The first Jews in the Congo were Eastern European immigrants from Romania and Poland, then Jewish immigrants arrived from South Africa and  Rhodes. That same year, a Jewish community centre was established named the Communauté du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi.

In 1930, a synagogue was built in Élisabethville (Lubumbashi). Due to an economic crisis during this time, most of the Eastern European Jews left the Congo. After World War I and II, however, many Jewish refugees from Eastern and Southern Europe came to the Congo.

The Congo was home to 2,500 Jews, but after the independence of Congo from Belgium in 1960, the majority left the country.

In 2013, the Jewish population was around 320. There is a synagogue in Lubumbashi that is served by a rabbi and also small Jewish community living in Kinshasa. There is also small Jewish community living in Kinshasa that is known as the Congregation Israélite.