 In the post-communist era, these policies have been abandoned and freedom of religion is permitted, although the number of practicing Jews in Albania is today very small, with many Jews having made aliyah to Israel.First reports of Jews living in Albania date from the 70 CE, with it being thought that Jews first arrived on ships on the shores of southern Albania.The descendants of these refugees, according to Albanian historian Apostol Kotani, would found Albania's first synagogue in the fourth or fifth century, in the city of Onchesmos, modern day Saranda.