Hong Kong: 'Asian Jewish Life' - new issue online

When Tracing the Tribe visited Hong Kong last year, we met a wonderful group of people, including US expat Erica Lyons, the publisher of Asian Jewish Life.

Erica just informed me that she is helping to get the story out on the situation in Japan and also working on the memoirs of a fascinating woman.

Read the stories by Erica about a Japanese Jewish family living in Hong Kong here and here. The Brenner family - the focus of these stories - also has a blog called the Hitachi Naka City Earthquake Recovery Blog. It is designed to raise awareness and eventually be a conduit for aid to Mayumi Brenner's hometown.

Asian Jewish Life also has a Facebook page, detailing Asian Jewish happenings, information on Japan's Jewish community and how they are coping with the aftermath of the immense earthquake, and other information.

The current issue of AJL is online with several articles of specific interest to Tracing the Tribe readers and genealogists. Click Asian Jewish Life to see the new issue.

One story is by Amelia Alsop who directs the Hong Kong Heritage Project. On my visit to Hong Kong, I visited the Project office, met Amelia and other staff members and was very impressed with what they are accomplishing.

The Kadoorie Family, Sephardi Jews, emigrated from Baghdad in 1880 to settle in the Far East. The family fortunes were founded by Sir Elly Kadoorie and Sir Ellis Kadoorie, who were pivotal players in the development of business giants such as the Hongkong Shanghai Hotel Co. and China Light and Power. Elly's sons, Lord Lawrence Kadoorie and Sir Horace Kadoorie continued the family businesses and philanthropic pursuits. The family is today headed by Lawrence's son, Sir Michael Kadoorie.


In May 2007, Sir Michael founded the Hong Kong Heritage Project (HKHP). The HKHP is the first of its kind in Hong Kong; a project supported and driven by business with the purpose of preserving community history. The HKHP does this by promoting new avenues of research, enriching Hong Kong's existing archival collection, encouraging young people to participate in the preservation of their community history and capturing unrepresented voices in Hong Kong's historical narrative through the collection of oral history. The HKHP is housed in an archive facility in Kowloon which holds 3,100 Kadoorie related records, as well as 550 filmed oral history interviews.

Read The Lost Records Revealed - the Hong Kong Heritage Project's Jewish Collection.

For a look at modern Kaifeng in China - where an ancient Jewish community once flourished and where its remnants are once again learning about their heritage - read Yair Osherovich's story.

...While I asked myself these questions and searched for proof, I already knew the answers. Like my intention to help for the right reasons, these Jewish descendents had pure intentions too. There were plenty of reinforcements for my belief: the seriousness of Tzuri when he made Kiddush, the holding to the Yom Kippur fast despite how very organized and serious the Chinese are about their timetable for meals, and the communal effort to build the sukkah. It was the first sukkah in the town in 100 years. I see proof in the money that these families spend on Friday night meals and the bustle and scents that Shabbat brings as if it was a neighborhood in Jerusalem. Most of all the determination stands out. I see them thrive for knowledge. They listen carefully and absorb all the Jewish knowledge they can.


This has all reinforced my motivation to return to Kaifeng to help out for a third time. It is hard to stay indifferent to the donations they have collected on their own for the rehabilitation of the Carmel Forest. It is hard to stay indifferent to the warmness they treat every Jew and it is hard to stay indifferent to the pride that belonging to the broader Jewish community gives to them.

Read the rest of this story here.

For a long and excellent article, with beautiful photographs, by Dr. Shalva Weill, detailing Southern India's synagogues and trade, read "In An Ancient Land," click here.

See the new issue's table of contents for more.

Thank you, Erica, for Asian Jewish Life.

A 'Jewish' Ming Vase: Rare discovery

Just like "Antiques Roadshow."

A retired Cadbury's factory worker walked into an auction house with a perfect 600-year-old Ming vase sitting in a cardboard box.

The auction house called it a "spectacular find."

"When my colleague initially showed me what had arrived in a cardboard box I could not believe my eyes," Guy Schwinge of Duke's told the Guardian. "The vase is in perfect condition, and it is amazing to think that it has survived unscathed for almost six hundred years."

BBC said that the 11.5" tall vase is the largest found of a rare group of early Ming "moonflasks" produced between 1403-1424.

Athough the story says it is influenced by Islamic design, the presence of a Magen David - Jewish star - is interesting. And reminds us that the Jewish community of Kaifeng was active at that time in history. A connection? Tracing the Tribe doesn't know, but it is a romantic thought.

To be auctioned in May, it should bring at least $1.6 milion dollars.

It would like very nice on a Shabbat dinner table!

China: The Talmud as business guide?

Tracing the Tribe is still catching up with a mountain of email, so here's an interesting article on the increasing popularity of the Talmud in China.

The Newsweek story, by Isaac Stone Fish, covers the surprising trend in publishing books on Jewish topics, including those supposedly revealing business secrets in the Talmud.

... Titles such as Crack the Talmud: 101 Jewish Business Rules, The Illustrated Jewish Wisdom Book, and Know All of the Money-Making Stories of the Talmud share the shelves with stories of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. There’s even a Talmud hotel in Taiwan inspired by “the Talmud’s concept of success” that features a copy of the book Talmud Business Success Bible in every room. With the increasing interest in business education in China, and a rise in sales of self-help literature, the production of business guides to the Talmud has exploded. The guides are like the Chinese equivalents of books such as Sun Tzu and the Art of Business. ...

Crack the Talmud's author, writing under a nom de plume, says a series on the Jewish Bible by a prominent publisher made him realize that “ancient Jews and today’s Chinese face a lot of the same problems,” such as immigration and isolation, and spotlights such business rules as “tell a customer about defects” and “help more people.”

A book titled Jewish Family Education claims to have sold more than 1 million copies.

Associate dean of Shanghai's Center of Jewish StudiesWang Jian says The Talmud “has become a handbook for doing business and seeking fortunes.”

The presence of mid-19th century Jewish real estate entrepreneurs - Hardoon, Sassoon and Kadoorie - may have influenced the lack of antagonism towards "members of the tribe."

Nanjing University Jewish studies professor Xu Xin is quoted in the article as saying that some 50% of Westerners active in Mao Zedong's China were Jewish, which led to interest in Jewish culture.

Athough the Talmud contains information on contracts, zoning and charging interest, in addition to many other topics, it is certainly not a get-rich-quick guide as many in China seem to believe, according to the story.

Read the complete and interesting article at the Newsweek link above.

Hong Kong: Asian Jewish Life's new issue

The summer 2010 edition of Asian Jewish Life has hit cyberspace to provide the rest of us with a look at contemporary Jewish diaspora life throughout Asia

When I visited Hong Kong (February/March 2010), I met Erica Lyons - an expat American who lives in Hong Kong with her family. As editor-in-chief of the magazine, she's produced another excellent collection of fascinating articles covering numerous countries.

Check out the new issue online and see these stories:

Animating Jewish-Chinese Relations: Judaism and Israel are hot topics in China. More than 10 Chinese universities offer Judaic studies programs, including at least one doctoral program. China’s state-owned television network, CCTV, recently aired a documentary titled “Walk into Israel - Land of Milk and Honey,” its first series on Israel. The story of the Shanghai Jews is now a popular topic as well.

The Way Home: Born in Seoul, filmmaker Jason Hoffman was adopted by a New York Jewish family. The film, "Going Home," is his story of finding his roots, his birthmother and sister.

Finding a Lost Tribe of Israel in India: The long road home.

The Endless Jewish Audience: Whenever he walks into a new social situation - synagogue, Shabbat dinner or a Judaica store - there's always the chance this Japanese Jewish convert will need to tell his conversion story to a confused, sometimes judgmental, audience.

The Color of Carefully Ordered Chaos: Israeli artist Nir Segal's work on exhibit in Thailand.

Living Tikkun Olam in Nepal: Israeli backpackers and diaspora Jews volunteer in Tevel b’Tzedek (The Earth in Justice), founded by Micha Odenheimer. The group runs intensive four-month Nepal experience (February), as well as five-week programs beginning in October, November and December. Read the story to learn what this organization has accomplished and its plans for the future.

In Book Reviews, two interesting family histories and a family secret (Shanghai and Zimbabwe). Although not new, each provides insights on a destination: Shanghai Shadows (Lois Ruby, Holiday House, 2006) and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun (Peter Godwin, Little, Brown and Company, 2006).

See the table of contents here for more. There are stories by a writer in Cambodia, a social activist in Japan, Asian kosher food, an ex-pat diary story, a travel feature by the New Jersey-born conductor of the The Hong Kong Bach Choir and Orchestra, and more.

AJL is a free quarterly publication designed to share regional Jewish thoughts, ideas and culture and promote unity, while celebrating individuality, diverse backgrounds and customs.

Thank you, Erica, for another good read!

Kaifeng: Shi Lei's US lecture tour begins

Shi Lei, a descendant of one of the original Kaifeng Jewish families, is now on a US speaking tour sponsored by Kulanu..

Tracing the Tribe encourages readers who live in or near the communities where he will speak to attend the program.

Wooden model, Kaifeng Synagogue

Beit Hatefutsot-Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv

He's already spoken in Maryland and he'll also be in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Texas, Ontario, California, Georgia and New Jersey.

In his talk, Shi Lei discusses the history of this unique community, presents a slideshow and information on his community's origins, how they preserved their identity under near-impossible circumstances and centuries of isolation isolated from the mainstream Jewish world.

Above right is the wooden model of the ancient Kaifeng Synagogue at Beit Hatefutsoth-Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv.

He discusses Jewish traditions preserved through the centuries. It's not all about the past, as he talks about the young people of his community and their desire to learn more about their origins; 18 are now studying in Israel and several have made aliyah.

A graduate of China's Henan University, Shi Lei studied Jewish history and religion at Israel's Bar Ilan University (2001-2002) and spent two more years at Jerusalem's Machon Meir Yeshiva. He now works as a national tour guide, providing private and group tours to Jewish sites in China. The New York Times Travel Section recently called him “licensed, charming and experienced.”

For more information, click here or here or view Kulanu’s slide show on the history of the Kaifeng Jews.

The remainder of Shi Lei's tour includes:

Visit the links above for more information on Kulanu, its activities and to donate to the organization in support of those activities.

Monday, May 3, 7.30pm
Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, Marblehead, Massachusetts

Tuesday, May 4 8pm
Beth Hillel Cong. Bnai Emunah, Wilmette, Illinois

Wednesday,May 5, 7.30pm
Congregation Agudath Jacob, Waco, Texas

Friday, May 7, 6.15pm
Congregation B’nai Zion, El Paso, Texas

Monday, May 10, 7.30pm
JCC/Ansche Chesed, New York City

Wednesday, May 12, 7pm
Temple Isaiah, Lexington, Massachusetts

Thursday, May 13, afternoon
Taping, Israel Today TV interview, Toronto, Canada

Thursday, May 13, 7pm
Darchei Noam, Toronto, Canada

Monday, May 17, 7pm
Temple Adat Shalom, Poway, California

Tuesday, May 18, 3pm
Taping, Jewish Life TV interview, Encino, California

Tuesday, May 18, 8pm
Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, Pasadena, California

Wednesday, May 19, 6pm
Tustin, California

Friday, May 21, 7pm
Saturday, May 22, 10am
Mickve Israel, Savannah, Georgia

Sunday, May 23, 10.30am
Temple Beth Tikvah, Wayne, New Jersey

Hong Kong: 'Asian Jewish Life,' spring issue online

On my recent Hong Kong visit, I met with editor-in-chief Erica Lyons of "Asian Jewish Life: A Journal of Spirit, Society and Culture."

The new AJL spring 2010 issue is now online with stories covering India, Shanghai, Cambodia, foodies, book reviews, film and more.

"Asian Jewish Life is a contemporary journal of Jewish diaspora life throughout Asia. As Jews in Asia we are but a tiny minority unified by tradition, a love for Israel, common contemporary concerns and shared values. While Asian Jewish Life is a common media forum designed to share regional Jewish thoughts, ideas and culture and promote unity, it also celebrates our individuality and our diverse backgrounds and customs."

Here's the table of contents (read each online or download the PDF at the link above):

-- Inbox: Your letters
-- Letter from the Editor
-- India Journal- Life with the Bene Ephraim (Bonita Nathan Sussman and Gerald Sussman)
-- Eating Kosher Dog Meat: Jewish in Guiyang (Susan Blumberg-Kason)
-- Through the Eyes of ZAKA (Jana Daniels)
-- Interview: Ambassador Yaron Mayer
-- Replanting Roots in Shanghai: Architect Haim Dotan’s journey (Erica Lyons)
-- A Palate Grows in Brooklyn: Birth of a foodie (Sandi Butchkiss)
-- Poetry by Rachel DeWoskin
-- The Death Penalty: What Asia can learn from Judaism (Michael H. Fox)
-- Learning to Speak: A cross-cultural love story (Tracy Slater)
-- Book Reviews (Susan Blumberg-Kason)
-- Places I Love
-- Expat Diary: Raising a Jewish Child in Cambodia (Craig Gerard)
-- Film in Focus

Each article provides a diverse look into life in Asia, with a Jewish "hook." Tracing the Tribe will always remember the line "tenderloin of my heart," from Tracy Slater's "Learning to Speak."

Readers and writers with Jewish Asian experiences are invited to submit articles; click here for more information.

If you enjoyed this issue (the winter issue is also online), let Erica know, and tell her you learned about AJL at Tracing the Tribe. Feedback is always welcome.

A great issue, Erica!

Shanghai: Saving the stones

As is too often the case, Jewish gravestones are used for other purposes by people who live where Jewish populations no longer care for and maintain cemeteries.

Israeli journalist Dvir Bar-Gal, who arrived in Shanghai nine years ago, is the Jewish tombstone collector of the city, according to a CNNGO.com story.

Scattered in cauliflower patches, or sunken, mud-covered, in riverbanks, or sometimes used as washing slabs by villagers around the city, are the gravestones of old Jewish settlers of Shanghai. During the Cultural Revolution, the gravestones were uprooted, smashed and scattered throughout the region. The cemeteries have long been paved over, with no recognition of the bodies buried underneath. The stones that remain are like historical islands, isolated and disconnected from their past.

For Israeli photo-journalist and documentary maker Dvir Bar-Gal, a first encounter with a headstone in a Shanghai antique store has become a decade-long quest to discover their origins. And what started as a journalistic project quickly turned into a personal mission. “I got more connected emotionally,” he says. “There’s a lot of energy involved every time we flip over the stones and read the mud-covered inscriptions.”

Bar-Gal's quest, now called the Shanghai Jewish Memorial Project, has seen him journey to numerous rural villages around Shanghai. There, he’d find old tombstones in fields, along rivers, or used as construction blocks for pathways and walls. His plan is to discover and restore as many stones he can and then display them, as a shrine to this nearly lost aspect of Shanghai's Jewish history.

Stones have been recovered by the Shanghai Jewish Memorial Project from bike path bridges, fields and riverbeds. Bar-Gal interviews local residents and tries to put the puzzle pieces together.

Bar-Gal says there may have been some 3,700 Jews buried in the city, but couldn't find gravestones or cemeteries other than the pieces he discovers. He's found some 85 stones over the past 10 years. He's contacted families of the deceased and asked architects to design a permanent home.

A few years ago, American Lily Klebanoff Blake joined Bar-Gal and they went to the rural location where he found her grandmother's stone in a riverbed.

“It was still covered in mud but I felt compelled to show my respect for my grandmother by washing the mud off the gravestone,” she says. “Touching the gravestone, I felt an uncanny connection to my grandmother, who died when I was four years old.”

The recovered stones remain in a few places: a storage space, a Buddhist cemetery and the journalist's own gallery.

He has a network of people who let him know when stones are found. In March, a neighbor told him some stones were found in a western suburb and he found two new ones.

His inspiration comes from days like that, and he's working on various projects: a documentary (not yet funded), a book about Shanghai's Jewish history, and as a tour guide and photographer.

Yanhua Zhang, research director for a non-profit heritage conservation group, believes that a permanent home for the stones can help people trace their family history, and would raise awareness of the former Jewish ghetto.

Read the complete story at the link above.

Shanghai: A Jewish walking tour

Today must be Shanghai day!

Tracing the Tribe has covered gravestones, a film and now a Jewish walking tour of the city.

Take a look at this interesting city tour, covering seven Jewish-relevant sites, complete with a nice map.

For more, contact guide Patrick Cranley from Historic Shanghai.

The sites detailed, with photos, include:

-- An estate built in 1925 by a British Jewish trader, Ray Joseph.

-- The building where author Rena Krasno (1923-2009) lived with her parents, who came to Shanghai from Russia in the early 1920s. Her father was editor of "Our Life," a tri-lingual Jewish magazine; her uncle Gabriel Rabinowitz designed Ohel Moshe synagogue (now a museum commemorating Shanghai’s Jewish refugees).

-- The villa home to one of the most prominent Sephardic families, the Ezras, who owned several properties including the Astor House Hotel.

-- A luxurious apartment building (1936) built by and named for Ray and Hannah Joseph.

-- The Shanghai Conservatory of Music was the former Shanghai Jewish Club. Behind it is a German-style villa under renovation. It was the old clubhouse for a Zionist youth group, Betar.

-- In back of the Fudan University Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital is the original B'nai Brith Polyclinic building (1934), know in the 1940s as the Shanghai Jewish Hospital.

-- The Ezra family built (1934) an upscale residential community in Xinkang Huayuan.

See the complete article at the link above and see the photos.

Israel: "Shanghai Ghetto" film, April 14

The next meeting of the Israel Genealogical Society (IGS/JFRA) branch in Ra'anana will feature a screening of the "Shanghai Ghetto" documentary, which demonstrates the life of Jewish refugees who spent the war years in that city.

The screening is the branch's program for Holocaust Remembrance Evening on Wednesday, April 14, at 7.30pm. The meeting is at Beit Fisher, 5 Klausner St. (near Ahuza).

Following the film, there will be a discussion and Q&A with Harold Janklowicz, who was in Shanghai from the age of 8, with his mother. They sailed from Berlin to the relative safety of China.

Although they were away from the horrors of Europe, the Shanghai Ghetto offered other hardships including primitive living conditions, food shortages, malnutrition, illnesses and bad treatment by Japanese occupying forces.

After the war in Europe ended, bombing by American warplanes missed their radio station target and bombed the ghetto instead, killing hundreds of civilians and 40 of the Jewish refugees.

Fee: IGS/JFRA members: free; others, NIS 20.

China: A visit to Kaifeng

The one thing I really wanted to do, on my recent visit to Hong Kong, was arrange a visit to Kaifeng. It was impossible this time, but will be number one on my next visit - whenever that will be.

Matthew Fishbane recently visited the city and recounted his experience in the New York Times Travel Section, "China's Ancient Jewish Enclave." He also provides details for making a successful trip, mentions two guides and offers an interesting look.

One guide mentioned in the story is Shi Lei, 31, who studied at Bar Ilan University in Israel. We met when he spoke to a Ra'anana branch meeting that attracted nearly 100 attendees.

Through a locked door in the coal-darkened boiler room of No. 1 Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Kaifeng, there’s a well lined with Ming Dynasty bricks. It’s just a few yards deep and still holds water. Guo Yan, 29, an eager, bespectacled native of this Chinese city on the flood plains of the Yellow River about 600 miles south of Beijing, led me to it one recent Friday afternoon, past the doormen accustomed to her visits.

A mezuza at the doorway of Guo Yan's house in Kaifeng, where traces of a thriving Jewish community remain.

The well is all that’s left of the Temple of Purity and Truth, a synagogue that once stood on the site. The heritage it represents brings a trickle of travelers to see one of the more unusual aspects of this country: China, too, had its Jews.

Ms. Guo, who identifies herself as a Jew, says she hears it from scholars, visitors and Chinese people alike: “ ‘You Chinese Jews are very famous,’ they say. ‘But you are only in the history books.’“

That seemed a good enough reason to come looking, and I quickly found that I was hardly alone.

Ms. Guo and I were soon joined by a 36-year-old French traveler, Guillaume Audan, who called himself a “nonpracticing Jew” on a six-month world tour of “things not specifically Jewish.” Like me, he’d found Ms. Guo by recommendation, and made the detour to see what the rumored Kaifeng Jews were all about.

Earlier, Ms. Guo had brought us into a narrow courtyard at 21 Teaching Torah Lane — an alley once central to the city’s Jewish community, and still home to her 85-year-old grandmother, Zhao Cui, widow of a descendant of Chinese Jews. Her one-room house has been turned into a sort of dusty display case, with Mrs. Zhao as centerpiece. “Here are the Kaifeng Jews,” Ms. Guo said, a little defiantly. “We are they.”

Fishbane says, as does my own research over nearly two decades, that for 150 years following the death of the last rabbi, there was still a spirit:

Grandparents told their grandchildren, as Mrs. Zhao told Ms. Guo: “You are a Jew.” Without knowing why, families avoided pork. And at Passover, the old men baked unleavened cakes and dabbed rooster’s blood on their doorstep.

Read the complete story, at the link above, which tells of the visit to Mrs. Zhao, Judaica, and the 50 or so descendants of this ancient Jewish community as they are relearning their heritage. Fishbane also provides a good capsule history of Kaifeng as well. Their synagogue, damaged by floods, was never rebuilt.

And, if this story inspires you, view the details, resource books and possibilities of arranging such a visit to Kaifeng. Most visit only for a day as there are few sites to see that exist, and a visit relies on how the visitor and guide explain what once was.

If you do plan a trip, you might want to do it sooner than later. The street where Shi's grandfather lived - where Shi keeps a one-room mini-museum of photographs, documents and donated objects - is scheduled for re-development. We all know what that means and Shi doesn't know where the museum will move. Read the story for details on a Kaifeng visit planned for October 2010 by a group that specializes in such trips.

Melbourne: The conference opens

Although Melbourne suffered from a 100-year rain, with flooded streets, damaged and leaking roofs, hail (from marble-size to much larger!), nothing stopped these intrepid genealogists from arriving at the Beth Weizmann community building in Caulfield South.

Sallyann Amdur Sack-Pikus gave the keynote address and focused on "Jewish Genealogy: Past , Present and Future," as she detailed the history and growth of Jewish genealogy in the US and worldwide.

After a coffee break, I was up next with our "Iberian Ashkenaz DNA Project: So You Think You're Ashkenazi." It generated many questions and people were talking to me all day about their family's stories. The point was to raise awareness of the possibilities and it certainly seemed to do just that.

I hadn't known previously, but I was to lead a Sephardic SIG group next, with another group of interested people with even more interesting stories to tell and questions to be answered.

Following lunch (complete with felafel, potato salad and the rest), I then presented "The New Technology Frontier: Social Networks and Blogging," which also encouraged questions and comments, as I covered Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and genealogy social networking sites. Several people at the session and ater during the day mentioned that their trees had been hijacked at Geni.

There were several concurrent sessions. I attended Jenni Buch's Belarus session and Peter Nash's excellent "China: Resources for Family Research," which offered some rather amazing sources discovered by Peter. Attending Peter's talk was our new friend Helen Bekhor of Melbourne, whose Sephardic family - originally from Baghdad - was interned by the Japanese in Shanghai. Peter attended the Kadoorie School in Shanghai and it sounded like they knew some of the same people way back then. Rieke Nash's session on JRI-Poland was next.

What I missed: Krystyna Duszniak's "Unearthing the Polish Past by Necessity: The Historica Journey to a Poish Passport," Todd Knowles' "British Holldings of the Family History Library," Daniela Torsh's "Finding Hilda: An Austrian Genealogy Story," and Prof. Martin Delatycki's "Genetic Disease Among Jewish People." There were also SIG groups on researching early Australia, German research, Hungary and the Netherlands.

In the evening, a reception was held at the nearby Glen Eira Town Hall, complete with wine, sushi and more. A moving address was given by the young mayor, Steven Tang, who described his trip back to Poland and search for his mother's Jewish roots, as well as his father's Chinese roots. Awards were given to hardworking society members.

The society lost some time ago one of its major movers and shakers - Les Oberman - a good friend of mine. A meeting room was dedicated with a plaque bearing his name.

Ziva Fain and I are now out the door to day two of the conference.

Photos and more will be posted tonight.

San Francisco: 'Jews in China' series during March

Jews in Modern China is a series of programs touching on the Jewish experience, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee San Francisco.


The exhibit of photographs, documents and memorabilia portrays a little known chapter in Chinese and Jewish history. It follows three ethnic streams of Jewish communities that lived in harmony with their Chinese neighbors in Shanghai and other Chinese cities, 1840-1949:

-- Sephardic merchants, originally from Iraq, who played a significant role in the commercial and real estate development of Shanghai. Settling mainly in the British sector of the city, they built synagogues and established Jewish social service agencies, schools and other institutions that laid a foundation for Jewish communal life.

-- Russian Jews escaping czarist pogroms from the 1880s to World War I and after World War I, the Russian Revolution. This community brought Zionist organizations, Yiddish publications and other cultural activity to Shanghai’s French Concession, as well as to Harbin, further north.

-- European Jews escaping the coming Holocaust. Shanghai was an open city that did not require visas or passports to enter. Despite the Japanese occupation of Shanghai when they arrived, Jews lived in relative comfort, thanks to the previously settled Jewish community. However, in 1942 the Japanese, bowing to the wishes of their German allies, confined Jews who had come from Europe since 1937 to a squalid ghetto area until the end of the war.

The program is part of the Shanghai Celebration, a year-long program for the San Francisco Bay area, with exhibitions, films, performances, lectures. and other events. It also includes the Asian Art Museum's major Shanghai exhibit (February 12-September 5).

"Jews in Modern China" series includes:

Tuesday, March 2, 5:30pm - Officers Club, the Presidio, San Francisco

Exhibit viewing and a conversation between Professor Pan Guang, dean of Center for Jewish Studies, Shanghai; and Professor Thomas Gold, UC-Berkeley. Sponsors: American Jewish Committee San Francisco Office, Asia Society of
Northern California.

"Shanghai Jews: Art, Architecture and Survival"
Thursday, March 4, 7pm - Contemporary Jewish Museum

From the mid-19th-mid-20th centuries, Shanghai was transformed into a multi-cultural, international city. Presented by Nancy Berliner, Chinese art curator, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. Sponsors: Asian Art Museum, Holocaust Center of Northern California, American Jewish Committee San Francisco Office.

"Remembering Rena"
Sunday, March 7, 2pm - Officers Club, Presidio, San Francisco

A program honoring the late Rena Krasno, a Shanghai native whose books, lectures, and archival projects crafted a legacy of connection to the Jewish experience in China. Speakers will include colleagues, friends and family. Sponsors: The Sino-Judaic Institute, Pacific View Press.

"A Young Man in Shanghai: Troubles and Triumphs"
Wednesday, March 10, 7pm - Officers Club, Presidio, San Francisco

Author and educator Audrey Friedman Marcus, who will discuss the Shanghai experiences of her late husband, Fred Marcus, who fled Germany at age 15. His recently published diary depicts the challenges and struggles that he and some 20,000 fellow Jewish refugees encountered. Sponsors: American Jewish Committee San Francisco Office, Bureau of Jewish Education of San Francisco.

"Founders of the Shanghai Jewish Community: The Sephardic Story"
Sunday, March 14, 2pm - Officers Club, Presidio, San Francisco

Presented by Shanghai-born Leah Jacob Garrick - the fourth generation of her family to live there. She will discuss the history and legacy of Sephardic families who laid the foundation of the Shanghai Jewish community while playing a significant role in the business and architectural development of the city itself. Sponsors: China International Cultural Exchange Center, American Jewish Committee's San Francisco office.

Lehrhaus Judaica will also sponsor the related "Jews in Modern China" lecture series, at 4pm, March 21, at Netivot Shalom, Berkeley, and at 7pm April 29, at the Officers Club, Presidio. The series features Bay area residents who represent the Sephardic, Russian and Holocaust-refugee communities of China (1840-1949). Speakers include Rabbi Theodore Alexander, Leah Jacob Garrick and Inna Mink. Moderator: Linda Frank.

For more information, visit the AJC San Francisco.

Shanghai: Polish citizen registration book online

JRI-Poland now features the 918 index entries of Polish Jewish refugees who visited the Polish Consulate in Shanghai from 1934-41.

For more on the database, click here to learn more about the records and Jews in China.

In a 1992 visit to the Polish Consulate in Shanghai, Dr. Jonathan Goldstein, then a research associate at Harvard University's Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, and three other scholars, were shown a 200-page register listing Polish citizens who passed through Shanghai between January 9, 1934 and December 16, 1941.

This register was the standard one used by Polish diplomatic missions around the world to record their citizens who called on the Consulate, whether they were visiting or residing in the country. Typically, these records enabled the missions to provide consular services, invite its citizens for celebrations of national days, or contact them for other official reasons.

The following information was recorded in the register in Polish:
Registration number
Registration date
Full name of registrant (maiden name, if provided)
His or her profession
Religion (Mojzeszowa for Jewish)
Birth date and place
Marital status
Last known address in Poland (non-existent for most Jews)
Address in the consular region
Documents submitted (usually a passport)
Name and birth date and place of wife and children
Passport expiry date
Remarks

The register covers two pages; here is a sample page:

The JRI-Poland Index includes the following fields:

Registration Number
Date entered in register
Surname
Maiden Name (if provided)
Given Names
Place of Birth as Written
Place of Birth - Current Name (if different)
Current Country of Place of Birth
Date of Birth
Marital Status

In line with the the cooperative arrangement with JewishGen, which hosts JRI-Poland's database and website, the Polish citizen database will also be included in the All Poland Database and the JewishGen Holocaust Database.

JRI-Poland has created digital images of the register pages and will send electronic copies of the relevant pages to interested researchers. Contact Mark Halpern to obtain a copy of the page for individuals in the database.

JRI-Poland volunteer Peter Nash (of Australia) has documented and shared his knowledge of Jewish research in China. He and his parents were German refugees in Shanghai. JRI-Poland has reprinted Peter's excellent paper (presented at the New York 2006 international conference on Jewish genealogy), "China - Unusual Resources for Family Research." Read it here.

Projects like this cannot be accomplished without the input, hard work and cooperation of numerous individuals. Mark Halpern of JRI-Poland specifically thanks Selma Neubauer (Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia) and JGSGP volunteers for creating the database.

Former Sino-Judaic Institute president Dr. Albert Dein provided copies of the Shanghai Consulate register, Peter Nash reviewed the database and the webpages, Michael Tobias for placing the database online, and Hadassah Lipsius and her web team for creating the webpages.

Connecticut: Jews of Shanghai, Feb. 14

Learn about Shanghai's Jewish community, past and present, at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Connecticut (JGSCT), on Sunday, February 14.

The event begins at 1.30pm at the Godfrey Memorial Library, 134 Newfield St., Middletown.

JGSCT president Georgia Haken will speak on "The Jewish Community In Shanghai, China Yesterday And Today." The meeting is free.

She's been researching her family history for many years, especially in Germany and Austria. Since 2005, she has lived for several months at a time in Shanghai, and has researched the Jews of China.

Jewish communities have lived there since the early Middle Ages, and were cited by Marco Polo, in 1286, as an important element in the life of the country. The Shanghai community has been a linguistic, cultural, and religious mosaic, especially in the 20th century.

Founded in 1988, the JGSCT holds its meetings and houses its library at the Godfrey Library.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Connecticut, formed in 1988, houses its library at the Godfrey.

For directions and more information, visit the JGSCT.

Sephardim: Museum of Family History exhibits

The virtual Museum of Family History also has material for researchers of Sephardim.

-- Holocaust Memorials in Havana and Santa Clara, Cuba

-- Synagogues of Asia: Burma, China, Hong Kong, India, Lebanon, Singapore, Tajikistan, Turkey [Asian side].

--Synagogues of Turkey: (European side of Istanbul)

-- Synagogues of Spain. The photo at left is the El Transito Synagogue in Toledo.

-- Postcards from Home: Turkey

Museum creator Steve Lasky wishes to include more pre-war family photos. Readers with such photos are invited to contact Steve.

Shanghai: Jewish records index

If your Jewish ancestors spent time in Shanghai, this resource may provide information for you.

Jewish Records Indexing - Poland acquired the Shanghai Polish Consular register from the Sino-Judaic Institute (Palo Alto, California) and indexed the records in this collection.

There are 1,474 entries from January 19, 1934 through December 13, 1941. Of these records, some 57% (846 records) were Jewish.

Why did Jews visit the Polish Consulate in Shanghai?

Two major incidents were likely responsible: The August 1937 Battle of Shanghai and December 1941, following the Pearl Harbor attack.

The register shows many entries for people who received Sugihara passports in Kovno, and those individuals from the Mir Yeshiva.

According to Mark Halpern of JRI-Poland, the indexing is complete, will be put into a database and soon added to the JRI-Poland database.

Index fields include:

-- Registration Number
-- Date entered in register
-- Surname
-- Maiden Name (if provided)
-- Given Names
-- Place of Birth as Written
-- Place of Birth - Current Name (if different)
-- Current Country of Place of Birth
-- Date of Birth
-- Marital Status

The actual register includes other information such as occupation, address in Poland, address in the consular region, documents submitted to register name and date of birth, information on wife and children, passport expiration date and other notes.

During the register's interwar scope, Poland included territories that today are are part of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, while many Polish Jews living in Germany had Polish nationality.

According to Mark, the database includes people who previously lived in Austria, Belarus, Bosnia, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

If your family member was in Shanghai from 1934-1941, Mark offers a look-up before the indexes are added to the JRI-Poland database. Contact him.

New York City: Voices of the Silk Road, Jan. 16-17

Travel the exotic Silk Road at the American Museum of Natural History, during its "Living in America: Voices of the Silk Road" from noon-5pm, Saturday and Sunday, January 16-17.

The program is in conjunction with the current exhibition, Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World.

In addition to the weekend activities, other special programs will take place in January, such as "Global Kitchen: Aromatics Along the Silk Road," at 6.30pm, Wednesday, January 20, and "Caravanserai: A Perfumed Tasting Menu," at 7pm, Thursday, January 21. In February, there are events for students also, such as the Silk Road Camp for 2nd-3rd graders (Monday-Friday, February 15-19).See these other events here. See the special kids' page.

The Silk Road was also followed by Jewish merchants and traders and many other travelers of diverse religions and ethnicities who interacted with the peoples who lived along the way.

The weekend program includes performances, conversations and hands-on activities. For the details of speakers and presenters, click here.

Saturday: Folk paper cutter, calligrapher, face painting, Arab folktales, Arabic calligraphy, exquisite textiles from India, Silk Road spices, cultural Central Asian treasures. Music: Ukrainian bandura, Japanese fue, Tibetan folk singer, Bukharan Jewish singer, Kyrgyz traditional musician, Iranian vocalist and qanun.

Sunday: Music, dance, acrobatics from three unique cultures with Silk Road ties. Gagaku, the oldest traditional orchestral, Chinese Theatre Works music, acrobatics, dance of the Tang Dynasty; Bukharan Jewish music ensemble Maqam performing shashmaqam, vocal performance, stringed and percussion instruments.

See the link above for more information. Sessions are free with museum admission.

Kulanu: Chinese, Indian Jewish articles

If the stories of Jews around the world in some exotic places capture your imagination, you aren't alone.

Kulanu's Fall 2009 Newsletter is now online. Some of the articles are:

-- "French Black Jews” by Cynthia Weisfeld
-- “Endings and Beginnings in Uganda” by Lorne Mallin
-- “Kaifeng Descendent to Tour U.S.”
-- “What I Did on my Summer Vacation” by Janis Colton (Elderhostel trip to New Mexico on Converso/Crypto-Jewish story)

Some notes on the stories:

A descendant of one of the original Jewish families in Kaifeng, China, Shi Lei spoke to our JFRA Israel group in Israel a few years ago while he was attending Bar Ilan University (2001-2002). Nearly 100 people came to hear him speak. He is now back in his home town. A spring 2010 lecture tour to the US is planned. Perhaps your JGS is interested in inviting him to speak. Email Kulanu to get details.

Colton's story on her New Mexico trip this summer was interesting. For those who are so inspired, the Jewish Womens Archive is planning a long weekend trip to Santa Fe, NM, where some of these issues will be on the program, including a talk by Dr. Stan Hordes, who specializes in Converso/Crypto-Jewish studies.

There was also information about the Jews of India, including information on a new documentary about Mumbai's Bene Israel community; a new website, IndianJudaica.com; and a new book, "Being Indian, Being Israeli," by Maina Chawla Singh. Near Haifa, Israel, a new Indian Jewish Community Center (called Shaare Rahamim) has been established. It will house a permanent museum displaying Indian Judaica and historic documents. For more information, send an email.

Do read all the articles at the main Kulanu Newsletter link above.

ShtetLinks: What's new for you?

Many researchers have created online memorials to the Jewish communities where their ancestors once lived. These sites are a valuable resource for current researchers and for those who will be searching for information in the future.

The sites are on JewishGen at the links below for each.

These are the new (N) as well as the updated (U) sites for October, listed by current country.

CHINA
Harbin, China (U)

BELARUS
Homyel (Gomel, Homl), Belarus (N)
Created by: Paul Zoglin

LITHUANIA
Varniai (Vorne), Lithuania (N)
Created by: Susan Gerichter
Webpage Design: ShtetLinks volunteer Greg Meyer

Zagare (Zhager), Lithuania (N)
Created by: Cliff Marks
Webpage Design: ShtetLinks volunteer Nicky Carklin

Aukstoji Panemune (Panemon, Poniemon Frentzela), Lithuania (U)

POLAND
Pila (Schneidemuhl), Poland (N)
Created by: Peter Cullman

SLOVAKIA
Poruba pod Vihorlatom (Nemetvagas), Slovakia (N)
Created by: Marshall J. Katz

UKRAINE
Grimaylov (Grzymalow, Hrymajiliv), Ukraine (N)
Created by: Susana Leistner Bloch
Webmaster: Edward Rosenbaum

Strabychovo (Sztrabicso, Strabichevo), Ukraine (N)
Compiled by: Amos Israel Zezmer
Created/Webpage Design: Marshall J. Katz

Kovel (Kowel), Ukraine (U)

Tracing the Tribe readers who would like to create a webpage for their ancestral shtetls or kahals (there is a Sephardic communities section), or adopt an existing orphan shtetlpage should send an email for more information.

If creating webpages and HTML is not your thing, don't worry. A group of dedicated individuals will help you create this memorial for your ancestral home.

For more information, contact Susana Leistner Bloch, ShtetLinks vice president.

China: Kaifeng Jews arrive in Israel

A group of seven descendants of China's Kaifeng Jewish community has moved to Israel with the help of Shavei Israel, according to this report.

Kaifeng was home to a Jewish community for more than 1,000 years.

"I am very excited to be here in the Holy Land," said Yaakov Wang, one of the new immigrants. "This is something that my ancestors dreamed about for generations, and now thank G-d I have finally made it."

Wang said that he eventually hopes to become a rabbi, so that one day he can help other Kaifeng Jewish descendants to learn more about their heritage.

Shavei Israel chair Michael Freund said it took more than two years to get the Interior Ministry to grant special permits for a one-year tourist visas, as they prepare for conversion. Following conversion they will receive citizenship. The group is staying at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, near Beit Shean, where they will study in the Hebrew ulpan.

Said Freund, "This is an historic event. Kaifeng's Jewish descendants are a living link between China and the Jewish people, and it is very moving to see the remnants of this community returning to their roots."

At its peak, during the Middle Ages, Kaifeng Jewry numbered about 5,000 people. But widespread intermarriage and assimilation, as well as the death of the community's last rabbi, brought about its demise by the middle of the 19th century.

Scholars say there are still hundreds of people in Kaifeng who cling to their identity as descendants of the city's Jewish community. In recent years, a growing number have begun to express an interest in studying Jewish history and culture.

Persian Jewish merchants were among the founders of Kaifeng. The ancient synagogue, in preserved drawings, indicates inscriptions in Hebrew, Farsi and Chinese. The rabbi was called "ustad" or master (Farsi). Ancestral stones indicate some Persian given names.

Tracing the Tribe hopes some of them want to open a real Chinese restaurant in Tel Aviv.