A delegation of Algerian Jews, the first to come to France since Algeria won its independence, arrived in Paris today to arrange for the shipment of matzoth and other ritual supplies for the forthcoming Passover celebration.
The five-man delegation, representing the 5, 000 Jews still living in the former French territory- – a small fraction of the pre-independence community of 130, 000 came to attend a meeting of the Jewish Central Consistory. They also met with representatives of other Jewish organizations to whom they reported on condition in Algeria.
They said that the Algerian Jews suffer seriously from economic hardship, but that they are not the target of any anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish discrimination by Algerian authorities. Individually, many of the Algerian Jews face serious economic problems, some actually living in desperate straits, They are free, however, to organize themselves communally, to conduct religious services and to provide Jewish schools for their children.
They are concentrated mainly in Algiers and Oran, but there is also a substantial number in Colomb-Bechar, a Sahara desert city.
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