I returned from China in mid-April after 3 weeks visiting Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Suzhou,and towns and cities of the Yangtze River Basin, including Wuxi, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang and Nanjing. The spring cherry, peach, and plum blossoms, flowering rapeseed and Chinese parasol trees were particularly exqisite during our travels, and our visits with Kehillat Beijing and the Jewish community of Shanghai, our fantastic meal at Dini's Kosher Restaurantin Beijing, as well as our walk through the recently-restored Hongkou district of Shanghai where some 15,000 Jews lived during the WWII years, were deeply memorable. The group was terrific, and we thank Temple Beth El of St. Petersburg for making possible this wonderful experience as well.

Viewing the photos from our tour brings back vivid extraordinary moments. Since my return, I have been sifting through my photos in every moment I've had available. Since there are some 5,000 images that I took, it is quite a large project that will continue through the month of June. However, the first photos from the tour are up on my site in a quicktime movie here. It is a large file, so the page may need some extra time to load, but it's worth it! You may allow the photos to scroll as a movie, or to view the photos individually, click the pause button on the bottom left, then use the arrows on the bottom right to view each picture one at a time. Double-clicking on the forward or back arrows will move the pictures through one at a time for you to view at your own pace. Once the page is loaded, you will be able to return to it without having to wait for it to re-load. This is the first of what will be a number of pages of images from this visit to China.

In response to many requests to update my Links to Jewish China Resources on my website, I have taken 3 weeks in doing so since my return. That page ~ now containing more than 1,000 links on Jewish China and Asia ~ is now divided into categories for finding specific information on the Jews of Kaifeng, Shanghai, Harbin, Tianjin, and much more. Additionally there are now categories related to Jewish adoption of Chinese children, the rescue efforts of Chiune Sugihara and Ho Feng-shan, Jewish communities and artifacts of India, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, and other areas of Asia, and the fusion of Eastern and Judaic spiritual concepts, among other categories. I know you'll find the page tremendously beneficial as you are seeking information on these subjects. Visit it here.

Additionally, I have provided a category of recommended books, recordings, and films on this page, in which I have listed many of the finest resources I have read, viewed, or discovered during my research and studies of the Jews of Asia and China. Some of those resources are mentioned below.

Earthquake Relief

I have no doubt that you have been as shocked and deeply touched as I in seeing the devastation from the earthquake and aftershocks in Sichuan Province. I returned from China only 3 weeks before the quake struck. The Ganeinu International School of Chabad Beijing has been collecting donations and supplies for those communities. Additionally, Dini's Kosher Restaurant in Beijing has donated 10% of its sales in May to the earthquake relief effort. To send donations, contact Dini Freundlich, Ganeinu School Principal, at info@ganeinubeijing.cn or dini@ganeinubeijing.cn. Items needed include tents, gauze bandages, latex gloves, waterproof material such as large rolls of heavy plastic, diapers, hammers and tools, and wipes, which the school is collecting or which donations will purchase. Visit the Ganeinu website. Their May 2008 email newsletter (which is not yet on the site) contains details of the earthquake relief efforts and may be requested from the link on the site or above.

Donations may also be made via Chabad of Hong Kong. Information is available here. An article describing Chabad's efforts in Chengdu to distribute supplies to earthquake victims can be read here, and an article describing Chabad of Beijing's earthquake relief efforts can be read here. The Baltimore Jewish Times writes of Jewish earthquake relief efforts in China here. A dramatic two-day Search-and-Rescue for two missing Israelis in the earthquake region brought Chinese and Israelis together in a touching heroic account and a happy ending, which can be read in a JTA story here.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Israel has provided a plane to southern China with clothing, medical supplies, generators, and tents for earthquake victims. Read the story here. The Consulate General of Israel in Shanghai site further reports of Israel's relief efforts here.

The American Jewish Joint distribution Committee is providing China Earthquake Relief and Myanmar Cyclone Relief through donations that may be made here. The K. Hannah Holtschneider Holocaust Relations Mountain Institute China Program also is raising funds to which you can donate to rebuild homes for the estimate 5 million who are homeless from the quake.

Your local Federations and synagogues will also offer earthquake relief funds, and other excellent agencies worldwide to which you may donate for earthquake relief are listed here.

Susan Yesenko of Detroit, a member of our 2008 tour group, requests your donations for Half the Sky, whose Children's Earthquake Relief Fund provides emergency shelter, food, and medical care for children orphaned or separated from their families, along with temporary or long-term foster care. Half the Sky Foundation provides early childhood education, learning, infant nurture and foster care programs to babies and children who await adoption. You may donate to their earthquake relief fund here.

Recommended Newly-Released Publications

Author and speaker Vera Schwarcz, Director/Chair of the Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, has let me know of her newest book: Place and Memory in the Singing Crane Garden, just published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. The result of years of writing and research, this work brings together voices from Chinese, European, and Jewish tradition in a discussion of devastating historic events and culture ~ such as China's Cultural Revolution ~ with a focus of healing and connection.

Schwarcz' earlier acclaimed publication, Bridge Across Broken Time: Chinese and Jewish Cultural Memory, is an exploration of the meaning of cultural memory in the Chinese and Jewish traditions. Though each tradition is vastly different, she finds a bridge between the two civilizations in their shared commitment to remembrance and to witnessing to the significance of the past through survivors who preserve the continuity of their long traditions.


Author Tiberiu (Tibi) Weisz has let me know of his recently released The Covenant and the Mandate of Heaven: An In-Depth Comparative Cultural Study of Judaism and China. Weisz suggests that, if China is yin, there must be an opposing culture that matches her in endurance, sustainability and depth. Is Judaism the yang of China's yin? Weisz explores cultural bonds between Judaism and China, the relationship of Israel and China past present and future, and other topics both Chinese and Jewish. He compares ancient and contemporary Chinese sources with corresponding Western literature to show that these two cultures balance one another in a cultural relationship of yin and yang ... one as a religion that deeply influenced Western cultures and the other in an opposing environment secluded, isolated, and little understood by outsiders. The book also presents China and Judaism through the eyes of the people who have faithfully followed their tenets since antiquity. Readers will experience these two cultures as two vibrant cultures tied by invisible bonds to survive and flourish to present day

Weisz is also author of The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions: Legacy of the Jewish Community in Ancient China. An indepth examination of the 1489, 1512, and 1663 stelae of the Kaifeng synagogue, Weisz examines the similarities and contrasts in the stones and what they tell us of story of the Kaifeng Temple and the Israelite faith as described by the members of the Kaifeng Jewish community. Weisz believes that at the time of the engraving, the Israelites had lived intermittently under Chinese administration for over 1500 years, maintaining their own biblical rituals and customs.

There are many more excellent resources and I'll share them with you in future issues. Visit my Jewish China/Asia Resources for a look at much much more.


New Documentary, Recent News & Videos, Public Speaking Tours

Noam Urbach's documentary, Kaifeng, Jerusalem, now nearing completion, will explore the descendants of China's Jewish community of Kaifeng. Filmed over six years in Israel and China, the documentary follows the descendants of the Chinese Jewish community in the ancient capital city of Kaifeng on their quest to recover their Jewish heritage. Urbach, who is currently living and teaching within the Jewish Studies Program at Shandong University in Jinan, China, is seeking funds and donations for distribution and broadcast of the film. Visit his site here for more details.

In my last issue, I shared articles regarding the first wedding in Jerusalem of a Chinese Jewish descendant from Kaifeng. See a video report of the wedding on You Tube.

Professor M. Avrum Ehrlich of theSchool of Philosophy and Sociology, Center For Judaic and Inter-Religious Studies of Shandong Universityin Jinan, shares the news that he plans a speaking tour of the USA in October/November of this year to discuss the Jews and Chinese relations and Judaism in Chinese philosophy, as well as to raise consciousness about the Jewish descendants in Kaifeng. Additionally, Dr. Ehrlich will release two new books. Anyone who would like to invite him to speak or who would like more information about his work may contact him directly. Visit his websites here and here.

HaAretz reports this month of an esteemed panel that included researcher Zhong Zhiqing of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, Zhang Ping of Tel Aviv University, Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, Shalom Solomon Wald of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, and Fu Youde of the Judaic Studies Institute at Shandong University. The five spoke at the presidential conference in Jerusalem of their experiences of one another and their shared heritage. Read more.

This article about the Beijing Jewish Community appeared in China Daily while our group was in Beijing on March 28th. Read How to keep It Kosher here.

Check out these You Tube videos of Jewish life in China & Chinese Studies in Israel:
Hebrew School at Shanghai Interntional Jewish School
About on the Shanghai International Jewish School
Discussion During Israel-China Friendship Program
Chinese Language Studies in Israel
Report on the Jewish Community in Shanghai (including wedding in Ohel Rachel Synagogue)
Jews in China Feature

Enjoy this New York Times video report by Nicholas Kristoff, called Kaifeng On The Hudson, about the history of the city of Kaifeng.