Rabbi Shlomo Bentolila, Director of Chabad of Central Africa, announced the opening of a new permanent Chabad House in Zambia in memory of his late wife Mrs. Miriam Bentolila.

In the midst of Shiva for his late wife Mrs. Miriam Bentolila, Rabbi Shlomo Bentolila, Director of Chabad of Central Africa, announced the opening of a new permanent Chabad House in Zambia in memory of his late wife.

The Jewish community in Zambia, located in south-central Africa, reached its peak with over 1,000 members in the 1950s including many Jews fleeing the Holocaust. In the decades since then, the community has shrunk, and in recent years the Association of Jewish Communities of Central Africa has been assisting the local Jewish community remaining in the country.

Zambia will be the eleventh country where a permanent Chabad house operates in Central African countries and will join Uganda, Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Congo, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya and Rwanda.

Zambia’s Deputy Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Mathias Mevenza, who brought the condolences of the Government of Zambia to Rabbi Ben Tolila, said at the meeting: “Jews are always welcomed in Zambia, and the Jewish community is an important asset to the Zambian people. To the state and its inhabitants “