Chabad Lubavitch of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Chabad-Lubavitch in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Rabbi Shlomo Bentolila's Kinshasa mission since 1991, headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa, and its links with diamond and mining money, including Dan Gertler
- Not to be confused with Chabad Lubavitch of the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville).
| Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa (Kinshasa)
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Chabad-Lubavitch emissary operation; regional headquarters |
| Founded | January 1991 (arrival of the Bentolilas in Kinshasa) |
| Founder(s) | Shlomo Bentolila and Myriam Bentolila |
| Headquarters | 251 Avenue de la Mission, Gombe, Kinshasa |
| Area served | Democratic Republic of the Congo; regional oversight of Chabad centres in Sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa |
| Key people | Shlomo Bentolila (executive director); Binyamin Bentolila |
| Remarks | Affiliations: Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch. Chabad's own name for the operation is "Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa"; Chabad sources call the country "the Congo" |
Chabad-Lubavitch in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is run from Kinshasa by Rabbi Shlomo Bentolila, who arrived with his wife Myriam in January 1991, when the country was still Zaire.[1] Chabad calls the operation Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa. It is both the local Jewish congregation's rabbinate and the regional headquarters from which Bentolila has opened, staffed or visited Chabad centres across Sub-Saharan Africa, "with the exclusion of South Africa".[1][2] By 2026 Chabad counted "eleven permanent Chabad centers across ten countries" under the Kinshasa office.[3] The community Bentolila served was made up of expatriate businesspeople, many of them in the diamond trade.[4] According to Bloomberg, the Israeli mining billionaire Dan Gertler says that Bentolila arranged his first meeting with Joseph Kabila in 1997, and Gertler has supported the Kinshasa centre.[5]
History
Bentolila, who was born in Morocco and raised in Montreal, first came to Africa as a rabbinical student in 1988, on a week-long Merkos "Roving Rabbis" visit to Abidjan that took in six countries.[6][4] After his marriage in 1989 he was offered the post of rabbi of the Jewish community of Kinshasa, together with a mandate to open a permanent Chabad presence serving Sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa.[1] According to Chabad.org, the couple told the Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, that they had "one year of financial backing". They received his blessing on the second-to-last night of Chanukah 1990 and left for Kinshasa on 16 January 1991.[1] JTA reported in 1995 that the congregation had asked the Bentolilas to stay permanently after the previous rabbi left following the first army riots of September 1991.[4]
The emissaries lived through the Kinshasa riots of 1991 and 1992–93, the 1997 fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, and the war of 1998, which forced them to leave the country with most of the community for a time.[1][4] At their first Passover, Bentolila was stopped by soldiers while delivering matzah and released after paying a bribe.[4][1] Myriam Bentolila died on 1 April 2021, aged 52.[1] Their daughter Debbie Bensaid runs Chabad Lubavitch of Ivory Coast with her husband.[1]
On 26 May 2026 the 11 emissaries of the Central African network met on the roof of the Sheraton in Kinshasa to mark 35 years. Ambassador-at-Large Antoine Ghonda Mangalibi spoke on behalf of President Félix Tshisekedi: "Your work goes beyond religious boundaries ... It touches something more universal: human dignity, respect for others, the transmission of knowledge, and the light of faith."[3]
Emissaries and institutions
- Shlomo Bentolila: executive director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa since 1991. JTA in 1995 described him as "not only the rabbi of Kinshasa, but the director of Chabad-Lubavitch for central Africa".[4]
- Myriam Bentolila (1968–2021): co-director. Born in Milan to Chabad emissaries, she ran the Kinshasa Hebrew school and taught university-level Italian in the city.[1]
- Binyamin Bentolila: listed among the personnel in Chabad's directory.[7]
- Departments listed by Chabad: the Talmud Torah of Kinshasa (Hebrew school), Mikvah Israel, and a Yeshiva Gedolah.[7] The headquarters is at 251 Avenue de la Mission, Gombe, Kinshasa.[8]
- Synagogue. In 1995 the synagogue compound housed the rabbi's office, a classroom and a kosher shop selling "kosher meat flown in from South Africa", with the rabbi's flat on the top floor. "Two guards with Kalashnikov rifles" sat outside.[4]
- Editor's note: No Congolese registration, accounts or legal entity for Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa was found.
Regional network
Every holiday season Bentolila sent pairs of rabbinical students across the continent. Where demand grew, he installed a resident couple.[3][2] As of 2026 the permanent centres under Kinshasa were in the DRC, Nigeria (Abuja and Lagos), Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania, and a new centre in Senegal had been announced.[3] The Kinshasa office also lists "punctual visits" to the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone.[8] See Chabad Lubavitch of Nigeria, Chabad Lubavitch of Angola, Chabad Lubavitch of Ghana, Chabad Lubavitch of Ivory Coast, Chabad Lubavitch of Uganda, Chabad Lubavitch of Rwanda, Chabad Lubavitch of Zambia, Chabad Lubavitch of Kenya, Chabad Lubavitch of Tanzania and Chabad Lubavitch of Ethiopia.
According to JTA in 2016, Bentolila requires all his emissaries to speak fluent Hebrew, and he credits the arrival of "thousands of Israelis" since the 1990s with a major boost to Chabad's work.[9]
The Jewish community
JTA in 1995 described a community of about 100 families. It had been centred on Lubumbashi until the 1970s, and its founders were Sephardim from Turkey, Egypt and Rhodes, later joined by Jews from Belgium, Morocco and Tunisia and by Israelis. "All the Jews here are in business, with many of them involved in the exporting of diamonds."[4] The congregation's lay president was Robert Franco and its vice-president Morris Habib. Habib told JTA: "The rabbi maintains the religious way of life, and we maintain the cultural way of life."[4] In 1995 Bentolila flew a student rabbi, Shlomo Litzman, to hold a seder for ten people in "Tehikapa" (Tshikapa), "a diamond-mining town some 420 miles from Kinshasa".[4]
Relations with the state, business and Israel
Dan Gertler. Gertler, an Israeli diamond and mining magnate, arrived in Kinshasa in May 1997, a few days after Laurent-Désiré Kabila's forces took the city. According to Bloomberg (2012), "Shlomo Bentolila, chief rabbi of Kinshasa's Chabad-Lubavitch center, arranged for the young diamond merchant to meet Kabila's son Joseph, the new army chief, at the InterContinental hotel, Gertler says."[5] Nicolas Niarchos, writing in Vanity Fair in 2026, gives the same account: "Upon arriving in the capital, Gertler enlisted the help of Kinshasa's chief Chabad rabbi to make the introduction to Kabila's 25-year-old son, Joseph."[10] Bloomberg adds: "In Congo, he supports the Chabad-Lubavitch center, which provides religious and educational services to Jews throughout Africa."[5]
What followed is set out on Gertler's own page. In brief:
- Diamond monopoly and arms. Under Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Gertler's firm IDI obtained control of Congo's entire diamond output for 18 months, in a deal worth up to $700 million that followed a $20 million payment to the president. According to a UN report quoted by Vanity Fair, unpublished clauses had IDI arrange "the delivery of undisclosed quantities of arms as well as training for the Congolese armed forces". This is an allegation in a UN report; Gertler has always denied any involvement in military aid.[10]
- Sanctions. On 21 December 2017 the US Treasury sanctioned Gertler for amassing a fortune "through hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals". This is a US government sanctions designation, not a criminal conviction. Gertler "has always publicly denied allegations of wrongdoing".[10]
- Israeli intelligence. Vanity Fair cites reports in Haaretz and Bloomberg (2019) that the Mossad chief Yossi Cohen travelled to Congo with Gertler at least three times to lobby the president.[10]
- Rabbis and investors. Vanity Fair writes that Gertler's network included "a series of rabbis who explained to potential investors that Gertler had an almost mystical power to yield profits 'beyond the natural order'". It does not name those rabbis or say that they were Chabad.[10]
- Editor's note: The sources establish two links between Chabad in Kinshasa and Gertler: Bentolila's introduction of Gertler to Joseph Kabila (Gertler's own account, as reported by Bloomberg and Vanity Fair), and Gertler's financial support for the centre (Bloomberg). No source found alleges that Bentolila or Chabad took part in Gertler's business dealings. The amount and dates of Gertler's support are not known.
Congolese state. Tshisekedi's government was represented at the 2026 anniversary (see above).[3] No other formal agreement or state funding was found.
Israel. JTA (2016) noted that "the Jewish state's reputation in Africa is a mixed one, spanning from the sale of weapons and facilitating the plunder of natural resources to helping build life-saving infrastructure and medical facilities". Bentolila's own view was that "the majority of Israelis and Jews are recognized in Africa as a force for good".[9]
Funding and donors
- Gertler is reported to support the centre (see above).[5]
- The Bentolilas began with "one year of financial backing", source unstated.[1]
- Fundraising was one of the workshop topics at the 2026 regional conference.[3]
- Editor's note: No accounts or donor lists were found. Chabad's own directory lists a US (954) telephone number for the Kinshasa departments; no US-registered fundraising entity has been identified.[11]
Controversies
The main controversy is the Gertler connection described above. No allegation of wrongdoing against Chabad or Bentolila was found.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1988 | Bentolila's first African trip as a "Roving Rabbi" (Abidjan and five other countries) |
| Dec 1990 | The Rebbe blesses the opening of Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa |
| 16 Jan 1991 | The Bentolilas leave for Kinshasa |
| 1991–93 | Army riots in Kinshasa; the previous rabbi leaves and the congregation asks the Bentolilas to stay |
| May 1997 | Fall of Mobutu; Bentolila introduces Dan Gertler to Joseph Kabila (Gertler's account) |
| Aug 1998 | The family is evacuated during the Second Congo War |
| Dec 2017 | US Treasury sanctions Gertler |
| 1 Apr 2021 | Death of Myriam Bentolila |
| 26 May 2026 | 35th anniversary gathering in Kinshasa; Tshisekedi's envoy speaks |
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Chabad Lubavitch of the Republic of the Congo
- Dan Gertler
- Chabad Lubavitch of Ivory Coast
- Chabad Lubavitch of Angola
- Chabad Lubavitch of Nigeria
- Chabad Lubavitch of South Africa
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Dovid Margolin, "Myriam Bentolila, 52, Elegant and Unsung Rebbetzin of the Congo", Chabad.org, 19 April 2021. Chabad-side.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa, "About Us", JewishAfrica.com, accessed 20 October 2026 (undated; text refers to "the past 21 years", i.e. c. 2012). Chabad-side.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Shloimy Galperin, "Getting Central Africa's Rabbis Into One Room Isn't Easy", Chabad.org, 10 June 2026. Chabad-side.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 "Around the Jewish World: Zairian Jews Prosper, but Carry Walkie-talkies for Emergencies", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 18 April 1995. Press.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Franz Wild, Michael J. Kavanagh and Jonathan Ferziger, "Gertler Earns Billions as Mine Deals Fail to Enrich Congo", Bloomberg Markets (December 2012), republished by Pan African Visions, 2 July 2013. Press.
- ↑ Dovid Margolin, "Raised in the Congo, She Will Now Start Up Chabad in Ivory Coast", Chabad.org, 12 July 2018. Chabad-side.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chabad.org, "Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa", Chabad Locator, accessed 20 October 2026. Chabad-side directory.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa, "Our Locations", JewishAfrica.com, accessed 20 October 2026 (undated, partly out of date). Chabad-side.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Cnaan Liphshiz, "As Chabad grows in Africa, hardy rabbis encounter crime and spirituality", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 7 September 2016. Press.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Nicolas Niarchos, "Mine. Mine. Mine. How One Corrupt Billionaire Kicked Off the Global Cobalt Spree", Vanity Fair, 20 February 2026 (adapted from his book The Elements of Power). Critical.
- ↑ Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters, "Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa – Centers", Lubavitch.com, accessed 20 October 2026. Chabad-side directory.