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[[Jews]] are one of the oldest communities in [[Hong Kong]], having first appeared in the city during [[British Hong Kong|British rule]]. The first Jews arrived in Hong Kong from various parts of the [[British Empire]] as merchants and colonial officials. Among the first wave, the [[Baghdadi Jews]] stood out especially, including representatives of the influential [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] families of [[Sassoon family|Sassoon]] and [[Kadoorie family|Kadoorie]]. The construction of the [[Ohel Leah Synagogue]] in 1901 marked the beginning of a fully fledged religious life for the city's local Jews.
[[Jews]] are one of the oldest communities in [[Hong Kong]], having first appeared in the city during [[British Hong Kong|British rule]]. The first Jews arrived in Hong Kong from various parts of the [[British Empire]] as merchants and colonial officials. Among the first wave, the [[Baghdadi Jews]] stood out especially, including representatives of the influential [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] families of [[Sassoon family|Sassoon]] and [[Kadoorie family|Kadoorie]]. The construction of the [[Ohel Leah Synagogue]] in 1901 marked the beginning of a fully fledged religious life for the city's local Jews.


Jews never constituted a large community in Hong Kong (only numbering a few hundred prior to World War II); however, many influential diasporans left their mark on the city. As the city is a major [[financial centre]], much of Hong Kong's Jewish community is temporary in nature, largely consisting of [[expatriate]]s from countries with much larger Jewish populations, such as [[Israel]], [[United States]], [[France]], and other countries.
Jews never constituted a large community in Hong Kong (only numbering a few hundred prior to World War II); however, many influential diasporans left their mark on the city. As a major [[financial centre]], much of Hong Kong's Jewish community is temporary in nature, largely consisting of [[expatriate]]s from countries with much larger Jewish populations, such as [[Israel]], [[United States]], [[France]], and other countries.


== History ==
== History ==

Revision as of 15:43, 16 February 2022

Jews in Hong Kong
יהדות הונג קונג‎
Total population
about 2,500[1]
Languages
Hebrew, English, French, Cantonese
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Other Jewish groups
(Mizrahi, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, etc.)
Part of a series on
Ethnicity in Hong Kong

Jews are one of the oldest communities in Hong Kong, having first appeared in the city during British rule. The first Jews arrived in Hong Kong from various parts of the British Empire as merchants and colonial officials. Among the first wave, the Baghdadi Jews stood out especially, including representatives of the influential Sephardic families of Sassoon and Kadoorie. The construction of the Ohel Leah Synagogue in 1901 marked the beginning of a fully fledged religious life for the city's local Jews.

Jews never constituted a large community in Hong Kong (only numbering a few hundred prior to World War II); however, many influential diasporans left their mark on the city. As a major financial centre, much of Hong Kong's Jewish community is temporary in nature, largely consisting of expatriates from countries with much larger Jewish populations, such as Israel, United States, France, and other countries.

History

19th century

Grave of Horace Kadoorie at the Jewish cemetery in Happy Valley

Jewish merchants from Britain, Australia and colonies of the British Empire, who traded in opium, tea and silk, had been visiting Hong Kong even before the establishment of British rule in 1841. In 1844, the Sephardic merchant Elias David Sassoon (1820–1880) opened an office in Canton, which indicated the interest of the trading house David Sassoon & Co. to the Chinese market.[2] A permanent Jewish community formed in Hong Kong in the 1850s. The social life of the community revolved around the homes of the wealthy Sephardic families of Sassoon and Kadoorie, whose interests extended far beyond the colony. Trading firms of Sassoon and Kadoorie families hired mainly Jewish employees, which encouraged the influx of new Jews from Baghdad and Mumbai to Hong Kong.[3][4][5]

In 1855, a Jewish cemetery was established in the Happy Valley area.[6] The first synagogue was opened by the Sassoons in 1870 in one of the tenement houses on Hollywood Road, but in 1881 it was replaced by a new synagogue. In 1882, there were about 60 Sephardic Jews living in Hong Kong.[7] In the 1880s, a wave of Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe (mainly from the Russian Empire) and the Balkans settled in the colony. Wealthy Sephardim distanced themselves from the predominantly poor Ashkenazi.[8][9] The two communities did not even pray together and buried the dead in different parts of the Jewish cemetery. Ashkenazim were forced to settle in poor neighbourhoods and boarding houses, work in bars and clubs with a dubious reputation and some women worked in prostitution.[8][9]

In the second half of the 19th century, the most influential figure in the Jewish community in Hong Kong was Elias David Sassoon, son of the powerful Mumbai businessman David Sassoon (1792–1864). He led the operations of the David Sassoon & Co. trading house in China and Japan, controlled the shipments of Indian opium, as well as the company's cargo transportation between Mumbai, Kolkata, Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, Nagasaki and Yokohama.[10] With Sassoon's donations, a synagogue and the Sailors' House, one of the first charitable institutions, were built in Hong Kong. In 1865 the Sassoons supported the formation of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, in the early 1870s David Sassoon & Co. took first place in the supply of opium from Hong Kong to China, overtaking its main competitor, Jardine Matheson & Co.[11][12][5] In October 1879, the company suffered a disaster—its coal warehouses in the port of Hong Kong burned down and in March 1880 Elias Sassoon died in Colombo.[13]

Another prominent member of the Sassoon family in Hong Kong was Frederick David Sassoon (1853–1917). Initially, he helped his older brother, and after his death, he headed the family business in Hong Kong and oversaw affairs throughout the Far East. In addition, in 1878–1879 and 1885–1886, he was chairman of the board of directors of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. From 1884 to 1887 he was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong as a representative of the justice of the peace[14] and headed The Bank of Hindustan, China and Japan.[15][16] After moving to the UK, he was chairman of David Sassoon & Co. in London and director of the Imperial Bank of Persia.[17] In addition to Frederick, his elder brother Arthur (Abraham) David Sassoon (1840–1912) was also on the board of directors of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.[18][9]

Among other members of the Jewish community in Hong Kong, the Dutch Jew Charles Henry Bosman (1839–1892) stood out. He was the head of the Bosman and Co trading house, co-owner of the city's first luxury Hongkong Hotel, which opened in 1868, and director of the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock, founded in 1863 by Scottish businessman Thomas Sutherland. By 1869, Charles Bosman was Consul of the Netherlands in Hong Kong and ran his own marine insurance company, whose clients included the colony's largest group, Jardine Matheson & Co. Later, Charles Bosman moved to Great Britain and received British citizenship in 1888. He died in London in 1892.[19][20] By the end of the 19th century, one of the richest people in Hong Kong was the son of Charles Bosman, Robert Hotung Bosman, who was able to compete with the owners of the leading British trading houses in the colony due to his wealth and influence.[21]

Along with the Sassoons and the Bosmans, Emanuel Raphael Belilios (1837–1905) also stood out among the Jews of Hong Kong. Having made his fortune in the opium wholesale trade, Belilios headed The Hongkong Hotel Company and was also the chairman of the board of directors of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council.[22][23]

First half of the 20th century

Matthew Nathan in 1920

By the beginning of the 20th century, 165 Jews officially lived in Hong Kong, mostly Baghdadi Sephardim. In 1901, Jacob Sassoon (1843–1916) financed the construction of the Ohel Leah synagogue, and in 1905 the Kadoorie brothers built the "Jewish Recreation Club" next to it, a new centre for the social life of the community. The heyday of the Jewish community of Hong Kong came under the rule of Governor Matthew Nathan (1904–1907)—the only Jewish governor of the colony.[24][25] Under his governance, the Jewish cemetery was expanded, the construction of the railway between Kowloon and Canton began, and the main street of Kowloon, was named Nathan Road in his honour. In 1911, the Jewish population of Hong Kong reached 230 people.[26] From the early 1920s to the mid-1930s, the number of the Jewish community did not exceed one hundred people (as before, the Sephardim predominated, but due to the influx of refugees from Eastern Europe, the balance began to change in favour of the Ashkenazim). During this period, there was an outflow of Jewish businessmen to the rapidly developing Shanghai.[27][28][29]

From 1937, Jewish refugees from Shanghai, Tianjin and Harbin, fleeing the hardships of the Japanese occupation, began to flock to Hong Kong (mostly wealthy Jews with British or American passports), as well as some Jews from Europe who fled Nazism.[30] The composition of the newcomers was quite diverse, among this wave of refugees there were Baghdad, Russian, German, Austrian, Polish and Czech Jews. The Hong Kong Society of Jewish Refugees was created to accommodate them.[31][28][32]

Another wave of Jewish refugees followed from Europe through the ports of Mumbai, Singapore and Hong Kong to Shanghai, where, after the Japanese occupation, visas were still not required for Europeans[33][34] (the British colonial authorities did not allow Jewish refugees to disembark in their ports).[35]

Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there were still some contacts between the Shanghai Ghetto and Hong Kong, but after the air attack on Hawaii, the wealthy Baghdadi Jews of Shanghai, many of whom had British citizenship, were interned. On the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in December 1941, some of the Jews managed to leave the British colony. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the Ohel Lea synagogue was used as a warehouse, the Jewish Club was looted, and many members of the Jewish community were interned in the Stanley Internment Camp[36] set up on the site of the British fort at Stanley (where, for example, Morris Abraham Cohen and Elly Kadoorie's families were imprisoned).[37][28] After the war, some of the local Jews returned to Hong Kong; in 1949, the previously destroyed Jewish Club was restored.[26]

In the first half of the 20th century, the brothers Jacob Elias Sassoon and Edward Elias Sassoon (1853–1924), along with their relative Edward Shellim (1869–1928), were the most influential figures in the Jewish community of Hong Kong. Shellim, who was a nephew of Elias David Sassoon, started to work as a manager in the Hong Kong branch of David Sassoon & Co., and later became a chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1912 to 1913, as well as the director of the Hong Kong Tramways, Hongkong Land and Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown. He also became a member of the advisory committees of China Sugar Companies Refining, Hong Kong Fire Insurance and Canton Insurance Society. In addition to his commercial activities, Shellim was also involved in public affairs by being a justice of the peace, and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1913 to 1918, as well as a member of the committees of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, House of Sailors, head of the financial committee of Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, and the council of the Ohel Lea Synagogue and Hong Kong University Council.[38][39] Shellim died on 8 December 1928.[40][41]

Another family of Baghdad Jews, the Kadoorie, successfully competed with the Sassoon family. At the height of their power, the brothers Ellis (1865–1922) and Elly Kadoorie (1867–1944) controlled stakes in the China Light and Power Company, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Star Ferry, textile mills and rubber plantations,[42] and owned extensive real estate and hotel chain The Hongkong Hotel Company (today known as Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels). In 1928, Elly Kadoorie opened the most prestigious hotel in the colony near Kowloon Station—the six-story The Peninsula.[43][29]

Second half of the 20th century

Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden

In the second half of the 20th century, the most prominent representatives of the Jewish community in Hong Kong were Lawrence Kadoorie (1899–1993) and Horace Kadoorie (1902–1995)—the sons of Elly Kadoorie, partners in the family business and well-known philanthropists. After the war, they revived the China Light and Power Company and The Peninsula Hotel and formed Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels. In addition, the brothers became shareholders of textile enterprises, the Star Ferry company and the Peak Tram cable car leading to Victoria Peak. Lawrence also served on the board of directors of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.[26][44]

Lawrence Kadoorie was a member of the Legislative and Executive Councils of Hong Kong in the 1950s. In 1962, Lawrence and Horace Kadoorie received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (the Asian analogue of the Nobel Prize). Lawrence Kadoorie received the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1970, was knighted bachelor in 1974, was made a baron for his philanthropy in 1981, became a life peer, and was the first person born in Hong Kong to become a member of the House of Lords.[45][46]

In 1951, Lawrence and Horace Kadoorie founded an association to help local Chinese farmers in the New Territories, and in 1956 established an experimental farm and botanical garden, which eventually developed into Hong Kong's leading research organization in the field of ecology and agriculture.[26]

There were 250 Jews in Hong Kong (half Sephardi, half Ashkenazi) in 1954. The number dropped to 230 in 1959 and a further 200 in 1968 (130 Ashkenazi and 70 Sephardi). In 1974, according to the lists of the Ohel Lea Synagogue and the Jewish Club, there were about 450 local Jews living in Hong Kong.[26]

Five unique Torah scrolls belonging to the ancient Jewish community of Kaifeng were discovered in the so-called "Thieves' Market of Cat Street" (Lascar Row quarter in the Sheung Wan district) in 1974. Today these scrolls are kept in the Ohel Lea synagogue.[26][47] In 1984, the Jewish Historical Society of Hong Kong was founded in the Jewish Club to study the history of the Jews in China. A year later, the Israeli Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau was officially appointed (Israel formally established diplomatic relations with China in 1992).[7]

In the late 1980s, American Rabbi Samuel Joseph arrived in Hong Kong and became the first head of the United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong. At that time, the community did not yet have its own premises, and meetings were held at the American Club or the Chinese Naval Club of the British garrison.[48] As of 1989, of the long-term residents of Hong Kong, 39% were Americans, 27% were British (including residents of the colony), and 17% were Israelis.[28][49] In 1991, the Carmel Jewish Day School was founded, located in the east wing of the former British military hospital in the Mid-Levels.[50] In the first half of the 1990s, 1.5 thousand Jews lived in Hong Kong, of which about 1 thousand participated in the life of the community.[28] On the eve of the transfer of Hong Kong to the PRC (1997), around 2.5 to 3 thousand Jews lived in the colony, two-thirds of whom were Americans and Israelis (mostly businessmen, managers of international companies and banks, specialists).[7][51] The composition of the Jewish community had also shifted from the predominantly Baghdadi and Western European Jewish population to a predominantly American, British and Israeli mix.[52] According to the 1989 Hong Kong community profile survey, only three percent of Hong Kong Jews had Cantonese as their primary or native language (mostly Chinese women who converted to Judaism for marriage), while only nine percent of the survey respondents knew Mandarin and seven percent knew Cantonese.[53]

The Peninsula Hotel is the most famous asset of the Kadoorie family.

In 1995, a large Jewish community centre was built next to the Ohel Lea Synagogue, replacing the old Jewish Club. The United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong moved into this centre, after which religious ceremonies began to be held in the auditorium of the centre, and the rabbi of the community settled in a nearby residential complex.[48] In October 1998, the Ohel Lea synagogue opened after a major renovation that restored it to its original appearance (the renovation project won a UNESCO award).[26][54]

Current situation

About 5 thousand Jews lived in Hong Kong in 2010, united in seven congregations (kehilla or qahal)—the reformist United Jewish Congregation, the Hasidic Chabad with branches in Hong Kong, Kowloon and Lantau, the Sephardic Orthodox congregations Kehilat Zion (Kowloon) and Shuva Israel (Hong Kong).[7][55] Most of the Jews are concentrated on Hong Kong Island, where the main objects of Jewish public life are concentrated (mostly in the Mid-Levels, Central and Admiralty districts), some are in Kowloon (mostly in the Tsim Sha Tsui and East Tsim Sha Tsui districts) and the New Territories. Among the Jews of Hong Kong, immigrants from North America (USA and Canada) predominate, there are also immigrants from Western Europe (Great Britain, France, Spain, Switzerland), Israel, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Expatriates working in Hong Kong include businessmen, managers, skilled professionals, journalists, teachers and professors.[48] Most of the Jews speak Hebrew or English and a very small number of them speak Cantonese or Mandarin.[53] According to the World Jewish Congress, some 2.5 thousand Jews currently live in Hong Kong.[1]

The most important cluster where the Jews of Hong Kong gather is located on Robinson Road in the Mid-Levels. Built in 1995, the Jewish Community Center is located here, which includes a library, a Chinese-Jewish archive, a learning centre, a multi-purpose auditorium, an indoor pool, a gym, a kosher meat and dairy restaurant, a cafe and a kosher grocery store.[51] Adjacent to the centre is the historic Ohel Lea Synagogue, with Hong Kong's only mikveh.[56][57] The Consulate General of Israel is located in the second tower of the Admiralty Center office complex on Harcourt Road in the Admiralty district.[58]

Among the modern significant members of the Jewish community of Hong Kong is the son of Lawrence Kadoorie, billionaire Michael Kadoorie (Chairman and co-owner of CLP Group, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels and Metrojet airlines, member of the board of directors of CK Hutchison Holdings, owned by Li Ka-shing),[59][43] James Meyer Sassoon (executive director of the Jardine Matheson Group, Director of Hongkong Land, Dairy Farm International Holdings, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Chairman of the China-British Business Council)[60] and Allan Zeman (restaurateur, hotelier and property developer, member of the board of directors of the gambling group Wynn Resorts,[61] also known as the "father" of Hong Kong's Lan Kwai Fong entertainment district).[62]

Religious life

Ohel Leah Synagogue in Mid-Levels district

The Jewish community of Hong Kong hold Shabbat meals, celebrate the main Jewish holidays (Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, Shavuot, Pesach and others) and develop religious educational programs.[53]

Hong Kong has four active synagogues, three of which have full-time rabbis, two Jewish schools (Carmel School for young children and Ezekiel Abraham Sunday School for teenagers), and a Jewish cemetery in the Happy Valley area.[1][63] The main synagogue is Ohel Lea, built in 1901–1902, formally belongs to Modern Orthodox Judaism, but it is visited by supporters of both Lubavitcher Hasidism, Reform Judaism, and Conservative Judaism.[64][7]

The Jewish Community Center is home to the United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong, which unites about 500 people who belong to heterodox currents of Judaism (reformists, liberals and conservatives). Since its founding in 1988, the congregation has been closely associated with the Jerusalem-based World Union for Progressive Judaism and the Australian Union for Progressive Judaism.[51]

The Fortune House in the Central District houses the office of the Sephardic congregation Shuva Israel. It provides restaurants and offices with kosher food, conducts worship services and various practices, teaches adults and children, and provides other services to residents and tourists. A synagogue, study hall, library, restaurant, and kosher grocery occupy two floors of the community office. In addition, ten families of the congregation have their own preschool and cheder in the Pok Fu Lam area.[65][51]

The Hoover Court building on McDonnell Road in the Mid-Levels is home to the Hong Kong Chabad of Hong Kong office, and on Chatham Road in Tsim Sha Tsui is the Kowloon Chabad of Kowloon office,[66] opened in 2005 in the Oriental Center building. The Lubavitcher Hasidim are an active but isolated Jewish community in Hong Kong. They have their own synagogue, kindergarten, school, their own direction of kosher products and hotel reservation system.[67][51]

The business complex Wing On Plaza in the Tsim Sha Tsui East area houses the office of the Sephardic community Kehilat Zion, which unites more than 900 people. Founded in 1995 by a Syrian businessman and the Jerusalem Sephardic Center, the Community Synagogue serves the faithful throughout Kowloon. The spiritual leader of the Kehilat Zion community is also the Chief Rabbi of the entire Sephardic community in Hong Kong. The community also manages a library and a kosher restaurant, holds holidays, lectures and seminars, provides kosher food and reserves hotel rooms for those who wish.[51][63]

Jewish cemetery

Chapel at the Jewish cemetery

The Hong Kong Jewish Cemetery is located in the Happy Valley district. It was founded in 1855 thanks to donations from businessman David Sassoun (formally, the British authorities signed permits for the cemetery only in 1858).[30] Today, the cemetery is surrounded on all sides by high-rise residential buildings; you can get to it along a narrow passage between a Buddhist temple and a school attached to it. This is one of the few Jewish cemeteries in the Far East that have been preserved in their original location.[6][7]

The cemetery is oriented from east to west, most of the graves are located at the western entrance. The oldest grave is dated 1857. The funeral lists indicate that most of the dead in the early years of the cemetery were men since at that time it was not customary to settle in Hong Kong with their families. The population of the colony was very fluid, therefore, on the 16 oldest graves there are no names of people buried there, only small numbers.[6][7][8]

Sephardic graves from the late 19th century are grouped in the eastern part of the cemetery, while Ashkenazi graves are grouped in the western, behind the chapel. The chapel itself and other small buildings appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, during the reign of the Jewish governor Matthew Nathan. In 1904, a 75-year lease was signed on a piece of land adjacent to the cemetery (in 1979 it was extended for another 75 years).[6][7]

The cemetery is dominated by simple graves, although the first tombstones were made in the form of massive granite sarcophagi. The Sephardic Belilios family built white marble canopies in the Ionic style over their graves. The Kadoorie and Gubbai families, whose graves are located together, preferred tombstones with narrow polished granite sarcophagi covered with protruding lids. Often, tombstones are decorated with various elements—flowers, foliage, swirls or garlands. There is a single broken column, which indicates an untimely death, and a photograph on the grave, which testifies to the Russian tradition. The inscriptions are short: only the date of death, sometimes the date of birth, very rarely the place of death. Most of the inscriptions are made in Hebrew and English; inscriptions in Arabic, Russian or Dutch are less common.[6][7]

Education

Carmel School in Mid-Levels district

Jewish schooling has historically not been very strong in Hong Kong. A 1914 report stated that there were no religious schools in Hong Kong at that time. Another report in 1936 stated that a small school had opened "some time ago", but was closed due to the "lack of interest in parents in sending their children to learn Hebrew".[53] There had also been no attempts to set up a Jewish day school in Hong Kong due to the small number of Jewish children. However, in the early 1990s, Carmel School became Hong Kong's first Jewish day school with an enrollment of thirty children. A few years after its opening, the school had more than fifty applications for preschool enrollment.[68]

Currently, Hong Kong's Shau Kei Wan area is home to the Carmel School Association, which brings together an elementary education centre, preschool, primary and secondary schools. There are 380 children on the association's three campuses. Adjacent to the association's office is the Elsa High School, which also has non-Jewish students. This school includes science laboratories, a library, music, art and design classrooms, a 500-seat auditorium, conference and fitness rooms, an all-weather artificial turf field.[69]

Carmel Elementary and Pre-school is located in the Mid-Levels area on Borrett Road[70] on the place of a former British military hospital, which opened in 1907. In 1967, the hospital was moved to Kowloon, and the military turned over the empty buildings to the colonial government.[50] In the early 1990s, the east wing of the former hospital was occupied by the Jewish day school "Carmel", which provided religious and secular education according to the tenets of orthodox modernism.[68] The school has a library, music and art classes, computer science and programming classes, special education classes, an indoor gym, playgrounds and sports grounds, a public garden.[69][51]

The Jewish Community Centre, located in the Mid-Levels area on Robinson Road, operates an initial training centre called Holly Rofé Early Learning Center. It includes an indoor pool, gym and playgrounds.[70][69] In 1999, the United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong opened its own religious school, Shorashim School.[71] In 2010, a local branch of the Israel Boy and Girl Scouts Federation was opened in Hong Kong.[7]

Culture and sports

The Jewish Community Centre is home to the Jewish Historical Society of Hong Kong, founded in 1984 by Denis and Mary Leventhal and Anita Buxbaum with the participation of Professor C. J. Chan, who studied Kaifeng Jews. The Society searches for, researches and preserves historical materials on Jews and Judaism in Hong Kong and China, holds exhibitions, lectures and seminars, publishes books and collections of documents. The Library of the Jewish Historical Society is considered one of the best in Asia on the topic of Chinese Jews. In addition, the society holds many unique photographs and documents, as well as audio recordings of interviews with members of the Jewish community. The society also conducts group tours to historical Jewish places in the region.[72][51]

In 1999, Canadian Howard Elias founded the annual Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival, which for two weeks introduces viewers to the best feature films and documentaries from around the world, dedicated to various aspects of Jewish themes.[73][74] The Hong Kong Jewish Women's Association, founded in the 1940s to help Jewish refugees from Shanghai, continues to play an important role. It annually implements many cultural, social and educational programs, and also collects donations for charitable organizations in Israel and the needs of the local Jewish community.[7]

The Israeli Consulate in Hong Kong oversees the Israeli Film Festival, which takes place every three years, as well as the children's and adult football teams of the Maccabi sports association. The Hong Kong Jewish community actively participates in raising funds for various programs of the Israeli organization Keren Hayesod, annually widely celebrates Israel's Independence Day and Yom HaZikaron, and also holds events in support of non-profit organizations the Jewish National Fund and the United Israel Appeal.[7]

A prominent figure in Hong Kong culture was Karel Weiss (1904–1994). He studied international trade in Berlin and Vienna and then started working for the shoe company Bata. Weiss arrived in Hong Kong from Prague in 1933, worked in shipping and helped Jewish refugees in the early 1940s, and co-founded the influential English-language journal Far Eastern Economic Review (1946) and Graphic Press after the war. In 1955, Weiss wrote The Hong Kong Guide, and in 1956, his book The Graphic Map of Hong Kong was published. In addition, Weiss became famous as a photographer who filmed the street life of the city, was a bridge champion and taught children how to play chess.[75]

Cuisine

Hong Kong's Kosher restaurants include Sabra Meat Restaurant and Waterside Dairy Restaurant located in the Jewish Community Center, Mul Hayam Restaurant in Kehilat Zion in Kowloon, and Shalom Grill in Shuva Yisrael Community in the Central District. Almost all Jewish congregations in Hong Kong provide kosher food delivery services to homes and hotels, organize banquets and off-site receptions.[7][76]

Antisemitism

The thesis about the absence of anti-Semitism in Hong Kong is widely spread in various publications, with some claiming that the Jewish community of Hong Kong has never suffered from antisemitism at all.[77] No report published prior to World War II mentioned the existence of antisemitism against Hong Kong Jews.[68] In the early colonial period, wealthy Jewish merchants from Britain were traditionally referred to as "white Europeans", that is, they were identified with the privileged class of the British colony. However, there are cases when even rich merchants from among the Baghdad Jews were denied membership in the elite Hong Kong club (founded in 1846), where only British Anglicans were allowed to rest.[51]

Ohel Lea Synagogue

According to a survey conducted in 1989, 83% of Hong Kongers declared a neutral attitude towards Jews or were ignorant of the life of Jews living in the city, another 15% of Hong Kong residents noted a positive attitude towards them (that is, they were philosemitically disposed towards the Jewish people and his culture). The standard explanation for these statistics is that the Jewish presence in Hong Kong has always been small, and prominent members of the community have been successful in commerce and philanthropy, which is also close to Chinese traditional culture.[68]

However, a balanced, in-depth study of Jewish history and culture has never been available to the Chinese people as part of their education program. Most Hong Kong Chinese could not clearly explain the general difference between the State of Israel, the Jews and Judaism. Therefore, it is difficult to say with certainty that the dominant neutral attitude towards Jews excludes the presence of latent antisemitism.[68]

At least one defamatory article is known, published in April 1991 in the local Chinese-language newspaper Hong Kong Daily News under the pseudonym of "Ah Wei", titled "The Jews' Deep-Rooted Bad Habits: The Bad Nature of the Jews". The article contained statements such as "Why have these people (the Jews) been cursed by God to wander the world forever?", "Everywhere (they go) they make money and cheat people, yet they keep themselves aloof and have never thought of giving something back to society", "(Jews) are heartless, rich, cruel and ruthless warmongers, a selfish and avaricious race" and so on. The angered local Jewish community sent a letter of protest to the newspaper's office, requesting to prevent such articles from being published in the future. In response to the indignation of the city's Jewish community, the newspaper published a reply stating that the article did not violate editorial policy. While preparing a lawsuit against the newspaper, the Jewish Initiative Group found that there is no article in Hong Kong law prohibiting incitement to racial violence. However, in the Chinese-language press, antisemitism does not go beyond isolated episodes, while the tone of the English-language press in Hong Kong has always been somewhat anti-Israeli, which is explained by the general mood of the European press.[78]

Some immigrants, including those from Muslim countries, have taken their antisemitic prejudices to Hong Kong. This became especially noticeable in 1987–1988 against the backdrop of public controversy that arose around a plan for the redevelopment of Jewish Trust property. The controversy concerned the issue of the reconstruction of the historical synagogue Ohel Lea and control over this process by the authorities. The dispute gave rise to unsubstantiated accusations in the local English-language press of both the synagogue committee and the Jews in general.[79]

For a long time, the only local school with high American educational standards was the Hong Kong International School in the Southern district, owned by the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church. Children of American and European Jews who went to this school often faced strict Christian rules (compulsory attendance at the chapel, the study of Christian dogmas) and attempts at proselytism by individual teachers.[80] Jewish residents have reported several antisemitic manifestations in 2002 and 2003. One such case involved a Chinese bar owner who displayed photos of murdered Jews from a Nazi concentration camp in his bar.[81]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Hong Kong". World Jewish Congress. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  2. ^ Goldstein 1998, p. 145.
  3. ^ Ehrlich 2008, pp. 1186–1187.
  4. ^ Tigay 1994, p. 209.
  5. ^ a b Gilman 2014, p. 100.
  6. ^ a b c d e "The Jewish Cemetery". The Jewish Historical Society of Hong Kong. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lyons, Erica. "The Jewish Community of Hong Kong". Beit Hatfutsot. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Ehrlich 2008, p. 1187.
  9. ^ a b c Gilman 2014, p. 101.
  10. ^ "Sassoon Family". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  11. ^ Ivanov 1990, p. 56, 61.
  12. ^ Goldstein 1998, pp. 145–146.
  13. ^ Ivanov 1990, p. 239.
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Literature

External links

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