History of the Jews in Mozambique

As a European presence deepened by the late 19th century in the Portuguese East African colonial capital then called "Lourenço Marques", a cluster of Jews of diverse backgrounds were living there.

The Maputo synagogue traces its congregational records to 1899 when political upheavals connected with the Boer War caused the rabbi Joseph Hertz, then of Johannesburg, to briefly move to the Mozambique capital as a refugee.

After a period of community development, these urgings flowered in 1926 with the construction of the Lourenço Marques Synagogue, a facility with a congregation of about 30 Jews.

The emigration of European Jews as a result of the Holocaust led to the Jewish population of Lourenço Marques peaking at approximately 500 in 1942.

It currently hosts weekly services and events for the Jewish community of Mozambique, attracting permanent residents and guests from around the world.