By COLlive reporter
A Chabad center will soon be established in Zambia in southern Africa, Rabbi Shlomo Bentolila, Director of Chabad of Central Africa, announced this week.
Rabbi Bentolila said he is opening the new center to honor his wife, Mrs. Miriam Bentolila OBM, who passed away this past Friday at the age of 52 after battling an illness.
The Bentolilas were sent by the Rebbe to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (historically known as Zaire) and have overseen the growth of Chabad activities and Jewish communities in the continent.
To date, Chabad is active in 13 countries in Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Republic, Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Namibia, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mali and Senegal.
Rabbi Bentolila, who is sitting Shiva in Kfar Chabad, shared the news with Matias Mwansa, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Zambia in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Jewish community in Zambia, a landlocked country of rugged terrain and diverse wildlife and bordering with Zimbabwe, once has 1,000 Jews in the 1950s. Among them were Jews who escaped from the Second World War in Europe.
Over the years, the community has dwindled but the number recently grew with the Jews visiting the continent for business and trade.
“Jews are always welcome in Zambia,” Mwansa said in response to the news. “The Jewish community is an important asset to the Zambian people. The choice of Zambia as a country worthy of the opening of a Chabad House is a sign of respect for the country and its residents.”
Rabbi Bentolila was also visited by fellow Chassidim, Shluchim and rabbinical personalities such as Rabbi Nechemia Alter, the son of the Gerer Rebbe.
Can the address of shiva in Kfar Chabad please be posted