History of the Jews in Hong Kong

Jews first arrived in Hong Kong when the territory was ceded to Great Britain by China in 1842. The Jews transferred their offices from neighboring Canton and Macau (a Portuguese settlement) to Hong Kong and helped to develop this new port.

The Hong Kong Jewish Community was first established in 1857. The first synagogue was set up in a rental house on Hollywood Street in 1870. A new synagogue in memory of Sir Jacob Sassoon's mother, Leah, replaced the older one in 1881. The Ohel Leah Synagogue was constructed in 1901, the communal cemetery was enlarged in 1904 to meet the needs of the community with assistance of Sir Matthew Nathan, the only Jewish governor of Hong Kong, and the Jewish Club, built by the Kadoorie family, was created in 1904 and enlarged in 1909.[2]

The Jewish population, which had totaled 60 Sephardim in 1882, grew to 100 in 1921 (mostly Sephardim), and 250 in 1954 (half Sephardim and half Ashkenazim). Growth then slowed, and the population numbered only 230 in 1959, and 200 in 1968 (70 Sephardim and 130 Ashkenazim).[3] Ho Fook and Robert Hotung's father was the Jewish Dutch man Charles Henri Maurice Bosman.[4]

The Jewish community did not grow quickly, as most Jewish merchants were attracted to Shanghai, especially in the period from 1910 to 1936. However, the Japanese occupation of mainland China in the late 1930s caused many Jews to leave Shanghai, Tianjin, and Harbin for Hong Kong.[5] The outbreak of World War II and the consequent Japanese occupation of Hong Kong temporarily suspended all Jewish activities there.

From the 1960s onwards, Hong Kong's development as a trade and finance centre attracted tens of thousands of foreigners, among them Jews from the United States, Israel, the UK, Australia and Canada. They revitalized the local Jewish community. Since the 1960s, Israel also began to appoint Honorary Consuls to Hong Kong.

There were 2,500 Jews living in Hong Kong (two thirds of them Americans and Israelis) according to the statistics of the Israeli embassy as of February 1998, up from 1000 around the 1980s.[6] It is estimated that about 5,000 Jews lived in Hong Kong in 2000,[7] and 6,000 in 2002.[8]

There are now four congregations (the Orthodox Ohel Leah Congregation, the Chabad-Lubavitch Congregation, the Progressive United Jewish Congregation, and the Conservative Shuva Israel Congregation), which have their own rabbis and places of worship.[9] There is also a large Jewish Community Centre,[10] library, recreational facilities and a kosher restaurant, and is the leading venue of Jewish activities in the city. There are two Jewish schools, the Carmel school, providing a nursery school program and grades K-12, and the Ezekiel Abraham school which provides after school learning for older children.

The Ohel Leah Synagogue (Hebrew: בית הכנסת אהל לאה) was first founded by Jacob Sasson and his brother on Hollywood Road in 1870, and moved from place to place over the years. In 1899 they agreed that a new and permanent synagogue should be built, to search for the right field, Emmanuel Raphael, a successful Jewish merchant who was also a member of the board of the Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank found a place he thought was suitable for the construction of the new synagogue on Kennedy Street. Despite this, the synagogue was not built there because it was not possible to collect enough money to buy the land, and also because of differences of opinion with the rest of the community regarding how much of the land would be devoted to the construction of the synagogue. Finally, it was decided to build a synagogue on Robinson Road at a cost of $26,000, paid by the Sassoon family. The cornerstone was laid by Avraham Haim Yaakov Rahamim and Sasson & Co. on 7 August 1901. The synagogue called "Ohel Leah" Memory mother of founder Yakov Eliyahu David Sassoon, who died in May 1878. Construction of the synagogue was completed in 1902.[11][12]

In the late 1980s, the synagogue's board of governors discussed the possibility of demolishing the synagogue and building it elsewhere. The land on which the synagogue was built cost much more than the price at which it was purchased, and it seemed to them that it would be better to sell the land and to receive a new synagogue. The idea of demolishing the synagogue was dropped after one of the women who was present insisted that a synagogue should not be destroyed. However, the idea of selling the land did not come out of the chapter, and the land was finally sold, but only in half. The synagogue area remained intact, the synagogue was renovated, and the second area was built with two very tall residential buildings known as Robinson one. The lower five floors are owned by the Jewish community, including a kosher restaurant, pool, library and other community needs.[11]

The synagogue was built by Iraqi merchants, over the years, however, the synagogue underwent many vicissitudes, and today the style of the prayer is Sephardic with an Israeli accent. Almost all prayers are held in the synagogue, except for Mincha and Arabic prayers on weekdays (not including Sundays and holidays).[11]

The Shuva Israel community (Hebrew: קהילת שובה ישראל) located on the Connaught road in Central was established in October 1991 by the Darwish family following differences of opinion between David Darwish, then head of the Jewish Community Department, and other Jewish officials in Hong Kong. "Shuva Israel" was intended for a more ultra-Orthodox public.[12]

The first rabbi of the community was Rabbi David Avraham. The community also operates kollel students and a kosher restaurant. The community had an ultra-Orthodox school, which was closed in 2006, when the founding family moved to Israel.[12]

The Chabad of Hong Kong was established in the 1980s by Rabbi Mordechai Avtzon and his wife Goldie. Chabad House Hong Kong was the first in the Far East. In addition, he founded the "Lubavitch of the Far East" (LIFE Lubavitch of the Far East). In 2009, another Chabad house was established in the Kowloon Peninsula, led by Rabbi Yisrael Liberman.

Kehilat Zion (Hebrew: קהילת ציון) located in Kowloon was established in 1995 by Rabbi Shlomo Katsin. At first Rabbi Zion Mizrachi was sent to serve as rabbi of the community, named after him. The community is mainly used by local businessmen and those who are invited to visit their businesses. Rabbi Meoded serves as the chief rabbi of the Sephardic community in Hong Kong and also serves as the Chief Rabbi of Hong Kong, where there is a synagogue and a kosher restaurant serving kosher food and Shabbat meals.