Only 500 Jews remain today in Elisabethville, capital of Katanga, the disputed Congo province, which last year had a Jewish community totaling more than 1,250 persons, it was reported here today by The New York Times.
In an interview with Rabbi Moise Levy, spiritual leader of the Elisabethville Jewish community, a Times correspondent found that the biggest problem of the city’s remaining Jews was to raise sufficient funds for repairs to the synagogue which was badly damaged during recent fighting.
“So far we have spent 270,000 francs ($5,400),” Rabbi Levy declared, asserting that it was especially hard to raise funds with the Jewish community reduced in numbers. Lauding the “spiritual toleration” in Elisabethville, Rabbi Levy said “there has never been a pogrom here or anywhere else in the Congo.”
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