This book traces the largely overlooked history of the Sephardic Jewish pioneers who settled in the Belgian Congo during the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on archival records, period biographical notices, family testimonies, photographs, and genealogical research, it brings together some 220 meticulously documented biographies of merchants, traders, industrialists, and entrepreneurs from Sephardic families, primarily originating from the island of Rhodes. Their

Most Ashkenazim consider Sephardic Jews to be exotic yet somewhat naive, given to colorful garb and spiced food and characterized by sincere yet simple religious devotion, with perhaps more than a dab of Kabbalistic superstition thrown in for good measure. Their rabbis, too, are mild-natured individuals, innocent of worldly knowledge and perspicacity, who may be good at rote memorization but are third-rate in intellectual depth. Not long ago, even some talmidei-hakhamim held