A N AG E N C Y O F T H E J E W I S H F E D E R AT I O N O F O M A H A
The Jewish Press WWW.O M A H A J E W I S H P R E SS .CO M
INSIDE
|
WWW. J E W I S H O M A H A .O R G
SPONSORED BY THE BENJAMIN AND ANNA E. WIESMAN FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND
JA N UA RY 2 8, 2 022 | 26 SHEVAT 5782 | VO L. 1 02 | NO. 1 5 | CANDLELIGHTING | FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 5:18 P.M.
The Diaspora: Kaifeng Jews Kindergarten Roundup at Friedel Page 4
New at the Kripke Library collection Page 8
Picture of East Market Street in Kaifeng in 1910. The Synagogue was off to the right of the stores on the right side. The stele of 1489 mentions that the Kaifeng was at the intersection of Earth Market Street and Fire God Temple Lane.
SAM KRICSFELD he Chinese city of Kaifeng sits northwest of Shanghai on the banks of the Yellow River. This ancient Chinese city has nearly five million residents – and about 1,000 ethnic Jews. The exact number of these Kaifeng Jews is unclear – a
T This cantor is making modern Yiddish music that swings Page 16
Chabad Chai-Lights Hanukkah success
REGULARS Spotlight Voices Synagogues Life cycles
11 12 14 15
GABBY BLAIR Jewish Press Staff Writer It is the middle of January, and while we are yearning for spring, thinking back on Hanukkah 2021
warms the heart. “After the low-key and socially isolated activities of Hanukkah 2020, Chabad was determined to make the most of our opportunities to safely spread the light this year in new ways that would allow our community to celebrate even in the darkest of times,” share Rabbi Eli and Mushka (Katzman) Tenenbaum of Chabad. As usual, Chabad’s innovative programming was well attended and did not disappoint. The long tradition of lighting the giant menorah at Boys Town followed See Chabad Chai-Lights page 3
Sept. 25, 2016, New York Times article estimated that there were about 1,000 Jews, only 100-200 of them active. That number may be shrinking, and the Kaifeng Jews’ culture is actively being blotted out by the Chinese Communist Party. As recently as Dec. 13, 2020, The Telegraph reported that the See Kaifeng Jews page 2
Sokolof Lecture features Prof. Kontorovich Omaha websites. The 2022 Sokolof DR. JEANNETTE GABRIEL lecture will examine the illegitiDirector of the Schwalb Center macy of international legal claims for Israel and Jewish Studies that are levied against Israel within at UNO The University of Nebraska- the context of three current topics Omaha’s Schwalb Center for Israel – claims of Israel being an apartheid and Jewish Studstate, Israel’s disies and the Jewish tribution of vacFederation of cines and Omaha are property claims pleased to anwithin Israel that nounce the 2022 sparked the 2021 Ruth and Phil conflict. KonSokolof Lecture torovich said, “Alin Israel and Jewlegations against ish Studies feaIsrael increasingly turing Professor resemble meEugene Kondieval blood libels torovich from - using claims George Mason that are at the University in same time astonProfessor Eugene Kontorovich Washington, DC. ishingly false yet Professor Kontorovich will be pre- strongly proactive.” senting a lecture, Three Modern Eugene Kontorovich is a profesBlood Libels about Israel: Vaccines, sor at George Mason’s Antonin Evictions, and Apartheid, during an Scalia School of Law and the direconline event Thursday, Feb. 22 at tor of its Center for International 7 p.m. Registration is required and Law in the Middle East. Before comlinks can be found on the Schwalb ing to George Mason, he had been a Center and Jewish Federation of See Sokolof lecture page 5
