Religious misunderstanding

As a Jew married to a late member of the oldest existing Jewish family in Malta, I assure Peter Sammut (The Sunday Times, August 19) that the different religions (among them the Jewish religion) are all very much in harmony in Malta, all enjoying tolerance freedom of speech and worship, ecumenical celebrations and, most of all, all sharing a deep, wonderful love for our Creator.

I believe that Malta should be an example to the world with its sensitive equal rights treatment of its diverse religions and faiths. Here in Malta the Jewish community is composed of mostly the Sephardi Orthodox Jews and Ashkenazim Jews. There are some Conservative worshippers and some Reform; we even have overseas members and also many people of other nationalities.  All, plus many guests, are welcome.

The Jewish community of Malta is over 2,000 years old. History tells us that Jewish mariners accompanied ancient Phoenician navigators in their exploration of Malta. There are ancient catacombs of Jewish remains in St Agatha's catacombs in Rabat to prove it.

Mr Sammut asked why the learned Rabbi Pollina was not accepted by the Jews of Malta. It is for the same reason that you or the Archbishop of Canterbury are not accepted as Jews - because you are not Jewish. You write beautifully and belong to a wonderful but different faith; so does the learned Rabbi Pollina.

It is very confusing that his messianic (therefore not Jewish), evangelical (forbidden in Judaism) sect which believes in Christ or Yehoshua or Jesus, adopted the name "Rabbi" as its leader. It is as if the Jews or the Moslems would choose and sign themselves "Archbishop" and therefore confuse many who cannot identify by whom this religious document is written.

I think that we all believe that God is what we personally believe He is, and because we are different we believe differently, and at the same time similarly, because we all glory in the warmth, compassion, kindness and, most of all, love that we have in common.

With this point of view maybe the best thing that came out of these hot August letters to The Sunday Times is that we met each other, read and learnt from each other, respect each other and sometimes, rarely, are more confused than ever.