kosher vacationers to Andalusia’s sun coast were thrilled learn that Chabad opened a fully stocked kosher supermarket this summer in Marbella.

kosher vacationers to Andalusia’s sun coast were thrilled learn that Chabad opened a fully stocked kosher supermarket this summer in Marbella. Ideally located in the center of the 83 mile coastal stretch that runs from Malaga to Gibraltar, the supermarket made news in Europe’s Jewish communities. A breezy two hour flight from most points in western Europe, Spain’s southern coast is a popular vacation destination.

“Every summer we get countless calls from travelers who want to know where they can buy kosher food,” Chana Goldstein, Chabad representative with her husband, Cheski, told lubavitch.com. The steady stream of kosher tourists coming from France, England Belgium and beyond, challenged the Goldsteins to step up to the plate and fill it with the variety of kosher ethnic foods to satisfy diverse palates.

“We get people of Sephardic/Mediterranean, Ashkenzaic European, and American backgrounds, and the Costa del Sol Kosher supermarket caters to them all.”

So did a Jewish concert sponsored by Chabad that drew 2000 people to a bullring in Estepona last week. Three pop singers, and the Eighth Day Band, each with their own Jewish influence and appeal, delivered a spirited musical experience in the town bullring—offered by the municipality for the concert.

In Marbella for six years, Rabbi Goldstein and his wife planned the concert so that Jewish vacationers, backpackers and locals from New York to Israel and all points in between, would have an opportunity to pull their energy together in song and celebration during summer’s high season when so many converge upon the area. "We're especially grateful to Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky for his help with this, the new supermarket and during every step of our growth here," says Rabbi Goldstein. 

It’s Thursday afternoon, and Chana has tallied orders for 800 challahs (twisted Sabbath breads) and still counting, for Shabbat dinner.

Things are slower during the winter months, but with a Jewish community of roughly 150 families dispersed along the coast, and some 600 Jews in Gibraltar, the Goldsteins—the only Chabad representatives in all of Southern Spain—keep busy. Hebrew school, adult education, bar/bat mitzvah services and women’s programs reach Jewish families along the coast and from Seville to Granada.

“We try to reach out to Jewish people spread along the entire area,” says Rabbi Goldstein. “The kosher supermarket—a novelty in this region, will attract many more.”

 

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