History of the Jews in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The history of the Jews in the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be traced back to 1907, when the first Jewish immigrants began to arrive in the country.

In 1911, Sephardi Jews came from the Island of Rhodes in what is now Greece (then part of the Ottoman Empire) settled in the Congo.

Rabbi Moses Levy acted as the Jewish community leader throughout the Congo and Ruanda-Urundi (present day Rwanda and Burundi).

After the independence of Congo from Belgium in 1960 the majority of Congolese Jews left the country, with most of them settling in Israel or South Africa.

[2] Chabad has a synagogue and a Hebrew school, and groups of their rabbinical students come to study for a year there while also being sent to other places in sub-Saharan Africa to provide Jewish communities with programs.