the non-Charedi Diaspora are. Walk through Main Street on a Shabbat and you see shop after shop closed. Hence, unlike in other places, Saturday is not the busiest trading day of the week. Solomon embodies this religious approach, as this anecdote demonstrates: As an officer in the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, he was asked to lead the 10-gun salute for the Queen's Birthday. The trouble was that it occurred on a Shabbat, so he consulted his rabbi. What do you have to do? asked the rabbi. Just shout, Fire!, he replied. So do it, said the rabbi. I then walked all the way to the top of the rock and ordered Fire! Everyone seemed happy with that.

Product Details
Publisher: Vallentine Mitchell
Year of Publication: 2013
Language: English
Paperback 193 pages
Dimensions 23cm (l), 15.2cm (w), 1.8cm (d)