History of the Jews in Zimbabwe
The history of the Jews in Zimbabwe reaches back over one century. Present-day Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia and later as Rhodesia.
Contents |
History [edit]
Ashkenazi Jews from Russia and Lithuania settled in Rhodesia and became active in the trading industry. In 1894, the first synagogue was established in a tent in Bulawayo. The second community developed in Salisbury (later renamed Harare) in 1895. A third congregation was established in Gwelo in 1901. By 1900, approximately 400 Jews lived in Rhodesia.
The first Jews came by way of the southeast coast through Portuguese Beira, Mozambique. In 1898, the Central African Zionist Organizations were established in Bulawayo. In the 1920s and 1930s, Sephardi Jews moved there from the Greek island of Rhodes. By 1921, census data reported 1,289 Jews in Rhodesia.
In the late 1930s, German Jews fleeing Nazi persecution settled in Rhodesia. After World War II, Jews arrived from South Africa and Britain. In 1943, the Rhodesian Zionist Council and the Rhodesian Jewish Board of Deputies were established. By 1961, the Jewish population peaked at 7,060.[1]
Rhodesian Jews were generally assimilated into Rhodesian society, and intermarriage rates were high. In 1957, one out of every seven marriages in Rhodesia were between a Jew and a Gentile.[2] However, a number of Jews from Zionist youth movements immigrated to Israel.
After 1987, Jewish community of Zimbabwe shrunk to approximately 1,200. Most of the Jews immigrated to Israel or South Africa, seeking better economic conditions and Jewish marriage prospects.[3] Some Jews who faced political persecution under the regime of President Robert Mugabe were also evacuated by the Mossad (Israeli secret service) and moved to Israel.
In 2002, after the Jewish community's survival was threatened by a food shortage and poverty in the country, the mayor of Ashkelon, a city in southern Israel, invited Zimbabwean Jews to immigrate to Israel and offered assistance in settling in Ashkelon, and several Jews accepted his offer.[4]
Today, about 260 Jews live in Zimbabwe, chiefly in Harare and Bulawayo. A few Jews remain in Kwekwe, Gweru, and Kadoma. Two-thirds of Zimbabwean Jews are over 65 years of age, and very few are children. The last Bar Mitzvah took place in 2006.
Lemba tribe [edit]
The Lemba people, a Black African tribe of about 70,000 people who live in central Zimbabwe[5] in southern Africa claim a common descent belonging to the Jewish people.[6][7]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Jews of Zimbabwe
- ^ http://archive.jta.org/article/1957/10/16/3052759/intermarriage-among-jews-in-rhodesia-viewed-as-alarming
- ^ Jews of Zimbabwe
- ^ Jews of Zimbabwe
- ^ Heppner, Max Amichai (1999) "Science Ties the Lemba Closer to Mainstram Jews" Kulanu 6(2): pp.1,13
- ^ Wuriga, Rabson (1999) "The Story of a Lemba Philosopher and His People" Kulanu 6(2): pp.1,11-12
- ^ Lost Jewish tribe 'found in Zimbabwe'
