The small and dwindling Jewish community of Zambia in
southern Africa received a boost last month with the holding
of a high profile memorial service for one of its most
distinguished members, the late Abe Galaun, in Lusaka. Nearly
200 people, mainly non-Jewish and including many local
dignitaries, crowded into the Lusaka synagogue to pay tribute
to Mr. Galaun, who passed away in August and was buried in
London, where most of his family now lives.
Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, spiritual leader to the African
Jewish Congress, presided over the service, and delivered the
main hesped. He told the story of Mr. Galaun's long
and remarkable life, from his birth in Vornia, Lithuania in
1914, through to his arrival in Zambia, then known as
Northern Rhodesia, just before the outbreak of World War II
and subsequent spectacular rise in the meat and agricultural
business. So successful was he in the latter field that he
had been known in his adopted country as "the man who fed the
nation." Mr. Galaun was also involved in a wide range of
charitable enterprises, which included providing wheelchairs
for hundreds of crippled war veterans and other disabled
people.
"Not only was he an integral part of Zambian history. His was
also truly one of the most remarkable African Jewish lives of
the century," Rabbi Silberhaft said.
Abe Galaun was also very active in Jewish communal and
Zionist affairs, serving for twenty years as chairman of the
then growing Zambian Jewish community, which at its height
numbered some 1200 souls. Later, after the community
dwindled, he created the Council for Zambia Jewry as the sole
umbrella organization for those remaining in the country. He
was also a founder patron of the Commonwealth Jewish Council
in 1981, and in 1986 he and his wife, Vera, were awarded that
body's prestigious annual award for "Services to the
Community." After ties between Zambia and Israel were
severed, he became an unofficial conduit for dialogue between
the two countries.
Amongst the distinguished guests and one of the speakers was
Simon Zukas, a Jewish political activist who played an
important part in Zambia's independence struggle in the post-
war era. In 1952, he was deported by the colonial government
for being a "danger to peace and good order" but he returned
after Zambia became independent in the early 1960s and lives
there to this day. Zukas described the outstanding
contribution Galaun had made to Zambian society whilst
remaining true to his Jewish origins.
"If we go by who contributed his ample energies to build the
Zambian economy and who helped to alleviate poverty and
suffering in Zambia, I have no hesitation in classing Abe as
a true Zambian. He was also a proud Jew: a Zambian Jew," he
said.
Patrick Chisanga, representing Rotary International,
described the tremendous contribution Galaun had made as
Rotary president, not only in Zambia but throughout Africa.
He had been a founding member of the Rotary Club of Lusaka in
1954, going on to become District Governor in 1986.
Members of the Galaun family in attendance were his widow,
Vera, whom he married in Johannesburg in 1945, and Michael
Galaun, one of his two sons. Michael Galaun continues to live
in Lusaka, from where he runs the Galaun empire and, as
president of the Council for Zambian Jewry Ltd., is a
mainstay of the now sorely depleted Jewish community. Most
remaining Jews in Zambia today live in Lusaka, coming
together for all the Jewish festivals, although they struggle
to make a minyan except on special occasions.
Rabbi Silberhaft pays regular pastoral visits, which includes
overseeing the maintenance of the eight Jewish cemeteries in
the country. Despite severe economic difficulties, Zambia is
fortunately largely free of the violence and political
tensions that wrack neighboring Zimbabwe.
