Shanghai: Israel's chief rabbi asks that synagogue be returned to community
Rabbi Shlomo Amar thanked the government for the hospitality shown to Jews who fled Nazi persecution, but he "expressed hope" that the authorities would permit the return of the synagogue to the Jewish community.
Shanghai (AsiaNews/SCMP) Shlomo Amar, one of Israel's two chief rabbis, yesterday visited the former synagogue of Shanghai, thanked China for the welcome extended to Jews during the Second World War and expressed hope that the building may return to serving its main function, that of prayer.
The Ohel Rachel synagogue, which was completed in 1920, can take up to 700 people: in the early thirties, Shanghai hosted around 1000 Sephardite Jews and more than 5,000 Ashkenazi Jews. These were joined by some 30,000 refugees who fled deportations in the Nazi era.
After 1949, the city's education bureau took over the synagogue and used it as a meeting hall and during the Cultural Revolution, it was used for industry. After the Maoist purges, it was renovated and now houses an exhibition on the Jewish presence in the city during the war. It is closed to the public but the community can use it on festival days.
Rabbi Amar, accompanied by 12 other rabbis from eastern Asia, stopped outside the place of worship. He said: "A synagogue is an important place of worship. This one is a symbol of the Jewish community in Shanghai. We thank the Chinese government and nation for the hospitality shown toward our communities in flight and recall that Beijing allowed the setting up of rabbinical academies, from where emerged scholars who left for Israel."
He added: "However, we hope that the authorities will be inclined to return the synagogue, a symbol of harmony for all of us, to the Jewish community."
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28/10/2016 14:31
