When we talk about Jewish life in Shanghai what is Jewish life? Though after the Emancipation and Haskalah Movement many Jews were not really religious In Shanghai the first Jewish Community established by Baghdadi Jews or Sephardic Jews, were religious oriented When they were in Shanghai the community life became very important Sometimes when we judge a Jewish Community at a different place there were a couple of things we should take in mind For instance, Shanghai Jewish Community established or purchased a land to build a cemetery The cemetery in Shanghai was established in 1860s which served as communal cemetery for those who passed away in Shanghai And religious life was still important for Sephardic Jews Because of that, a legend says the Sassoon family taught each and every member how to slaughter animal according to Kashrut so that they could have kosher meat And because the house of worship was very important for Jewish life first they rent a place to serve as a house of worship before the 20th century two places, we considered as synagogue were established by those Sephardic Jews As the size of the community grew they obviously needed a larger place for worship So in 1920, they started to construct a synagogue later on it was named after Sir Sassoon's late wife, Rachel it was named Ohel Rachel It was completed in 1921 It can hold up to 700 people with 30 Torah scrolls in its ark The building was considered the best in Far East or as the newspaper said it was "second to none in the East." Another synagogue was constructed for worship purposes it was named Beth Aharon Synagogue It was a gift from Hardoon one of the best known Sephardic Jews in Shanghai It was completed in 1930s It served later on as a house of worship or study for Mirre Yeshiva students The Ashkenazi Jews also started to build their own house of worship Though they first rent a place for that purposes but in 1920s, they started to build their own synagogue in Hongkew area that was named "Ohel Moshe" It was completed in 1927 and served as synagogue for a long time And during the Hongkew Ghetto period it was just next to Hongkew Ghetto and served as house of worship Today it becomes a Museum of Jewish Refugees to remember that event The Ashkenazi Jews build even a bigger one in 1941 They called it "New Synagogue" It had a capacity to hold 1000 people That synagogue was in use until 1956 It was considered the last synagogue that was closed in Shanghai In 1925, Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, a Lubavich Hassid was invited to serve as a rabbi for Ashkenazi Jewish community of Shanghai His appointment became very important because later on he was considered as Chief rabbi of Shanghai from 1930 to 1946 Rabbi Ashkenazi, as a matter of fact, played very important role especially during the Japanese occupation The story says that he was asked by Japanese authorities: Why did Hitler hate Jews? He provided an answer which changed the cause enormously making Japanese think twice before they would take actions to persecute Jews in Shanghai When he was asked the question "Why Hitler hates Jews?" He said "because we are Asians" The underlying of his statement is that Japanese are also Asians After Germans got rid of Jews it indicated that they would get rid of Japan or Japanese So he was very smart he played important role and finally he got things organized to have Ohel Moshe established in Hongkew area in 1923 Education was an essential part of Jewish life it was the case in Shanghai, too Shanghai Jewish Community emphasized its education but traditionally they followed the pattern "from father to son" In other words, it was father's responsibility to teach their sons about the traditions, Judaism But later on in Shanghai, they established schools for instance, Talmud Torah was established for children Later, Kadoorie School became very known Though it was a secular school it taught as much as possible Jewish traditions to its students That school held up to 300 people and had different campuses in Shanghai Later on, many young people who attended in that school all benefited from it When they recalled their early life they remembered what kind of education They had received during their time in Shanghai They involved many other activities, for instance Zionist activities it was a very important factor of Jews in Shanghai especially among Askenazi Jewish Community it was very active The Shanghai Zionist Association was established in the early time and played an important role It had a paper, Israel's Messenger It tried to influence Chinese leaders to support Zionist Movement to back Middle East or Palestine. For instance the President of the Shanghai Zionist Association wrote a letter to Dr. Sun Yat-sen the Father of modern China, to support or endorse the Balfour Declaration which allows Jews to go back to Palestine to build a national home Because of this, Dr. Sun Yat-sen wrote a letter to them to make a statement on behalf of the Chinese government He said that Jewish people had contributed so much to the world they deserved a place among the nations The Zionist Movement in Shanghai also organized many activities It had different organizations any Jewish organization that had appeared in Palestine had its branch in Shanghai For instance Betar, Irgun. All those Jewish Zionist Movement organizations found its branch there Many Jews were very active in those organizations to support them One of the best example is that in 1947 when British authorities back to Palestine hung four Zionist Movement activists they protested They gathered together to hold a protest against British authorities in Shanghai That event shows the influence of the Zionist movement in Shanghai Also the Zionist Movement in Shanghai sent at least two groups of people in the late 1940s to Palestine to support the establishment of the State of Israel Later on, when most Jews left China lot of books, materials were actually donated to the library in Israel because of the activities of Zionist Movement in Shanghai
