The Jewish Community of Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Formerly known as:

Congo Free State: 1877-1908
Belgian Congo: 1908-1960
Republic of the Congo/Leopoldville: 1960-1964
Democratic Republic of the Congo: 1965-1971, 1997-present
Republic of Zaire: 1971-1997

Also known as DR Congo, DRC, DROC, Congo-Kinshasa, the Congo. Not to be confused with the Republic of Congo, a separate country.

A country in Central Africa

21st Century

Estimated Jewish population in 2018: 100 out of 82,000,000

In 2013 the Jewish population of the Congo was 320, consisting mostly of Sephardi Ladino-speaking Jews. Most of the country's Jews live in Lubumbashi, though a small community exists in Kinshasa and is known as the Congregation Israelite. A synagogue and a rabbi serve the Jewish community of Lubumbashi.

The headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa is located in Kinshasa. The Chabad of the Congo offers a synagogue, as well as a Hebrew school. Groups of rabbinical students are sent each year to study for one year at the Chabad in Kinshasa; during their time studying in the Congo they are sent to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa to provide Jewish residents in the area with holiday programming.

Moise Katumbi, known as one of Congo's "most powerful and popular men," and a potential presidential candidate, is the son of a Sephardi man who arrived in the Congo from the Island of Rhodes.

HISTORY

The first Jews to settle in the Congo arrived in 1907, when the country was under the rule of King Leopold II of Belgium. Most were Ashkenazim who arrived from South Africa, Romania, and Poland. They were followed in 1911 by Sephardi immigrants from the Island of Rhodes and other areas in Greece. Many Ashkenazim left the Congo during the severe economic crisis during the 1930s. Once the crisis had passed, however, the Congo saw more Jews arriving from Eastern and Southern Europe.

The Jewish community established a community center in 1911, the Communaute du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi. The first synagogue was built in 1930 in Elisabethville (later renamed Lubumbashi), which also had a number of Jewish institutions. Rabbi Moses Levy enjoyed a rabbinical jurisdiction that extended through the Congo and Ruanda-Urundi (later the countries of Rwanda and Burundi). The Association Sioniste du Congo Belge led most of the Zionist activities that took place in the Congo.

In 1960, just before Congo achieved independence from Belgium, Elisabethville was home to 2,500 Jews (50% of the Congo's Jewish population); Leopoldville (later renamed Kinshasa), capital of the Congo, had a Jewish population of 70 families. Additionally, there were a number of smaller Jewish settlements in the country. The Jewish community generally enjoyed good relationships with the authorities during this period, as well as with other religious communities. Jewish children who attended government schools were given classes in the Hebrew language and the Jewish religion, paid for by the colonial authorities.

Congo's independence was followed by a period of political and economic upheaval. During this period many Jews left for Rhodesia, South Africa, and Israel; some eventually returned and revived communal life at Lubumbashi. In the end, however, after the Congo achieved independence its Jewish population was reduced by about two-thirds. Those who remained were mostly concentrated in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa.

In 1960 Congo established diplomatic relations with Israel; these diplomatic relations were reestablished in 1983 by Zaire.

In 1997 there were 320 Jews living in Zaire.