Posts Tagged ‘China’

Shanghai Synagogue Reopens

Posted May 14, 2010 News 1 Comment

A delegation of Chinese officials and international diplomats will join Shanghai’s Jewish community in celebrating the reopening of the historic Ohel Rachel synagogue. Its reopening is connected to Expo 2010 Shanghai which, with its 190 countries and more than 50 international organizations participating, is the largest expo in history.

Ohel Rachel was built in 1920 to accommodate the large contingent of Baghdadi Jews that had settled Shanghai since the 1870s. Founded by the legendary tycoon Jacob Sassoon, the ivy-covered, Greek Revival style building once housed 30 Torahs and had the capacity to seat 700 congregants. With the exception of 2 years during World War II, it operated daily until 1952. In 2002, it was listed on the World Monuments Watch list of endangered buildings.

Before this announcement, Ohel Rachel was not open to visitors as it is part of the Shanghai Education Commission compound, a governmental organization. Regardless, it is seen as an enduring symbol of Shanghai Jewry. Hopefully access to the building will last beyond Expo 2010′s run from May 1 through October 31st.

More information on this story can be found here.

photograph by invidia
story submitted by JMN member, Sonia Rosen

Kulanu-Kaifeng Speaking Tour

Posted May 9, 2010 News 2 Comments

Kulanu is hosting Shi Lei of the historic Jewish community of Kaifeng, China. Mr. Lei will be lecturing on his community’s remarkable resurgence.

Cut off from the Jewish world for hundreds of years until it was “discovered” by a Jesuit priest in 1605 CE, the Kaifeng community remained intact until the 19th century when it disappeared from the Jewish map. Today, this ancient Jewish community is undergoing a remarkable resurgence. Shi Lei is a descendant of one of the original Jewish families, believed to have settled in Kaifeng between 960 and 1127 CE.

An accomplished and experienced speaker, Shi Lei will present the history of this remarkable community, offering insight into the ability of some remnants of the community to survive under difficult, even impossible, circumstances. Today, some 300 descendants still live in Kaifeng, and while some Jewish traditions have been forgotten, others have been preserved through the centuries. Like Shi Lei, many young people desire to learn about their origins. Eighteen of them are currently studying in Israel.

Shi Lei is a graduate of Henan University in the province of Henan, China. From 2001 to 2002, he studied Jewish history and religion in Israel at Bar-Ilan University, continuing his studies at Machon Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Now a tour operator and national tour guide, Shi Lei leads private and group tours to Kaifeng and other Chinese cities with Jewish sites of interest, including Beijing, Harbin, Xi’an and Shanghai.

This year’s Kulanu-Kaifeng speaking tour will run from April 29 through May 23, 2010 and is brought to us in cooperation with the Sino-Judaic Insitute. Kulanu has posted his travel calendar online here.