Vol. 30 No. 3 A Publication of the Snio-Judaic Institute November 2015 Messianic Zionism, Settler-Colonialism, The Marshmallow Museum: and the Lost Jews of Kaifeng Holocaust Lite By Mohammad Turki Al-Sudairi By Dr. Lotte Lustig Marcus First published on www.Jadaliyya.com, 10 July 2015 The Kaifeng Jews of China–numbering at present some five I. Introduction hundred to one thousand in total–are one of the latest com- I really, really, had recovered from my refugee experience in munities to garner the interest of right-wing messianic orga- Shanghai from1939 -1947. After all, 70 years have rolled by. Ear- nizations connected to the settler-colonial movement in Isra- ly on, I had suffered –on and off– from intermittent trauma stem- el. Over the last decade, messianic groups have intensified ming from the turmoil of exiting Vienna, from the memory of efforts to encourage the community to immigrate (aliyah) to American air raids on Hongkou (where the Japanese military Israel. This endeavor is making some headway. Messianic or- were in charge of our Jewish community). Overall, over the years, ganizations, including Amichav (My People are Returning), I no longer gave Shanghai much thought. It surprised me there- its semi-successor Shavei Israel (Returners to Israel) and, in fore why the recent Chinese interest in our experience bothered more supportive/facilitating roles, a number of Christian me. I became aware of errors of omissions, distortions, and bias- Zionist groups, see the Kaifeng Jews as “Lost Jews” and as es in public pronouncements – very different from the Shanghai such important assets. “Lost Jews” represent new sources of I knew. More and more I sense a profound disconnect between potential immigration to Israel. This is critical given the per- my memory and its recreation by today’s Hongkou government ception among such organizations that traditional sources of officials, its designers and storytellers. This is what I propose to immigration–the United States, Europe and the former Soviet examine here. Union–are either exhausted, or spiritually or ideologically II. Background unsuitable. There is also a realization that a conclusive Jew- With the widespread euphoria caused by the victories of World ish demographic majority within historical Palestine remains War II, no one took any public notice of us refugee survivors in elusive. Encouraging the immigration of “Lost Jews,” a some- the 1940’s–1950’s once we left Shanghai and emigrated to the what unconventional solution, partially addresses some of West. Nor were we expecting any different. After all, what was a these issues. In addition, by virtue of their demographic utili- community of 18,000 in far off China compared to the millions of ty, “Lost Jews” help further the settlement project in the West the displaced in Europe, the half million American soldiers killed, Bank (as well as Arab high-density areas within Israel like the six million who were gassed. We survivors clamored, strate- the Galilee), and undermine recourses to the two-state solu- gized, dreamt to leave our interim Shanghai home as soon as we tion. Finally, messianic organizations espouse a cosmological could even as an unknown number of us learned -- via mail from view that associates the return of “Lost Jews,” including those the hunting grounds of Europe -- of the deaths of close relatives of Kaifeng, to Israel as part of the “Ingathering of the Exiles” left behind. Thirteen members of my father’s family were killed that will hasten the End of Days. on the Yugoslavian border, in the camps of Dachau and There- “Lost Jews” refers to that conceptual category of people sienstadt. There was grief in a time of euphoria. whose religious/cultural connections to Judaism have sup- Within a few years, the majority of Shanghailanders with no re- posedly frayed or dissipated altogether. This dissipation is grets resettled in America, Canada, Australia, Israel (then Pales- a result of assimilatory pressures from their host societies, tine). A remnant of refugees returned to Vienna and Berlin. persecution, as well as limited interaction with the wid- er Jewish world. Messianic organizations use this moniker In 1948, when the Chinese Communists wrestled Shanghai away to refer to the Abayudaya of Uganda, Hispanic Jews (Bnei from the Japanese, an American troop ship brought a few hun- Anousim), the Mizo of Northeastern India (Bnei Menashe), dred remaining Jews from Shanghai to San Francisco, and then and the Kaifeng Jews of China. Rabbinical and scholarly cir- sent them by sealed train across the American continent to New cles have contested the confessional and ethnic identities of York to provide asylum in (then) Palestine. these groups on both legal (halakhic) and historical grounds. However, this contestation has not deterred messianic orga- Shanghai, the city, didn’t blink an eye. After all, between our ar- nizations or their Christian Zionist allies from lobbying for rivals in 1939 to our departure in 1947, the city had doubled in recognition of their Jewishness and hence eligibility for emi- size from 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 with all the strains on resourc- gration to Israel. Recognition from the rabbinical authorities es such a growth caused. in Israel is usually attained following a several decades-long and complex process of re-Judaisation wherein a specifical- In 1976, David Kranzler, Ph.D., published “Japanese, Nazis & ly messianic, orthodox and Ashkenazi understanding of the Jews” (the Jewish Refugee Community of Shanghai, 1938-1945), (continued on page 4) (continued on page 6) 2 Points East FROM THE EDITOR TABLE OF CONTENTS Points East Readers will hopefully forgive me for the Anson Laytner, Publisher Featured Articles: late arrival of this issue of Points East. I Points East is published by the Sino-Judaic Messianic Zionism, ...... 1 was busy getting married and enjoying Institute, a tax-exempt, non-profit organization. The Marshmallow Museum ...... 1 a honeymoon in Indonesia. I heartily The opinions and views expressed by the recommend a visit to Indonesia for its contributors and editor are their own and do sites, scenery and charming peoples. I not necessarily express the viewpoints and From the Editor ...... 2 also was impressed by the Muslim-Hin- positions of the Sino-Judaic Institute. du tolerance I observed there. If there is Letters to the Editor and articles for Points East In the Field ...... 3 a lesson to be learned from how Indo- may be sent to: nesians live together, it would seem that Preferred Form: Articles: moderation in religion, as in all things, e-mail:[email protected] Chinese-Jewish Solidarity ...... 10 is a virtue. or to: Rabbie Anson Laytner People of Israel ...... 10 Now to our latest issue: Points East vol- 1823 East Prospect St. Seattle, WA 9811-23307 The Shanghai Collection: Help ume 30 leads off with two sure-to-be controversial articles, one by Dr. Lotte Needed to Identify Photos ...... 11 Points East is published three times a year, in Marcus taking the political culture be- March, July and November. Deadlines for Chinese National Institute for hind the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Muse- submitting material to be included in these Jewish Studies Established ...... 12 um to task for airbrushing out the com- issues are January 15th, May 15th and plexities of the World War II experience, September 15th. Survivors of Shanghai and the second by Mohammad Turki Ghetto Reunite ...... 12 Al-Sudairi for an other-side-of-the-mir- FINANCIAL REPORT AVAILABLE The Jewish Community ror critique of the Zionist component of SJI members interested in receiving a Shavei Israel’s (and to a lesser degree the of Singapore ...... 13 copy of the annual financial report should Sino-Judaic Institute’s) work in Kaifeng. send a self-addressed envelope to: Steve Harbin Synagogue Complex A future issue will feature his analysis of Hochstadt, Treasurer of the Sino-Judaic Renovation Update ...... 14 China’s Israel Studies programs. While Institute, Illinois College, 1101 W. College some readers may take exception to his Ave., Jacksonville IL 62650. perspective, I believe it is always worth- Book Nook ...... 10 while hearing diverse points of view for Sino-Judaic Institute Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews: A Collection what one might learn from them. c/o Rabbi Arnold Mark Belzer of Biographical Reflections ...... 10 34 Washington Avenue To give readers concrete examples of Savannah, GA 31405 U.S.A. The Lost Torah of Shanghai ...... 11 what upsets Dr. Marcus, see the arti- SJI Officers cles “Chinese-Jewish Solidarity during The Shanghai Collection ...... 11 Arnold Mark Belzer, President WWII” and “People of Israel Say Thank Vera Schwarcz, Vice-President You to Shanghai” on page 10 of this is- Steve Hochstadt, Treasurer sue. While I sympathize with Dr. Mar- Ondi Lingenfelter, Secretary cus’ complaint, I fear this revisionist Anson Laytner, Immediate Past President SJI MEMBERSHIP history is here to stay because it serves Managing Board both China and Israel to promote it. Denise Yeh Bresler, Joel Epstein, Bev Friend, Country Total Seth Garz, Mary-Anne Graham, Ron Kaye, As always, we welcome your comments. Dana Leventhal, Den Leventhal, David Mar- United States 146 shall, Jim Michaelson, Art Rosen, Eric Roth- Canada 32 Anson Laytner berg, Marvin Tokayuer, Tibi Weisz, Cynthia Zeiden China 20 International Advisory Board Israel 15 Wendy Abraham, Jan Berris, Mark Cohen, England 6 Irene Eber, Avrum Ehrlich, Fu Youde, Jonathan Goldstein, Jerry Gotel, Judy Green, Len Hew, Australia 4 Tess Johnston, Donald Leslie, Michael Li, Germany 1 Readers: Visit our website: Maisie Meyer, Mark Michaelson, Sonja Muehl- www.sino-judaic.org. berger, Gustavo Perednik, Andrew Plaks, Pan Japan 2 Guang, Shi Lei, Yitzhak Shichor, Elyse Silver- South Africa 1 SJI Members: berg, Josh Stampfer, Shalom Wald, Xiao Xian, Email [email protected] Xu Xin, Zhang Qianhong, Albert Yee, David Cyprus 1 Sweig Indonesia 1 to receive the user name and password needed to access the Past Presidents Switzerland 1 “members only” section. Al Dien, Leo Gabow Taiwan 1 In Memoriam, z”I Marshall Deneberg, Leo Gabow, Phyllis Horal, Teddy Kaufman, Rena Krasno, Michael Pollak, Total: 231 Louis Schwartz Points East 3 IN THE FIELD TO THE EDITOR Shavei Israel publishes first ever Temporarily the Most Famous Jew To the Editor, holiday guide in Chinese in China Having read with interest the two arti- Shavei Israel has expanded its popular Danny Spungen, on his third trip to Chi- cles on Lost Jews by Mr. Fishbane and Ms Na’aseh Venishma series of booklets on na was briefly famous when he was cap- Maltz, I have some comments. Having Jewish tradition and law to Chinese. Its tured by camera at the re-opening of the met and travelled in China with Rabbi first ever booklet for the Jewish commu- “White Horse Inn” sitting in the courtyard Eliyahu nity in Kaifeng arrived just in time for by a statue created by the Shanghai Mint the High Holy Days. The latest Na’aseh designer Rocky Zhao based on the image Avichail, I find Mr. Fishbane’s denigra- Venishma booklet, which started with from the 2013 Shanghai Ghetto Memory tion of this fine man most distasteful. publications in the Kuki and Mizo lan- numismatic medal/coin. His picture was Referring to Rabbi Avichail”s research guages for the Bnei Menashe in India, featured in eight Chinese newspapers. as “ amateur scholarly research “ and covers the period from the Hebrew his search for lost Jews as “...a series of month of Elul through the holiday of In addition to newspapers, Danny was insane adventures” over thirty years is Yom Kippur. The 66-page book, which interviewed by ICS TV News and a by a to say the least, highly offensive. Rab- is available also as an eBook, is filled Harbin TV crew for a new documentary bi Avichail’s research was careful and with stories, historical background, of the history of the Jewish people in Chi- done with honest, detailed precision. liturgical poems, holiday traditions na coming out in 2016. His travels in search of lost Jews a won- and customs. The booklet was trans- derful and heartwarming endeavor. He lated into Chinese by Yaakov Wang, a First Chinese-Yiddish Song was and I am sure remains a highly eth- Kaifeng Jew who Shavei Israel helped ical, studious Jew who pursued our lost The FORWARD (http://forward.com/cul- make aliyah in 2009 and who has said ture/music/323094/the-first-chinese-yid- brethren with verve and the best of mo- he wants to be the first “Chinese Rabbi” dish-song/#ixzz3pMr7PgO9), in an article tives. Meaningless, snide asides, do not in 200 years, and Eran Barzilay, Shavei by Talya Zax (Forward Culture Intern), meet minimum standards of decency, Israel’s coordinator for the Kaifeng Jew- drew our attention to the first ever Chi- besides being false. ish community. nese-Yiddish song. Yang Meng, writing As for both writers, we can understand a Ph.D. dissertation on Jewish exile in Video Available that the Bnei Manashe cannot be defined Shanghai, participated in the 2015 Nao- as “ seeds of Israel”. What is unclear from From Wang Linlin via Sonja Muehlberg- mi Prawer Kadar International Yiddish er comes word that the English version both articles is where their connection to Summer Program at Tel Aviv University. the Jewish people originates? We under- of the documentary “Survival in Shang- For that program’s closing ceremony she hai,” which had been broadcast in stand their contemporary attachment to performed a Yiddish rewriting of a clas- things Jewish. Shanghai, is now available in an English sic Chinese song, Liang Hongzi’s 1983 version. Wang and a colleague upload- “Wishing We Last Forever,” which itself What are its origins? ed the three episodes on Youtube as is a musical setting of a poem written in “unlisted,” which means you won’t be 1076 by Su Shi, the famed Chinese poet Yours very truly, able to find them by searching except and essayist. Yang translated the song into David C. Buxbaum for clicking the links below. Episode Yiddish with the assistance of Yuri Ve- [email protected] 01 https://youtu.be/cQ3SZeFV2OA denyapin, a Yiddish language instructor Episode 02 https://youtu.be/OkUy- based at Harvard. [In North East India, in the land between bE5G3ns Episode 03 https://youtu.be/ Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Bangla- pszFBtXv4qs desh, there lives a small group of people In Memoriam: Moses Samuels, who have been practicing a brand of Ju- White Horse Café Reopens the Man Who Preserved Jewry daism for more than 27 centuries. They The Zum Weissag Rossi Kafe, or White in Myanmar call themselves Bnei Menashe (or Man- Horse Café, which originally opened in In July 2002, New York Times journal- maseh) and claim to be descendants of 1939, reopened again in August with a ist Seth Mydans…estimated the num- the Tribe of Menashe, one of the Ten ceremony after being rebuilt. ber of Jews in Myanmar to be around Lost Tribes of Israel. Also known as the 20. Yet for 35 years, Moses Samuels, Shinlung, the Bnei Menashe relate their “A lot of people visited, Jewish peo - who presided over the synagogue and history of exile from the Northern King- ple and non-Jewish people,” said Ron the cemetery, like his father and dom of Israel in 721 B.C. E. finally ending Klinger, 74, the cafe co-founder’s grand- grandfather before him, made sure the up in India and Myanmar (Burma). After son, who grew up in the cafe, according Jewish population and spirit has re- thousands of years of exile they have re- to Shanghaiist. “It was like [a] cafe, bar mained a part of the Burmese cultur- discovered their roots and are returning and nightclub. It was very popular.” The al fabric. Often only he and his son, to mainstream Judaism and to Israel. For cafe was rebuilt about 100 yards from its Sammy, comprised the Friday evening more information see www.bneime- original location, and is located next to congregation at Yangon’s Musmeah nashe.com.] the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. Yeshua synagogue. Samuels died on May 29 after a battle with cancer. He To the Editor, Shanghaiist reported that the city is ap- was 65. He is survived by his wife, plying to have the neighborhood in- Nelly, daughters, Dina and Kaznah, My name is Roman Ravve. I am looking cluded in the UNESCO Memory of the and his son, Sammy. for any information about Valya Ravve World Registry. from Harbin - our ancestors were related, 4 Points East but my branch of the tree stayed in Russia I can find no trace of Max Calms and maritime coasts and northwest frontiers (USSR/Ukraine). Valya Ravve was a pia- wonder if he died in Shanghai as he in conglomerations that came in tandem nist from Harbin; he moved to Dairen in would have been over 80 had he left on with other Muslim diasporic communi- the midst of 1940’s. that boat. ties. The Kaifeng congregation (kehillah) was by far the most pre-eminent (and In the Postscript to Chinese edition of Anyway I hope that you can help me or at wealthy) among these given its success- the “Harbin Files”, by Mara Moustafine, least guide me to some more information ful consecration of a major synagogue is mentioned the book “Valya the Spy”, by 1163 and which remained in use for that was published by Shanghai writer - I Thank you in advance centuries thereafter. The community sup- cannot find this book in internet - do you Gaby Jacoby -Owen posedly reached its apogee during the have any information about this book? [email protected] Ming period (fourteenth and seventeenth centuries) with a population of nearly five Regards, thousand and the attainment of several of Roman Ravve, [email protected] its members the highly prestigious jinshi Messianic Zionism degrees. It later entered an interminable (continued from page 1) process of decline that came to head in To the Editor, traditions becomes dominant. Messianic the mid-nineteenth century with the de- I was born in Shanghai on July 20 1949 to organizations often succeeded in this en- struction of the synagogue by flooding in Otto and Ellen Joachimsthal. I would like deavor principally because of their ability 1849 and the disintegration of communal to find any and all information regarding to outbid other transnational Jewish orga- practice. Although subsequent rescue this event, my parents, the rabbis who nizations espousing alternative or com- societies emerged by the late nineteenth were at my berit (circumcision ceremony) peting visions. Through the monetary/ and early twentieth centuries from both and more. Can you be of help? ideational influence they offer and wield Christian and Jewish quarters in the West (e.g., the promise of emigration, econom- to revive the congregation, it was by that Thanks ic opportunities, etc.), and their capacity, juncture – aside from a faint acknowl- Davis Joachim (né Joachimsthal) they are able to construct a localized in- edgement of ancestral origins among [email protected] frastructure of religious instruction and various clans claiming no more than a propagation. few hundred members - a legacy of the past. This is not to say that there were Dear Sirs The refashioning (never “conversion” in no residual ethnic conceptions of iden- I am trying to do some research about the lingo of messianic organizations) of tity still latent in the community; this is a family called Calm or Cahn. His name “Lost Jewish” communities along such re- discernable from repeated (and failed) ef- was Max Calms and his wife Malchen, I ligious lines is important on two counts. forts from the 1950s to garner an official think. They arrived in Shanghai in 1944 First it bolsters the claims of these com- recognition of their group – youtai ren - from Berlin and were 77 at the time. munities to Jewishness and makes them, as a self-standing shaoshu minzu (ethnic albeit on shaky grounds, eligible under minority) in the eyes of Beijing. From what I have managed to find, Max the Israeli Law of Return. Although messi- had a sister called Nelly, whose daughter anic organizations expend their political Following Deng Xiaoping’s gaige kaifang was Hildegard Kohls. She married my un- capital to push these claims and facili- (reform and opening), the Jews of Kai- cle Paul Jacob and they were both mur- tate immigration, it is easier to convince feng began to attract renewed interest dered in Auschwitz in March 1943. the rabbinical courts if the applicants/ from various quarters including local and communities in question are seemingly foreign academics and anthropologists Last year I was trying to trace someone Jewish in practice and form. In the case (some of whom later created critical or- from Hildegards family as I and my only of the Kaifeng Jews this is particularly im- ganizations like the American-based cousin had a Stolperstein laid in front of portant as from the perspective of Jewish Sino-Judaic Institute), visitors on Jewish their last address in Berlin and we want- law, they fall short of satisfying the bare Heritage Tours, as well as evangelical ed someone there as well. We had come requirements given that in accordance missionaries interested in their Jewish to a full stop and didn’t know where to with Chinese tradition they trace their an- inheritance. This gradual exposure from turn. cestry patrilineally. Second, by bringing outside influences, hand in hand with a “Lost Jews” back into the fold under an budding local interest in the communi- I did find out, through a museum in Aus- orthodox guise, messianic organizations, ty’s religious/cultural past, has helped tralia, that the SS Marine Lynx left Shang- which are part and parcel of the Nation- catalyze the emergence of a new sense hai with three people whose names al Religious Movement, help assert the of identity and communal spirit among were Carl Calm, Lottchen Calm and Hel- normative authenticity and hegemony of Kaifeng Jews that has become increas- ga Calm. But I was not able to find out their religious interpretations over others. ingly visible since the 1990s. It should be where the boat landed and could go no noted that much of this has taken place further with my research. The Kaifeng community in Henan traces within the contours of a restrained polit- its origins to a group of Persianite/Cen- ical environment in which the Chinese I wonder if you could help me to trace tral Asian Mizrahi Jewish merchants who authorities have continued, despite grow- their descendants, if they had any. At the settled in the capital city of Kaifeng (then ing economic incentives to do otherwise, time I think they were 46, 42 and 21. They Bianliang) of the Northern Song dynasty to insist there is no Jewish community to may or may not be related to Max Calms, sometime in the tenth and eleventh cen- speak of. Likewise the Israeli state, fol- but if they are and they may have [had] turies. There were probably other Jewish lowing the establishment of diplomatic children [then] I could contact them. congregations scattered all along China’s relations in 1992 and eager not to antag- Points East 5 onize Beijing, has refused to extend rec- and the Likud political establishment, has nothing was proven, this galvanized other ognition. This meant that most activities sought to do just that by weathering insti- Jewish-American organizations – such as and projects associated with highlighting tutional opposition to the immigration of the Sino-Judaic Institute and Kulanu - to the Jewish legacy of Kaifeng had a rather recently Judaised “Lost Jews” and ensuring throw their weight behind a breakaway precarious existence and has been sub- the approval of their fast-track immigration venture, the Beit HaTikvah (House of ject to the political whims of the central to Israel (including by way of procuring Hope) school, that was founded in 2009. authorities. These include, for example, a bogus legal ruling from the Rabbinate The hope underlying it was to promote a the Construction Office (1993) to which in 2005 declaring that they were of the more autochthonous understanding of a was delegated the responsibility of build- “seed of Israel”.) The last decade has seen Sino-Judaic tradition in Kaifeng that did ing a Jewish History Museum on the site Shavei Israel successfully bring in thou- not emphasize the need for emigration, of the former synagogue. It was closed sands of “Lost Jews”–mostly notably the all the while protecting the community down in 1996 as part of a wider clamp- Tibeto-Burmese speaking Bnei Menashe from Christian influences. down that was connected to growing among others–who had been converted demands within the Kaifeng Jewish com- over many decades prior by Amichav. Pri- Interestingly, it appears that while Shavei munity for emigration. It was in he same or to Israel’s 2005 Gaza disengagement, backed the new school, it continued to year in which three individuals from Kai- some were placed in Gaza, but they have maintain its links with “suspect” Christian feng, claiming the status of youtai houyi largely settled in Hebron, the West Bank circles and the popular Yiceleye school. (Jewish descendants), sought entry into settlements, as well as in the Galilee. The By doing so, Shavei Israel may have the Israeli embassy and demanded they tempo of immigration for these “New pushed other Jewish-American organiza- be allowed to exercise their “right of re- Jews” has in fact increased over the past tions to yield to its vision of encouraging turn to their ancestral homeland.” few years under the Netanyahu govern- emigration. This was mainly because they ment, with 2012-2013 seeing some of the feared losing locals to evangelizing Chris- Notwithstanding these setbacks, there highest influxes. tian groups that were still attracting consid- was clearly a space for cautious non-state erable support due to their ability to offer groups and actors to tap into such aspi- Unsurprisingly, the existence of the Kaifeng a way “out” of Kaifeng through the school rations and re-direct them as they saw Jews was of interest to Shavei Israel, and (ironically, a scenario enabled largely by fit. In 1999, a group of Finnish Christian mention of them does appear in Michael way of their connections with Shavei Isra- Zionists–connected to the International Freund’s available English publications el). This ultimately allowed the organiza- Christian Embassy in Jerusalem that has as early as 2001. Perhaps out of caution tion to force a merger between the two assisted some 115,000 Jews to emigrate and initial uncertainty about the claims of schools in 2013, ending the schism, and to Israel from the early 1990s–facilitated Jewishness surrounding this community, asserting a predominant role in shaping the entry of the first Kaifeng family into Shavei Israel maintained a light engage- the community’s religious and cultural Israel. The family’s head, in fact, was ment with Kaifeng, preferring to work, as identity. one of the individuals connected to the the 1999 experience indicates, through 1996 incident. This was accomplished in Christian-Zionist (and Judeo-Christian) Through the new synagogue-center, which cooperation with Shavei Israel, a “Lost affiliated activists/groups. These activists has emerged as a critical congregational Jews” organization founded in the late were critical in establishing the first con- point for the community and is now regu- 1990s by Michael Freund, an Ameri- temporary religious hub for the commu- larly manned by Israeli/American teachers, can-Israeli pundit with connections to nity–the Yiceleye (Israelite) school–and Shavei Yirsrael has been able to pursue a both the messianic settler movement encouraging more cohesive forms of reli- more pronounced conversion project in- and the right-wing Netanyahu-linked gious practice. More practically, with the volving the Judaisation, Ahkenization, and political establishment in Israel. He had assistance of Shavei Israel, they offered even Israelization of the community as it originally worked with Amichav, a pio- scholarships as well as opportunities for has done elsewhere. This is done through neering “Lost Jews” organization that emigration, targeting mainly young Kai- various means (many of which had al- had emerged following the 1967 war and feng Jews. In 2006, the first major batch ready been utilized in the context of the which has sought to forward the goals of of Shavei-sponsored immigrants, made preceding schools) ranging from the pro- the Gush Emunim bloc by bringing in up of four women, arrived in Israel with vision of regular classes in person or via “Lost Jews” as settlers. funding from ICEJ’s Hong Kong/Taiwan branches. All of these women reportedly Skype in multiple subjects, the publication These connections reveal the ideological underwent official conversion to Ortho- of newsletters and religious material (such stance embraced by Freund, who had ad- dox Judaism in Israel. Given the Christian as Haggadahs) in Chinese, establishing vocated early on that the Israeli state take backgrounds of these activists, there was congregational prayer and observing the a more creative approach towards solv- some apprehension among other Jewish Shabbat, to celebrating Passover, Purim, ing the “demographic and spiritual crisis organizations operating in Kaifeng that as well as the Israeli National Day (Israe- of unprecedented proportion” which he there was a Christianization project tak- li flags and paraphernalia, as well as the sees the Jewish people as facing. This cri- ing place at the Yiceleye school under singing of the Hatikvah, are increasingly sis is marked by a shrinking population, the guise of religious revival. This led to fixtures of communal life) among many wavering commitment to tradition, and the dispatch in 2004 of several missions other activities. Inherent to the success of a youth exodus that could be solved by to Kaifeng, including one by Shavei Israel this project of course is the construction turning towards those populations that, headed by Michael Freund, two Orthodox of a religious infrastructure that would be while seemingly non-Jewish, appear Israeli rabbis and a representative of the manned by local Kaifeng Jews themselves “sincere in their desire to be Jews”. His Israeli Ministry of Religions Affairs (Eliyahu and who could then galvanize, by virtue of organization, Shavei Israel, in leverag- Birnbaum, who also works for Shavei Is- their authority and example, the wholesale ing its connections with the Rabbinate rael) to investigate these claims. Although emigration of the community. 6 Points East The search for a Chinese Rabbi has and the Chinese government’s perhaps ers. We, the fortunate amongst us, who therefore been on Shavei’s agenda from mounting disregard for the loss of a few had adjusted to and were satisfied with the very beginning, although finding one hundred of its citizens under its zouchu American life, became visible to one an- had to wait until 2009 when a second (going out) policies on the other. other (though we never ascertained the group from Kaifeng, this time compris- numbers of those who, for lack of funds, ing seven young men who emigrated Mohammed Al-Sudairi is pursuing a PhD stayed away from these reunions.) (this video captures their arrival to Is- in comparative politics at Hong Kong rael). Among them, one Wang Yage (or University. He recently earned a double In 1999 and 2004, fifty and sixty years Yaakov Wang) had repeatedly expressed master’s degree in international affairs after our Shanghai stay, two academ- the desire in multiple media outlets of from Peking University and the London ic and most literate books (Irene Eber becoming the “first Chinese Rabbi in School of Economics. He is affiliated with with her “Wartime Shanghai and the 200 years”. Brought to Israel on a one- the Gulf Research Center, and has written Jewish Refugees from Central Europe year tourist visas (after procuring permis- on a variety of topics including Sino-Mid- ”- Survival, Co-Existence and Identity in sion from the Israeli Ministry of Interior), dle East relations, Israeli advocacy, the a Multi-Ethnic City” and Vera Schwarz Arab diaspora in China, and Saudi poli- Shavei Israel arranged for Wang’s group with her “Bridge Across Time”) re-en- tics. His most recent major work includes to be sent to study at a yeshiva in the visioned our story. Both books are su- a monograph titled Sino-Israel Relations Gush Etzion settlement of Efrat in the perbly written. The authors’ credentials West Bank for several years, interspersed through the Prism of Advocacy Groups are impeccable: both researchers are with some time spent at a kibbutz. This (University of Durham, 2013). He may be sinologists, fluent in Chinese and He- experience prepared them for the con- contacted at [email protected]. brew, well-versed in Chinese literary version process/examinations by the culture – a culture which we, as refu- rabbinical court, and indeed by 2013, all of them were recognized as Jews and Marshmallow gees, fully bent on stalking survival, were bestowed Israeli citizenship. While (continued from page 1) were excluded from. I am grateful for their attempts to link high Jewish culture some, such as Yaakov, will return to Kai- which was the first book about us. Thirty with high Chinese culture in their writ- feng (as have others) and participate in years had now gone by. I was 49 years the consolidation and promotion of mes- old, settled in California, married, with ings. They cite not just historical facts, sianic interpretations of Judaism, others three children, when I read in print about which explain what happened, but lard- have opted to stay in Israel: three from what had been a closed door to me as a ed them with emotional details, which this group for instance have joined the Is- youngster. engage readers. We were depicted raeli military’s Golani brigade, probably as immigrants who were not cut from in some intelligence-gathering capacity. I learned from Dr. Kranzler about Shang- one cloth but were Austrians, Germans, hai’s unpredictable political structures, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, secular and During the past decade, some fifteen about its struggling self-help Jewish com- religious; who landed, mostly ignored, or so Kaifeng Jews, through the help of munities, and about how the Japanese in an alien world where, before World Shavei Israel and other Christian Zionist increased their control of Shanghai. I War II, we were “whites” (Nakojins) be- organizations, have emigrated to their saw for the first time how, politically, our fore we were Jews. “ancestral homeland.” Their stories are fate was out of our control. The book often presented as heart-warming re-dis- made a small stir in the immigrant world. In 2004, fifty-eight years after the coveries of heritage and severed roots, From then on, Dr. Kranzler was the go-to war, I became aware of the Chinese with the settler-colonial dimension–of person on Shanghai. In the 1970’s also, diplomat Dr. Feng Shan Ho’s rescue their utilization as assets in a demo- Michael Blumenthal, my fellow Shanghai efforts through his daughter’s labori- graphic war–often ignored. This is not Jewish School buddy, became President ous research about this history. It was to say this is the whole story of what is Carter’s Secretary of Treasury. He took a game-changer for me. I was thrilled happening in Kaifeng. There are, for ex- a much-publicized tour, leading a hoard to see the difference one person could ample, other Jewish groups attempting to of journalists through what had been our make; how a single person’s action lit promote alternative visions of commu- “ ghetto”, an event that made it into Life up evil times. My family’s survival had nal religious life there, and there is also magazine. He made them take notice. some contestation and opposition by hung by a slim thread until Dr. Ho pro- the community towards the visions and Beginning in 1979, thirty-four years after vided us a visa with which to leave objectives of messianic organizations. the war, when our post-war immigrant Vienna. During this time we were re- Nonetheless, the settler-colonial dimen- communities had settled, reunions of ceiving rejection after rejection to our sion casts a shadow upon the narrative Shanghai refugees, spearheaded by Tri- applications to immigrate to Europe, of innocuous religious revival. The num- cia Wechsler and others, began in Foster America, and Australia. Our lives were ber of emigrants will probably increase City, California, and spread to our East a crapshoot. over the coming years and will follow Coast. With lots of hoopla and self-con- patterns already seen elsewhere with the gratulations, they had the fever of high My narrative of the past changed then: Bnei Menashi and Hispanic “Lost Jew- school reunions. Autobiographical In 1945 I would have said my (our) sur- ish” communities. This will partially be books written by refugees appeared and vival was due solely to the Allies’ vic- the outcome of Shavei Israel’s growing were sold at our reunions. One commen- tory. After 2004, I began to say that if dominance over communal discourses, tator said, “This is turning into an indus- not for Dr. Ho, not only could we not its success in creating a religious infra- try!” We avoided mention of the Euro- have exited Vienna, but also most like- structure, and its effective exploitation pean holocaust but we honored Horace ly we would have become some of the of economic need on the one hand, Kadoorie and Blumenthal, among oth- murdered Jews of World War II. This Points East 7 changed view branded my soul, raised tion to celebrating the Hongkou ghetto, psycho-philosophical questions about the image will be put on a stamp, then random turn-arounds, and the way we a postcard with a stamp, and THEN, as choose to attribute meanings to them. a climax, it will be turned into a large sculpture for the newly constructed In 2005 my exile narrative changed Weisse Roesserl Kafe (White Horse Inn) once more. It is now sixty years after at a new site across the street from the the war. My Chinese American surgeon, Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum to chatting with me after he had performed celebrate – with “the World Jewish Con- a cancerous hysterectomy on me in Palo gress” – “the liberation of Shanghai by Alto, California casually mentioned that the Chinese”! his parents were in Shanghai the same time as we were. His parents were ref- The Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum, ugees from Nanking. Until then, I had at 62 Changyang Road (formerly Ward not been aware that hundreds of thou- and benevolent Chinese and the panda is Road), was initially financed by Hongkou sands of refugees were flooding Shang- a symbol of China! But this wasn’t made District government money. The curator hai in our era. Perhaps, it occurred to up out of whole cloth. It seems there is, of the museum was a Hongkou District me now at this late date, that our Chi- indeed, a woman named Sara Imas (born government Foreign Affairs Bureau dep- nese neighbors too had come there as in 1950 in Shanghai), still alive, who says uty. Built on the former Ohel Rachel refugees – from Nanking, or had been that she is the daughter of a refugee father Jewish Synagogue, it has two stand-alone exhibition halls and a courtyard, which victims from the 1937 Hongkou door-to- and a Chinese mother. She still lives in were constructed after nearby apartment door street fighting against the Japanese. Shanghai and told the media that a Chi- housing was demolished and their occu- Our Chinese neighbors were not just nese lady did hold an umbrella for her in a pants relocated. Across the street there poor, but were just as powerless and po- storm. She writes: is the aforementioned third building un- litically oppressed as we were. Both our der construction -- a coffee house that is communities survived the war against Thousands of Jewish refugees found fashioned after our refugee Weise Roes- the scourges of lack of hygiene, nutri- shelters in this piece of land here in Shanghai. My father was one of serl Kafe (White Horse Inn). The muse- tion, disease, inflation, corruption, and um has printed a booklet (“Jewish Ref- air raids. Only when safe, in the US, fifty them. I am so grateful for China and for Shanghai, where it upheld ugees- Shanghai 2015”) to which I shall years later, as a bystander, as an outsid- return and quote from below. er, could I recognize that we refugees a life umbrella, sheltered us from and Chinese couldn’t have alleviated the storm, helped us to survive at the hardest times. Please allow me The museum has become a tourist des- each other’s suffering –much less “have tination and the Curator is now the CEO taken up arms against a sea of troubles”. here as one of the Jewish refugees’ descendants, to pay the sincerest of a “cultural enterprise” where the facts To this day, I’ve never found any person- of our Jewish refugee life are interlaced al diaries, mementoes, and scribblings respect to our Chinese siblings who provided us with foods and shared with hyperbolic language: “Noah’s Arc” by my fellow Chinese who lived through stands for Lloyd Triestino’s expensive their compassion once. that era. ocean liners, voyages that were paid for literally with our last Austrian schillings; III. Revisionist Shanghai: A New A single one-time occurrence becomes mythologized, becomes a public rela- “safe haven” denotes Shanghai’s lack of Mantle on an Old Cloak tions coup. visa restrictions – a haven, indeed, but not ”safe”. The Museum’s entrance fee To my total astonishment, in 1997, near- The Chinese coin designer, Rocky Zhao, has risen from 20RMB ($3.33) to 60 ly fifty years after the war, the Shanghai in collaboration with Danny Spungen of RMB ($10) –unaffordable to the average government entered our story with a the Spungen Family Foundation, an avid Chinese citizen. Even so, if the museum bang. A new “Shanghai Jewish Refugee coin collector, designed the picture on remained local for Jewish tourists visit- Museum” opened at the site of the for- the coin, according to an article in the ing China, or the coins had only been mer Ohel Moshe synagogue in Shang- November 2013 edition of Points East. turned into stamps, I wouldn’t be writ- hai’s Hongkou District, dedicated to Minted in China, the coin is being adver- ing. But not only is the museum’s writing publicizing our Jewish refugee history. tised as “the new limited edition series of grandiose, so are its plans. The museum An ornamental coin was cast by the Shanghai Memory Silver and Gold Medals has already taken its “Jews in Shanghai” Shanghai Mint. As reported in a news- (with a small mezuzah scroll in a wood exhibition to Germany, Israel, New York, paper article under the headline “Thank box) to commemorate the 70th anniver- Chicago, Houston, and Washington DC you Shanghai for holding an umbrella sary of the establishment of the Hongkou among other US cities. This year, the mu- over us,” the coin depicts “a little girl Ghetto.” “The silver medal (1 oz.) has a seum is exhibiting in Australia, Europe standing with a raised head, holding a limited mintage of 5,773 pieces represent- and, next year, the United Nations in toy panda, while a Chinese lady, bent ing the current year in the Jewish calen- New York! Our 18,000 refugees story, over, holds up an umbrella, to shelter the dar and costs $188 each. The 1 oz. gold once so insignificant, in a new dress-up, girl from the rain.” medal is limited to 570 medals and costs is going global $3,636 and the 5 oz. medal is limited to From publicity I learn that the little girl 36 pieces. It costs $32,000 each”. As if that were not enough, I unexpect- depicted on the coin represents the edly learned of yet another tour – it’s Jewish refugees; that the lady holding the It now appears that the image on this coin called “Jews in Shanghai – Love Without umbrella over her represents the caring will soon be put to other uses. In addi- Boundaries” (!!!). It was displayed for two 8 Points East weeks in May 2015 at ICC, one of the loaded food and supplies distributed to 7 philanthropist or organizer sat on any large convention centers in Jerusalem, refugee camps.” of our committees. The one and only Israel (Google: Jews in Shanghai Exhibit true Chinese rescuer was Dr. Feng Jerusalem). According to news reports, it My heart sank. There was no way that I Shan Ho about whom I have written was “co-organized by the Chinese Jew- could see myself or my fellow Shanghai- elsewhere. The image of charitable ish Cultural Foundation, the Shanghai landers in these pictures. Nevertheless, I residents feeding refugees is an epic Jewish (Refugees) Museum and ICC-Je- plowed on and found four factual inaccu- transgression—as is the postcard of a rusalem.” The sponsor of this event was racies in both the booklet and postcards. painting of some Chinese women are Yafo Capital, Huangpu District, and a Here they are: pushing food through to Jews standing financial services corporation in Shang- behind barbed wire! hai, which was represented by Benjamin Error #1. Numbers of refugees: The Shang- Peng, its financial director. hai Jewish Refugees Museum’s website Error #3. Pictorial Error: On page 24 of lists the number of refugees as 30,000. The the JRS booklet and also on postcard The exhibit consisted of 40 large oil generally accepted number of refugees is “Walled in by barricades,” the Jews are paintings, 20 smaller “traditional Chinese 18,000 but even that is not fully verifiable. depicted standing behind barbed wire paintings”, and 10 photographs. What or outside a wooden fence that suppos- Correction: The fact is that once we refu- the public sees are day-to-day Shanghai edly surrounded our ghetto. ghetto scenes in which Jews and Chinese gees left the boat, we were not registered interact “happily” and “harmoniously”. or counted. We do not have recorded the Correction: The Hongkou ghetto, or It is not clear who actually did finance number of people who died and who were “designated area for stateless refugees” the paintings themselves, or whether this buried in Shanghai (my father being one of was open. There was neither a barbed exhibit was solely intended for Israel. I them) or how many refugees left the city wire nor a wooden fence around it. Jew- have, however, examined 32 postcards before the war. Irene Eber writes, “A re- ish “Pao Chia” (recruited) volunteers of some of the oil paintings from the Ex- cent letter from Claus Hirsch informs me checked passes issued by Kano Ghoya, hibit and I have also examined the Jew- that the Joint has a partial list of names of the Japanese overseer of the ghetto. At ish Refugee Shanghai (JRS) 2015 booklet. people who were about to leave Shanghai. some stations, but not all, there were In addition I compiled a list of names of Japanese soldiers with guns next to the What is most striking is that a careful people who had ship reservations after volunteers. I don’t know how many ref- examination of both reveals similarities 1945. But this list, too, is not complete be- ugees were punished for any transgres- in both content and tone. The thrust is cause some people took places to Hong sions. More research is needed. (This to depict our refugee life as surrounded Kong and left from there. In other words, is an aside: Ghoya’s self-designation as on all sides by well dressed and smiling all the various lists are incomplete.” “King of the Jews” is mentioned in all Chinese citizens who are there to help refugee literature, but I have never seen Error #2. Factual Error: On page 19 of the us - whether as a nurse or as a rick- a serious biography of him.) shaw driver or as a host who invites JRS booklet it states, “ALL but the most us to a traditional Chinese New Year’s fortunate families moved into the shelter This is how Michael Werner Blumenthal dinner. On page 26 of the JRS book- (Heime) which were temporarily renovated described conditions in Shanghai in a let we read, “Throughout this period in for them” and “As many charitable Shanghai talk in November 2005: Shanghai, local Chinese and Jewish refu- residents and organizations came forth gees remained friendly to one another”. with food to feed the refugees…” The Japanese military presided And on page 19 we learn that “through over a city unlike any other in the teamwork, global support, and friend- Correction: There were 7 Heime in all and world, largely lawless, with open ship between the Jewish and the Chi- at least 2,000 to 4,000 lived in them as in- vice, much poverty, cruelty and nese people they shared in each other’s digents (that‘s a lot less than ALL). This left injustice. Chinese and foreigners happiness as well as each other’s woe.” 16,000 - 14,000 families living elsewhere. lived largely separate lives with- Here’s a sampling of the text of several of The Heime’s population grew after the Jap- out any close contacts or real the postcards: “The neighbors gave lots anese take-over and was never stable. The understanding of each other. All of help to them. Under the guide of the booklet doesn’t correlate numbers of peo- but the more educated communi- Shanghainese, Jewish refugees learned ple and years. Sadly, there has been no re- cated in something called Pidgin Chinese food cooking” and “There’s a search on the day-to day life in the Heime. English, an odd vernacular of co- harmonious sight where neighbors had lonial times that has almost disap- We know that when Laura Margolis (of to cook in a common area” and “The peared. Shanghai’s infrastructure Heime had beds for 200 refugees. The the American Jewish Joint Distribution was abominable, the drinking living conditions in the Heime were not Committee) arrived in 1940 she found and water unsafe, sewers dangerous, easy. Yet the scent of freedom in the transported a steam boiler to bring hot wa- public transport hopelessly defi- air accompanied by the warm sunshine ter to at least one camp. With that she was cient and the streets dirty, narrow poured into the crowded refugee dormi- able to create a soup kitchen that provided and choked with rickshaws and tory, children were laughing innocently at least one meal a day. People were mal- carts. Disease was widespread and young Jewish teenagers were play- nourished and sick. Additionally, depres- and medical care spotty. Politi- ing their chess pieces innocently” and sion and listlessness were common. cal assassinations were common, “The Chinese people accepted the Jew- petty crime pervasive, corruption ish refugees with a warm and charitable No Chinese organization “renovated” the widespread, and the police unre- heart as many charitable Shanghai resi- Heime. Nor were we ever fed by any Chi- liable. Many people died in the dents and organizations came forth with nese charitable organization. No Chinese streets and nobody cared. Points East 9 Error #4. Factual Error: On page 24 of them! What a turnabout! Jewish refugees, genocide -- not an industrialized holocaust the JRS booklet, it states that “After Ja- once uncertain of their day-to-day Shang- as in Germany-- but the mass killings of pan declared war on the UK and US, hai future, are invited “home”, and now millions, nor has anyone apologized to its organizations such as the American paid attention to, are indeed grateful. For own people (in the way the Germans have Jewish Joint Distribution Committee cut many of them this IS the end of the story. done after World War II, and the way Pope off all donations to the city”. Francis is doing today). China, in spite of V. A Glaring Oversight: Historical- its great progress, is not yet accountable. Correction: That is not true. Laura Mar- ly, what is left out also counts When Chinese lawyers raise civil rights golis, social worker for the American This then is the booklet’s glaring historical questions, questioners are apt to disappear Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, oversight: ”AFTER CHINA OPENED UP (NYTimes 7/11/15). The Hong Kong pro- testers are not heard. And, on a miniscule brilliantly managed to convince the TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD IN THE LATE scale, a current Shanghai Jewish newspa- Japanese to allow in funds from US via 1970’s is the only sentence that refers per (catering to 2,000 Jews in Shanghai’s neutral Switzerland or borrowed mon- obliquely to China’s own history since staggering 23.9 million people), featuring ey from local philanthropists against World War II. In the museum’s booklet, Jewish social and holiday events, writes, payback after the war. It varied from in the coin, in the texts and the paintings “Only foreigners are allowed to attend cer- US$30,000 to $100,000 per month. in the Israel exhibit, there is a total omis- tain events”. Whether government-funded This was crucial to the survival of the sion of China’s political past. It is not just refugees as a community. Many of us or under a new “business” model – the during our refugee years but also through only party in power dictates both to the had depleted all our resources, espe- the 70 years from 1945 to 2015--the same SJRM and the Israeli Exhibit. cially after Pearl Harbor. years in which I stumbled through my own changing narrative. What is held up It’s what makes the revisionist history of IV. Emotional Tone: What really for any audience to see is that our Jewish Shanghai refugees, a minor event, so trou- riles me! survival was played out, over and over blesome. The woman who holds the um- It is not just that the factual errors are again, like a stuck phonograph record, brella over the child is whitewashing Chi- bothersome. Errors are correctable. against stable, prosperous, benevolent na’s history, wants both us outsiders and its What is most upsetting is that the emo- Chinese citizens. own public not to remember its own trav- tional tone in both pictures and texts esties. The kind lady is a puppet hanging is repetitively, insistently, whitewashed Before I continue, let me say: China HAS from an authoritarian string. China’s be- and ultimately false. The Chinese histo- in the last 50 years become a model of nign image on coin, on stamp, on a statue ry revisionists banalize and trivialize the distinguished achievements in mod- is simple propaganda. Our history is used daily realities of life of both Jews and ernization – in engineering, science, to whitewash China’s own. The more our Chinese under war conditions. Their architecture, agriculture, resource man- marshmallow history will be repeated, simplified tales dull our imagination. In- agement, medical advancement – it is as- the more our history becomes sentimen- dividual histories that contain the litany tounding. Only recently, Dr. Blumenthal talized, the more the millions of Chinese of the daily uncertainties of life under told me “Lotte, you wouldn’t recognize murdered in their upheavals are denied. war conditions cannot be denied. In- the Shanghai of today – it is clean, it is efficient, the roads are not crowded….” As a lucky survivor of Shanghai’s tough stead, the versions presently created by days for both Jews and Chinese and as the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum In 1971, China joined the United Nations, one who lost thirteen close relatives in and depicted in the postcard paintings and, under Deng Xiaoping, it did open the European holocaust, I don’t want our are deliberately saccharine. It’s a marsh- up to the outside world. But it did so community to be used to deny past evils. mallow version, a Holocaust lite ver- after colossal political somersaults and I don’t want our Chinese neighbors not to sion. But to what end? at tremendous human cost, which are be acknowledged from 1939 to the pres- never mentioned in the booklet or de- ent. Their voices need to be heard as a That‘s when, a sentence on page 29 in picted in the postcards. First the war with background to the booklets, the postcards, the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum Japan, then an arduous civil war leading and the exhibits that flow into the larger booklet jumped out at me: “AFTER to a Communist victory in 1949 with a world from the Shanghai Jewish Refugee CHINA OPENED UP TO THE OUT- heavy toll of lives and the Taiwan-main- Museum. SIDE WORLD IN THE LATE 1970’S and land schism. There was the godlike myth established diplomatic relations with Is- Lotte Marcus, Ph.D., was born in Vienna of Chairman Mao Zedong (hiding behind in 1927. In 1938, at 10 3/4 years of age, rael, former Shanghailanders came back the banalities of his little Red Book) who she and her parents emigrated to Shang- to visit more frequently, often with their with his twin, Zhou En Lai, orchestrated hai. She came to the USA in 1947 and re- children and grandchildren.” the deaths of millions beginning with ceived her doctorate in psychology in 1988. the Long March; starvation following She has counseled immigrants and refugees True. I learned from Michael Werner the policy of the Great Leap Forward; from Russia, East Germany, Guatemala and Blumenthal that it was in the late 1970’s, the Anti-rightist Campaign; fomenting Mexico. She is the former president and under Deng Xiaoping’s Four Modern- the excesses of the Cultural Revolution; cofounder of Monterey, California’s Multi- izations that ex-Shanghailanders re- and ending in 1989 with the Tiananmen ple Sclerosis Quality of Life Project. She is turned to visit their old homes. They Square incident, with its unparalleled sup- currently researching and writing about the have not only been welcomed, but pression of free speech. deep wounds related to the Holocaust. wined and dined: one participant re- ported to me that Chinese government Yet to date, no one in government has tak- Lotte Marcus can be contacted at hosts even prepared kosher dinners for en responsibility for what is China’s own [email protected]. 10 Points East Chinese-Jewish Solidarity a U.S. artist, who learned drawing from a Chinese girl in a small alley of Shanghai BOOK NOOK during WWII during his childhood. By Yang Zhiwang, Xinhua May 12, 2015 Excerpted from The Shanghai Jewish Light, Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews: A Collection of Biographical May 14, 2015 People of Israel Say “During the Second World War, the Chi- Reflections nese people were wonderful to us, I will Thank You to Shanghai By Dr. Maisie J. Meyer, never forget them! Never!” said Ruth Excerpted from the Shanghai Daily, 27 (Blacksmith Books) Zimmermann, a Jewish refugee during August 2015 Reviewed by Annemarie Evans the WWII, in a shaking voice. Zimmer- http://www.china.org.cn/china/ Published in the South China Morning man, 85, was visiting a painting exhibi- para/2015-08/27/content_36429548.htm Post, 13 August 2015 tion, which opened Sunday in the Inter- national Convention Center in Jerusalem The people of Israel yesterday (26 Au- http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/ marking the history of Jews seeking shel- article/1849171/26-family-stories-tell-his- ter in Shanghai… gust) said a joint thank you to Shang- hai for the protection the city provided tory-shanghais-jewish-community Zimmermann recalled that although during World War II. Hongkou was then a poor section of the An initial flick through Maisie Meyer’s city, Chinese people, poor or rich, were In the 60-second-long video, aptly titled book provides some very familiar names all very nice to Jewish refugees, and that “Thank You Shanghai” and shot in sever- - the Kadoories, the Sassoons, all de- a Chinese gentleman whose surname was al Israeli cities, lots of people expressed scendants of Baghdad’s Jewish commu- Wu assisted her family and her father a lot. their gratitude. nity, who made their way to Shanghai “Mr. Wu helped us unbelievable! He (my The film was released yesterday by the and other parts of Asia to escape prej- father) got himself on feet because of Mr. Israeli consulate and shown at the Shang- udice and pogroms back home. This is Wu,” she said. Zimmermann, who now hai Jewish Refugees Museum. It will also a collection of 26 biographical accounts lives in the northern Israeli city of Ramat taken from Jewish families who first Hasharon, wrote a book on Jewish refu- be shown at other places in the city. gees in Shanghai five years ago when she came to the Treaty Port of Shanghai in Some of the people on the film hold up the mid-19th century. was 80 years old. signs that say “Thank You” in three lan- Speaking at the opening ceremony, Jeru- guages: Chinese, Hebrew and English. Meyer interviewed a number of the salem Mayor Nir Barkat said that he was 20th-century descendants herself, some Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya- deeply honored that the exhibition was of whom have since died. She also uses hu is also in the film, saying: “We are being held in the heart of Jerusalem… diary accounts and archives to provide eternally grateful and we will never for- Barkat hoped that the rest of the world a real family insight into Sephardic Jew- can learn from the Chinese people, help get, thank you.”…“When cities across the people in their toughest times and togeth- globe closed their doors to Jews fleeing ish traditions, celebrations, marriages, er build a safer and better world. genocide, Shanghai showed hospitality.” food and worship. Some of the earlier photos show women in Baghdadi dress In his speech, Minister Councilor of the “This film is a token of appreciation to with bells on little chains adorning their Chinese Embassy in Israel Lu Kun said Shanghai and to the Chinese people ankles. Meyer has written the interviews both the Chinese people and Jewish from the people of Israel,” Arnon Perl- people had experienced great suffering well and edited other accounts in such a man [Israel’s consul general in Shanghai] during the WWII and commemorating way that the voice and individual char- what happened 70 years ago reflected told Shanghai Daily. acter of the teller come through, even the common aspiration of the two peo- “We created this film in the hope that though I was confused at times whether ples to seek a lasting peace. many people in China and around the we were in Shanghai or Hong Kong. The 16-day painting exhibition, titled world will see it and feel our deepest Some of the titbits and anecdotes are “Love Without Boundaries,” is sponsored wishes of gratitude to them,” he said, by the Shanghai Chinese-Jewish Cultural adding that he hopes it will “strengthen delightful. One describes a mother as Foundation, Shanghai Jewish Refugees the friendship between our two nations.” huge but “surprisingly agile” on the ten- Museum and the Jerusalem International nis court. Then there are the two uncles Convention Center. Perlman and his team began mak- who traded in a cat’s testicles to make ing the film late last year. It took four On display are 40 pieces of oil paintings, perfume. The fun, as children, of head- months to finish. “The film is far better 20 pieces of traditional Chinese paintings ing to Wing On and Sincere, not for the and 10 photos, which illustrated how than me and my colleagues thought it shopping but to go up the new invention Jews fled to Shanghai during the Second would be,” he said. there - the escalator. World War as well as different scenes of Other Israelis seen in the video include These accounts take the reader back their life in Shanghai. Yona Yahav, the mayor of Haifa — which to the civil war in China and the Jap- Many of the paintings are created on the is twinned with Shanghai — Nobel Prize anese occupation. Besides the inter- basis of true stories, with one dedicated laureate Robert Aumann, and magician views, more information comes from on Dr. He Feng Shan, Chinese consul Hezi Din. general in Vienna from 1938 to 1940, archives, including those created here who risked his life to issue thousands of Perlman said the final version of the film in the Hong Kong Heritage Project by visas to Jewish refugees. Another paint- was created from four hours of footage. Michael Kadoorie about his family and ing, titled “Learning Painting in the Al- Copies will be sent to all consulates in the employees of the Kadoorie business- ley,” is based on the story of Peter Max, Shanghai and embassies in China, he said. es. There are also reports from the En- Points East 11 glish-language Zionist periodical Israel’s Of Note had on Shanghai’s history. Messenger. The Lost Torah of Shanghai Currently, the Hannon Library is seeking Fifty black-and-white photos also illus- by Linda Frank more information about this rich col- trate life in Shanghai - family get-togeth- lection. Inquiries so far have resulted in ers, outings and for the upper crust, balls According to the Amazon descrip- tion: “As Israel braves Saddam Hus- numerous replies from across the Unit- and socials where the hostess didn’t ed States, Australia, France, Germany, need to lift a finger. Some accounts sein’s Scud missiles, a Torah from Iraq Shanghai, Great Britain, and Hong Kong. show how certain families lived like disappears in China. Can the “Jewish Such quick responses help to illustrate princes with many servants and home Miss Marple” find the historic religious what is already known about this collec- schooling. Others were less fortunate scroll in time for a momentous diplo- tion; it has tremendous historical, cultur- but, while not always getting on, they matic breakthrough?” were a community. al and, likely for people who were there, This is Frank’s second Lily Kovner personal value. There’s also some lovely colour. Israel’s mystery. The first, After the Auction, is Messenger reports how, in 1931, a gang described as a “kind of fusion of a Jew- How to Participate of Belorussians plotted to kidnap Arthur ish whodunit, a Holocaust memoir and Sopher, who was rumoured to be in line an international treasure hunt.” To participate in this project or just to see the collection visit dh.lmu.edu/ to inherit after the very rich Silas Har- The author has noted: “After the Auc- shanghai-collection-crowdsourcing. doon died that year. But one of the kid- tion, my first novel, encompasses sev- nappers tipped off police. eral subjects that I’ve researched over The photographs themselves have been It’s an education in Sephardi Judaism, the years: Nazi art looting, the kinder- uploaded by the library and are avail- the rituals and the celebrations that at transport, the smuggling of refugees able here: http://digitalcollections.lmu. times were difficult to carry out under and military equipment into Israel be- edu/cdm/search/collection/sjrc. the Japanese occupation, when food fore the establishment of the state, Jews was scarce and Jews were forced to wear who escaped the Nazis by going to The Library is looking for all kinds of red armbands and their houses and fur- Shanghai. Working on The Lost Torah information. Examples include, but are niture became the property of Emperor of Shanghai, novel #2, revisits in more not limited to: Hirohito. depth Jewish history from Iraq to India t Anything that gives context and China, a diaspora that diverges While many of the well-known families and backstory made their fortunes in the treaty port from my own family’s past. But it syn- and some lived very privileged lives, chronizes with the path of our present, t Names there was always an inherent racism un- due to my son’s work and marriage in derlying community ties. Fortunes were China and the travel, connections, and made, lost and remade. They also found friendships that have resulted from my t Specifics about events/activities some of the Jewish traditions of their Rus- vested interest in that road previously sian and eastern European counterparts less followed.” t Experiences in a particular quite curious, though there are many place or at a particular event accounts of generosity and philanthropy shown towards traumatised European t Locations (If you can, let Jews who had been fortunate enough to the Library know if based on a make it out of Nazi Germany’s concen- 1935 map or a modern map.) tration camps and onto ships to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Leah Jacob Garrick The Shanghai Collection: describes the civil war and Japanese oc- Help Needed to If you are a Flickr member, sign in and cupation as times of starvation: “I recall then you will be able to comment in the walking to school, sidestepping packag- Identify Photos comments box, which is just below the es of straw in which dead Chinese ba- image. If you are not a Flickr member bies were wrapped and collected daily. The William H. Hannon Library, lo- but would like to be, you will need to I once saw a Chinese man gnawing the cated at Loyola Marymount Universi- create an account by acquiring a Yahoo bark of a tree in hunger.” ty in Los Angeles, California, recently email address. Otherwise, you may click The accounts show how life changed launched the Werner von Boltenstern the “email” link and send your informa- forever under occupation and the lat- Shanghai Photograph and Negative tion via email but please make sure to er Communist revolution, when some Collection, which contains, most no- provide the web address (URL) for each moved to Hong Kong. These are sub- tably, images of Jewish Holocaust image so the Library is able to trace the jective, oral accounts of the lives of this refugees and other Jewish communi- info back to the exact image you are de- vibrant community, but Meyer provides ties already living in Shanghai in the scribing. plenty of historical background and 1930s-1940s. From daily work life to For more information, please contact timelines to give it context. weddings to soccer games in ghettos, Melanie Hubbard, Digital Scholarship these images capture a wide range of [The book, published by Blacksmith Librarian at [email protected]. Books is available now on Amazon or the Jewish experience as well as show direct from the publisher.] the deep imprint Jewish culture has 12 Points East Chinese National Institute for Jewish Studies Established event. Professor Yang Zhong, Vice Party tStrengthen the academic links be- Secretary of Nanjing University, congratu- tween member institutions, establish lated the official establishment of the CNI- cross-university research teams, make JS on behalf of Nanjing University. collaborative innovations, conduct co- The founding member universities are operative research and apply for joint Nanjing University, Peking University, academic subjects. Shandong University, Henan University, Share teaching and research faculties Beijing International Studies University, and encourage professors to teach or Shanghai International Studies University, deliver lectures in other member uni- Representatives from eight Chinese univer- Sichuan International Studies University, versities. sities gathered in Nanjing October 28 and and University of International Business formally announced the establishment of and Economics, all of which are within tEnhance cooperation with research the Chinese National Institute for Jewish Chinese higher education circles and had institutions in Israel or other countries, Studies (CNIJS). The Institute was formed established an institute or a center for Jew- co-host international academic sym- following the suggestion of Madam Liu ish or Israel studies before 2014. posiums with them, and invite or hire Yandong, Vice Premier of China, who international high-level experts to con- At its first convention, the CNIJS sets up the duct lecture tours among member in- serves as Chinese Chairman of the Sino-Is- following goals for the Institute: rael Joint Innovation Committee, officially stitutions or serve as visiting scholars. established in January 2015 between China tIncrease the interaction between and Israel under the leadership of China students of member institutions, inte- Ministry of Education. grate the existing Jewish-Israel studies Professor Xu Xin, Director of the Diane and research paper competitions of mem- Guilford Glazer Institute for Jewish and Isra- ber schools, set up “CNIJS Outstanding el Studies of Nanjing University, was elect- Student Paper Award,” and encourage ed its first President. Professor Qianhong students to apply for master programs Zhang, Vice President of Zhengzhou Uni- at member universities. versity and Director of Institute for Jewish tCo-form a Chinese Academic Del- and Israel Studies of Henan University, and egation of Jewish-Israel Studies to visit Professor Youde Fu, Director of the Center t crucial Jewish Studies institutions in for Judaism and Interreligious Studies of Set up a National Teaching Steering Committee, affiliating a “Hebrew Teach- Israel and America, and strive to es- Shandong University, were elected its Vice tablish connections with International Presidents. Professor Lihong Song, Deputy ing Subcommittee,” a “Jewish Culture Teaching Subcommittee” led by Shan- Associations for Jewish Studies and As- Director of the Diane and Guilford Glazer sociations for Israel Studies. Institute for Jewish and Israel Studies was dong University, a “Israel Studies Teach- appointed Secretary General. The Secretar- ing Subcommittee,” a “Holocaust and tSet up publication funds and spon- iat of the CNIJS will be located at Nanjing Anti-Semitism Teaching Subcommittee.” sor the publication of monographs and University. All of these committees offer discussion translation on Jewish-Israel studies. and give teaching techniques, formulate The grand ceremony was held at Nanjing teaching syllabi and course outlines, as tIncrease the proportion of Jewish- University. Ms. Zhu Li, an official from Chi- well as provide teaching references for Israel studies students that can receive na Ministry of Education, came to mark the other potential institutes of Jewish studies. China-Israel government scholarships. Join The Sino-Judaic Institute Benefactor ...... $1,000+ The Sino-Judaic Institute is a non-denominational, non-proft, and non- Patron ...... 500 political organization which was founded in 1985 by an international Corporate Patron ...... 500 Corporate Sponsor ...... 250 to 499 group of scholars and laypersons. Corporate Member ...... 250 to 499 Sponsor ...... 100 Regular Member ...... 50 Membership in the Institute is open and we cordially invite you to join Libraries ...... 50 in supporting our endeavor. Our annual dues structure is as follows: Academic ...... 30 Senior Citizens ...... 25 Students ...... 25 I wish to become a member of the Sino-Judaic Institute and to receive Points East three times a year. Enclosed is my check for $______PLEASE PRINT Name ______Address ______E-Mail ______Home Phone # ______Work # ______Fax # ______Mail to: The Sino-Judaic Institute, Prof. Steve Hochstadt, Dept. of History, Illinois College, 1101 West College Ave, Jacksonville IL 62650 Points East 13 Why Jews Should Not According to human rights activists, the Moreover Israel, as a sovereign state, Visit China only thing unclear about the 1989 kill- faces circumstances very different from By Rafael Medoff ings is whether the body count was in those of American Jews. Israelis can the hundreds or thousands. argue that in order to function in this Excerpted from http://www.jta. world, they sometimes have no choice org/2015/09/22/news-opinion/opinion/ Tourism has never been considered but to build relations with regimes op-ed-why-jews-should-not-visit-china- off-limits by American Jewish advoca- whose policies are far from democratic regardless-of-what-israel-does, 22 Sep- cy groups. Anti-Nazi boycotters in the or peaceful. tember 2015 1930s opposed American tourism to Germany. Soviet Jewry activists in the American Jews, by contrast, do have a Should American Jews provide tourist 1970s urged Americans to refrain from choice. They have the luxury of choos- dollars to a regime that massacres dissi- visiting the USSR. After Mexico support- ing among many countries in which dents, facilitates genocide and finances ed the U.N. resolution equating Zionism they can enjoyably spend their tourist Israel’s enemies? A spate of upcoming with racism in 1975, thousands of Jews dollars — countries that are not linked Jewish tours of China has raised anew canceled their plans to vacation there. to the genocide of black Africans or the an old and troubling question about the manufacture of rockets that may have conflict between tourism and human In the case of China, American Jewish been used in attacks on Israel. rights. tourists are providing support to a re- gime that engages in profoundly objec- Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director “Sukkos 2015: Beijing, China!” beckons tionable policies, of which Tiananmen of The David S. Wyman Institute for Ho- an advertisement from Chabad of Bei- Square is the most memorable example. locaust Studies and author of 15 books jing, which hopes to convince American on Jewish history, the Holocaust and Zi- Jewish tourists to spend the upcoming Beijing plays a crucial role in propping onism. holiday in the Chinese capital, enjoying up the Sudanese government of Omar daily kosher meals and outings to a kung Hassan al-Bashir, who was indicted in Why Jews Should Visit China fu exhibition, the Great Wall and Tian- 2009 by the International Criminal Court By Jack Gottlieb anmen Square. for allegedly organizing the Darfur geno- Excerpted from The Times of Israel, cide. China is Sudan’s single largest trad- The Association of Reform Zionists of http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/chi- ing partner, importing Sudanese oil and America, or ARZA, is also promoting a na-genocide-boycotts-and-jewish-heri- providing Khartoum with weapons in visit to Tiananmen Square in its upcom- tage-tourism/ 2 November 2015 violation of a U.N. arms embargo. ing 12-day China trip. As is the Ameri- … I was taken aback by the recent call can Jewish Congress’ International Trav- The Chinese likewise have a significant by Raphael Medoff, head of the Wyman el Program, which features a brochure relationship with Iran, importing Iranian Institute, for Jews to boycott China, in promising participants that they will get oil and providing Tehran with military an article entitled “Why Jews Should to “Share in a special Shehechiyanu with aid, including assistance for the coun- not Visit China, Regardless of what Isra- Challah and wine in Beijing.” try’s nuclear program and help in the el Does.” In it, he castigates Jewish or- The Hebrew word “shehechiyanu,” development of advanced missiles and ganizations for conducting Jewish heri- which is the centerpiece of a blessing re- combat aircraft. According to media re- tage tours to China, which he accuses of cited on special occasions, means “Who ports, Beijing has now agreed to give being deeply involved with the ‘Darfur has given us life.” Here it provides a bit Iran 24 of its J-10 jet fighters. Genocide.’ Well, I would like to show of unintended irony, as it precedes the here that China is unfairly being sin- American Jews should also be con- brochure’s reference to the site where gled out by Medoff, that Jewish heritage cerned that Chinese rockets appear to pro-democracy protesters were massa- preservation in China will be severely have made their way into the arsenals cred by government forces in 1989. jeopardized by an unwarranted boycott, of Hezbollah and Hamas… It would and that, in fact, a Jewish heritage trip But Rabbi Arnold Belzer, who is leading be a tragic irony if any victims helped to China can be a positive multicultural the American Jewish Congress tour, will by Chabad in the southern Israeli city experience. not be mentioning the massacre when of Sderot were harmed by Chinese-made he leads Jewish tourists through the rockets while Chabad of Beijing is bring- In his article, Medoff cites a clear prece- square next year. ing Jewish tourist dollars to the regime dent of previous Jewish boycotts, name- that manufactured those rockets. ly against Germany during World War II “I wouldn’t want to bother them with a and against Russia during the Cold War. topic that might take away from the tour Jewish tours to China typically cost Yet a striking difference exists between experience for which they have paid,” around $5,000 per person, a minuscule the behavior of those countries and that Belzer told me. number for an economy with a GDP that of China. Those were boycotts against tops $10 trillion. It also pales compared countries with governmentally-direct- Chabad won’t be talking about it on its to the trade that Israel, for its own rea- ed policies of genocide of Jews (Ger- trip either. “We’re guests in this coun- sons, conducts with China. But to justify many) or discrimination towards Jews try,” said Dini Freundlich, who runs the American Jewish tourism to an oppres- (Russia). Not only does none of that Beijing Chabad with her husband, Shi- sive country on the grounds that Israel exist in China, but the exact opposite is mon. “And we have to respect the gov- does it too is to say that two wrongs true. According to the Anti- Defamation ernment’s wishes.” Besides, she added, make a right, which is not exactly a League’s Anti-Semitic index, China has a “It’s not fully clear what happened there.” time-honored Jewish principle. relatively positive attitude towards Jews 14 Points East in general and, judging by recent Chi- billion in trade between Israel and Chi- whenever it is raised in the media. Un- nese investments in the Israeli economy na since the beginning of 2015. fortunately, as shown above, the lesson (especially agritech), great respect for here is too vague and too far removed Israel in particular. Short-shrifted as well by Medoff is the from the source to be of any value. As current policy of nearly every major such, there is little didactic value of tying So if it’s not about some overt act by Jewish organization, such as the World to connect a boycott of Jewish heritage China against Jews, then what com- Jewish Congress to develop good re- sites in China to the killings in Darfur. pels Medoff to call for this boycott? For lations with China. That is why these In fact, I would argue the opposite. This him, it’s a matter of conscience “Jewish organizations are organizing Jewish is a missed opportunity! There is a great values” (Tikun Olam) and therefore, it heritage tours in the first place. Cul- lesson to be taught about the Holocaust is unconscionable to help China be tural heritage trips expose Jews to Chi- when you tell the story of the Shanghai a ‘genocide facilitator’ in Darfur. The nese culture and vice versa, minimizing Jewish Quarter, and an even bigger story issue of weapons supply to Darfur is prejudices on both sides. These tours to be told when you tell the story of the messy, to say the least. While it is true are the most effective method to help Jews in China… that China supplies rockets to Darfur, it understand the Jewish contributions to is not the only country guilty of supply- the Chinese narrative which, in turn, Boycotts are a slippery slope. A call for ing this war zone with weapons. Russia helps us understand its overall contribu- a boycott by Jews of a country, must be and Belorussia do it as well. And guess tion to our universal cultural heritage. done with extreme caution, especial- what? So does Israel! These are con- I applaud Jewish organizations such as ly in this day and age of rampant boy- venient omissions as there are no calls the Association of Reform Zionists of cotts against Israel. Nary a month goes to boycott Russia or Belorussia, and America, the American Jewish Com- by without a country, religious organi- certainly no calls exist to ‘punish’ Isra- mittee, and Chabad for promoting this zation, trade union, college campus, or el for its involvement. That being said, cross-cultural initiative. They should be city council taking some kind of a vote I strongly believe it is far from a good commended, not condemned for fol- against Israel. Repercussions on the var- idea for Diaspora Jews to protest an of- lowing Israel’s lead: China needs to be ious stakeholders such as Jewish orga- fense that China commits, while Israel is engaged, not boycotted. nizations, Jewish heritage sites and the guilty of doing the same. state of Israel (reverse boycotts) must be It is no coincidence that there is current- taken into consideration. As we saw with A further testament to China’s question- ly an upsurge of Jewish heritage tours to the recent bans coming out of Iceland, able moral character is, according to China. According to the data collected a thin line exists between boycotting Medoff, the specter of the Tiananmen by my organization, the World Jewish goods originating from the West Bank Square massacres. There is no ques- Heritage Fund (WJH), China represents and those of Israel itself. As we saw with tion that what happened in Tiananmen an emerging market for Jewish heritage the ban of Matisyahu by a Spanish music Square in 1989 was a horrible tragedy. tourism. China is one of many countries festival, an even thinner line exists be- It also goes without saying that China that are finally beginning to leverage tween boycotting the goods of the Jews might never be democratic, nor ever previously underutilized Jewish her- in Israel and those of the Jews in the Di- evolve into an open society. Neverthe- itage assets in order to stimulate the aspora. less, it is clear that current day China cultural heritage tourism sector of their is far different than the China of Tian- economy. This development represents In effect, a boycott against Jewish heri- anmen Square. More importantly, it a worldwide phenomena taking place tage tours is a boycott against the Jew- smacks of desperation when you reach in such desperate places as Portugal, ish heritage sites themselves. In this back 25 years into any country’s past in Cuba, Belorussia, Egypt and even Iran. case, that of China, these sites and tours order to hold it accountable by today’s However, these new markets are some- happen to be in a country where there standards for the actions of a previous times taking root in countries that are are few Jews or Jewish organizations to generation. At what point do you for- fundamentally undemocratic, virulently voice opposition to such an ill-founded give and forget? Another nice Jewish anti-Semitic and/or deeply repressive. idea. It’s certainly a safe target, no local value, by the way. Trying to establish a ‘Jewish values’ lit- Jews to object. That is why I founded mus test before one visits an individual WJH and why I wrote this article. WJH According to Medoff, China “financ- country is going to be a very difficult defends these voiceless heritage sites es the enemies of Israel.” It is true that task, at best. And it has to be carefully which become collateral damage to mis- China does business with countries who weighed against the competing ‘Jewish guided ideas. That is also why I recent- are openly hostile to Israel’s existence, value’ of indirectly aiding and abetting ly defended Spain which unjustly was such as Iran. Yet, regardless of that fact, the deterioration of Jewish heritage sites falsely accused of neglecting their Jew- the official policy of Israel is to engage via boycott. ish heritage sites. As it has been so aptly China in every possible way — politi- proven in Spain, only tourism can give cally, economically, and socially (espe- Medoff’s boycott call hopes to fulfill stakeholders — city, provincial and fed- cially in the field of tourism). A boycott the mission of the Wyman Institute to eral- the necessary incentives to make by Jews on China, as Medoff points out, teach “moral and historical lessons” the needed investment to preserve these will have a negligible impact on China’s about the Holocaust and to prevent sites. As I have written elsewhere, Jewish economy. What he fails to mention is these atrocities from happening in cur- heritage tourism is the only sustainable that any form of Chinese boycott on Is- rent day Darfur. As the son of Holo- model of Jewish heritage conservation. rael could impact Israel’s economy, as caust survivors myself, the whole issue China becomes an important trading of genocide and the lessons that can In short, the punishment here does not partner of Israel — to the tune of $10 be learned resonates deeply within me fit the crime. Medoff, himself, in his writ- Points East 15 ings has cautioned about the excesses In 1965, when Singapore gained its dents. The Israelis prefer the internation- of Holocaust and Hitler analogies. It’s independence and split from Malay- al school. A new and spacious building trendy to compare every disaster to the sia, Israel was one of the few countries is being constructed these days for some Holocaust, every madmen to Hitler. The which helped the new republic. Singa- 500 students, from the age of preschool end result of these bad analogies serves pore’s residents are still grateful to Isra- to high school. Its construction is ex- only to trivialize the horror of the Holo- el to this very day, and the Israelis are pected to be completed in the coming caust and the madness of Hitler. Unfor- very popular in the country. months. tunately, Medoff’s stand against China does not stake a claim here to any moral The community is led by Rabbi Mor- Several years ago, Rabbi Abergel and the high ground. Rather, it is just another dechai Abergel. I met with him in his Israeli Embassy in Singapore introduced one of those excesses he has so vigor- modest office after a comprehensive the Sunday School, which is open to Is- ously railed against, and consequently, security check at the entrance to the raeli and Jewish students from 9:30 am just another one of those trivializations. community building. He has been to 12:30 pm. The curriculum focuses on serving as the community rabbi since Jack Gottlieb, founder and president of Hebrew and Torah studies, Jewish holi- 1994…The rabbi is very involved in ev- days and tradition. the World Jewish Heritage Fund, is an erything taking place in his communi- American businessman highly involved ty, and keeps it united by holding joint in philanthropic causes, who spends Local residents told me that the schools Shabbat meals and communal events most of his time in Israel these days. He creates a feeling of “home” and serves as during the Jewish holidays. The high- may be reached at www.worldjewish- a bridge between secular and religious light of the year is the Lag B’Omer bon- heritage.com. Jews and between the Israelis and the fire, which brings together 700 people. local Jews. The school’s students may complete their studies until the matric- Rabbi Abergel also serves as the com- ulation exams period, according to the munity’s slaughterer. He slaughters the Israeli education system. poultry himself in a bid to keep the pric- es low and reasonable for kashrut-ob- The Jewish Community Rabbi Abergel finds it very important serving consumers…The rabbi is also of Singapore to maintain good relations with the an authorized mohel but prefers not to non-Jewish population…One of Sin- take any chances, so most new parents By Ayelet Mamo Shay gapore’s advantages, he says, is the privately book a mohel from Israel for Excerpted from YNetNews.com, 20 strength and dominance of the govern- their son’s circumcision ritual. April, 2015 ment. For example, the government …A serious crisis took place in Singa- There are two active synagogues in won’t let anyone change a thing in the pore after World War II, and few Jews Singapore, Chesed-El and Maghain David Elias building, which was sold a remained in the country: Only 150 out Aboth. The latter, which was built in long time ago and no longer belongs to of several thousands, most of them Iraqi the early 20th century, is located in the Singapore’s Jews. Jews from Baghdad, who lead the com- community compound on Waterloo The rabbi is definitely busy, but he has munity to this very day. Since then, the Street, which also includes a ritual bath many “little angels” who help him. One community has grown significantly and for men and a ritual bath for women, a of them is Rabbi Netanel Rivni, who numbers some 1,500 men and women kosher store which offers a variety of arrived in the community in 2006 and today (including the Israelis and Jews products from Israel and around the has been serving as Rabbi Abergel’s who arrive for a short relocation period world, and a banquet hall which holds right hand. Rabbi Rivni is in charge of for business purposes). weddings, bar mitzvah, anniversaries and workshops. a group of six yeshiva students and two The community is mostly Orthodox, Bnei Akiva emissaries, and together they wealthy and very inviting. Slowly, over The compound also includes a ko- organize many activities for the entire the years, the community grew and ex- sher restaurant under Rabbi Abergel’s community. They are also responsible panded thanks to people who arrived supervision, which serves breakfast, for preparing the bat and bar mitzvah from all over the world, including sever- lunch and dinner and offers Shabbat kids for their big day. al thousand Israelis who are sent to Sin- meals and catering services, and even gapore every year by their workplaces a conference room for business peo- With such a courteous and helpful Jew- on missions or special projects. ple. Due to its many activities and the ish community, anyone arriving in Singa- rapid growth in the number of com- pore for pleasure, business or relocation The few Jews who remained in Sin- munity members, the government has will never feel alone. “Good things come gapore after the war stood out. For approved the construction of another in small packages,” my mother told me. example, David Marshall, who was a floor for the building. Singapore’s small Jewish community successful Jewish lawyer and served as definitely fits this definition. Singapore’s first chief minister from 1955 The community also has a retirement to 1956. To this very day, on the anniver- home. Some 150 students from the Ayelet Mamo Shay is a researcher of sary of his death, many residents from a Jewish community study in the Jewish small Jewish communities around the wide spectrum of the country’s different school named after Manasseh Meyer, world and author of the book “Reloca- religions pay their respects to him. one of Singapore’s rich Jewish resi- tion darling, relocation!” 16 Points East Did you know? Main Synagogue, also includes plans to enhance the development of the city as renovate the adjacent Jewish Secondary a unique tourist destination.”… The Chinese Jewish community of Kai- School as well as two other buildings feng came from Persia and its books and a large square that A walk through the city is talking a walk contain some passages and colophons through its history, especially along in Judeo-Persian. There are [also] Ju- With only one Jew remaining in an ur- Zhong Yang Dajie (Central Pedestrian deo-Persian documents from the Cairo ban population of over ten million, this Street) where the street has been trans- Geniza and the recently discovered Af- decision is still about numbers and dol- formed into an “outdoors architectural ghan genizah; Judeo-Persian [was also lars (Yuan) and the Harbin Municipal museum” complete with well-informed, used by] Jewish communities in Uz- Government sees this as an investment. trilingual signage detailing the history of bekistan and Tajikistan in earlier and It has already invested over 80 million specific buildings, including their dates more recent periods. RMB (Yuan) for the project (some $13 of construction and featuring architectur- million) and approximately 40 million al components and original use. Along The earliest Judeo-Persian texts—actu- RMB has already been allocated to relo- the way it was discovered that an over- ally the earliest witness to New (i.e. not cate the Korean School which has been whelming number of the buildings in the Old or Middle) Persian of any kind— housed in the former Jewish Middle initial city development scheme are evi- are three short inscriptions on rock at School, nearby residents as well as local dence of Harbin’s strong Jewish past. Tang-e Azao (Afghanistan, Herat prov- businesses. ince) dated 752/3 CE and a contem- The newest phase of this plan to devel- poraneous or slightly later letter (on Ben-Canaan, appointed as a member op Harbin into an attraction for cultural paper) found by Aurel Stein near the of and advisor to the Old Jewish Syna- heritage tourists is, however, facing a Buddhist Temple of Dandān Öiliq in gogue Renovation Project of the Harbin major obstacle: There is only a scintilla Khotan (in Chinese Turkestan). City Command Leadership Team, stat- of information on the Main Synagogue’s ed, “I welcome the Harbin government pre-1931 design. plans and this project with great enthu- siasm. The restoration, reconstruction This lack of information, likely in part as Harbin Synagogue and renovation of the synagogue and a result of the 1931 fire, has made the Complex Renovation the other buildings, as well as the new search for the original construction and Update large square between them, will recre- design blueprints thus far unsuccessful. ate a very large Jewish block here and By Erica Lyons will reinforce the unique and important There is a suspicion that some clues and Excerpted from http://cdn.timesofisra- historical Jewish existence in Harbin and information likely lay sealed in the Har- el.com, 22 June 2013 its contribution to the development of bin Jewish Archives which were closed the city.” by the Chinese government in the 1980s The Harbin Municipal Government and remain so today despite numerous has announced its decision to recon- This massive Harbin historic renovation efforts to open them. There are a hand- struct and renovate the Harbin Main ful of available existing photographs of Synagogue. This is despite the fact that plan of its Jewish section actually started in 2004 with the renovation and recon- the original exterior, but only two of the today there is but one Jew who calls original interior. Harbin home, Dan Ben-Canaan, a pro- struction by the Harbin Municipal Gov- fessor of research and writing meth- ernment of the New Synagogue, which was gutted and transformed into a mu- Ben-Canaan, also the founder and Chair odology at Heilongjiang University, of the Sino-Israel Research and Study School of Western Studies who relo- seum of the Jewish history and culture of Harbin. Center of at Heilongjiang University, cated there in 2002, long after Jewish stressed that at this juncture the success- communal life ceased to exist and the ful collection of any available informa- last Jewish resident had gone…At its This is all now part of a tion is critical, including architectural height it was also home to over 23,000 larger plan. drawings, pictures of the interior (of the Jews… As Ben-Canaan explains, “For the past different halls and communal rooms), several years the Harbin government diaries, letters, memorabilia or other rel- The new planned renovation will re- has been looking for ways that will store the Main Synagogue to its original evant data… state. Completed in 1909, it is now also referred to as the “Old Synagogue” af- ter the “New Synagogue” was built in 1921. It was damaged by a fire in 1931, and rebuilt shortly after, but without its previous grand entrance.

Recently the structure has housed a “zero-star” guesthouse, a coffee shop, small businesses and a preschool. The interior is dilapidated and no longer bears even the slightest resemblance to the house of worship it once was.

The announced renovation, to both the interior and the exterior of the