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AFRICAN JEWISH CONGRESSThe African Jewish Congress was
founded in 1992 as a representative coordinating
body for the Jewish communities in Sub-Saharan African
countries. Its main aims are (a) to enable smaller
Jewish communities to establish and maintain contact
with larger Jewish communities, which in turn provide
them with access to various facilities, and (b) to
give Africa and African Jews a voice in international
Jewry through a properly constituted forum. The establishment
of the AJC was made possible by the
demise of white minority rule in South Africa, which
ended South Africa's isolation on the international
stage and enabled its large Jewish community to take
the lead in setting up a representative body for
African Jewry. The AJC has its head
offices in Johannesburg, South
Africa, located within the administrative structure
of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD)
and is affiliated to the World
Jewish Congress. The main professional officer
of the AJC is its spiritual leader,
who regularly travels to the affiliated countries
to, amongst other things, officiate at religious
services and life-cycle events, visit individual
Jews living in isolated areas, and oversee the maintenance
of Jewish cemeteries. Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft has
fulfilled this role since the organization's
creation while founder-member Mervyn Smith, a former
national president of the sajbd, has served as its
president and represented the organization
[David Saks (2nd ed.)] Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved. |
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