History of the Jews in Zimbabwe

Part of a series on the
History of Zimbabwe
Ancient history Leopard's Kopje c. 900 – c. 1075 Mapungubwe Kingdom c. 1075 – c. 1220 Zimbabwe Kingdom c. 1220 – c. 1450 Butua Kingdom c. 1450–1683 Mutapa Kingdom c. 1450–1760
Zimbabwe-Rhodesia	June–December 1979
Lancaster House Agreement	December 1979
British Dependency	1979–1980
Zimbabwe	1980–present
Gukurahundi	1982–1987
Second Congo War	1998–2003
Coup d'état	2017

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.

History

During the 19th century,

In the 1930s a number of Sephardic Jews arrived in Rhodesia from the Greek island of Rhodes and mainly settled in Salisbury. This was followed by another wave in the 1960s when Jews fled the Belgian Congo . A Sephardic Jewish Community Synagogue was established in Salisbury in the 1950s.^[1]

In the late 1930s, German Jews fleeing Nazi persecution settled in the colony. In 1943, the Rhodesian Zionist Council and the Rhodesian Jewish Board of Deputies were established, later being renamed the Central African Zionist Council and Central African Board of Jewish Deputies in 1946.^[2] After World War II, Jewish immigrants arrived from South Africa and the United Kingdom. By 1961, the Jewish population peaked at 7,060.^{[citation needed]}

In the first half of the 20th century there was a high level of assimilation by Rhodesian Jews into Rhodesian society, and intermarriage rates were high.

In addition to the Rhodesian Zionist Council and the Rhodesian Jewish Board of Deputies the Jewish Community developed institutions to serve and strengthen the community including two Jewish Day Schools (one in Harare called Sharon School and one in Bulawayo called Carmel School), community centers, Jewish Cemeteries, Zionist youth movements, Jewish owned sports clubs, Savyon Old Age Home in Bulawayo and several women's organisations. A number of Jews from Zionist youth movements emigrated to Israel.^[5]

In 1965, the white minority government of Southern Rhodesia, under Prime Minister

Some Jews chose to stay behind when the country was transferred to black majority rule and renamed Zimbabwe in 1980. However, emigration continued, and by 1987, only 1,200 Jews out of an original population of some 7,000 remained. Most Rhodesian Jews emigrated to Israel or South Africa, seeking better economic conditions and Jewish marriage prospects. Until the late 1990s, rabbis resided in Harare and Bulawayo, but left as the economy and community began to decline. Today there is no resident Rabbi.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, President Robert Mugabe caused upset to the Jewish community in Zimbabwe when he remarked that "[white] commercial farmers are hard-hearted people, you would think they were Jews".^[6]

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. Several Zimbabwean Jews accepted his offer.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003 the Bulawayo Synagogue burned down and the small community did not restore the building. Prayers are generally held at the Sinai Hall or Savyon Lodge in Bulawayo. In Harare the Sephardic Community has its own synagogue, and the Ashkenazi Community has a separate synagogue. Today because of small numbers of congregants the prayers alternate between the two synagogues.^[5]

Today, about 200 Jews live in Zimbabwe, chiefly in

The

• History of the Jews in Malawi
• History of the Jews in Mozambique
• History of the Jews in South Africa
• History of the Jews in Southern Africa
• History of the Jews in Zambia
• Israel–Zimbabwe relations

References