Ask a local to describe Shimon Freundlich, Beijing's
Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi, and that person probably will raise hand to chin and
stroke an invisible huzi, or beard.
"Sometimes they call me Bin Laden as a joke," Freundlich told
the Forward. "They used to call me Santa before September 11. Then it
changed."
Change defines much of Jewish life in Beijing. For nearly 30
years, ever since China opened its doors to the West, the world's Jews have been
coming to take part in the rapid transformation and surging economic development
of its most populous country. Where a handful of Jewish communists landed
decades ago, a growing number of secular and then Orthodox Jews have settled,
and they have brought their families and traditions with them. Today, roughly
2,000 Jews call this city of 17 million home. Yet, building a thriving Jewish
community in Beijing takes patience, humor and flexibility, especially as the
capital has been gearing up for the Olympic Games.
"We try to fly below the radar," Freundlich said.
As preparations for the Olympics have made clear, China is
still a very centralized state - and one that has not historically had an easy
relationship with religion of any color. Jewish locals take great care to work
within the system, given that Chinese authorities are on constant alert against
proselytizing and Western spiritual practices. Chabad allows only holders of
foreign passports to attend prayer services and cultural activities, and
refrains from public advertising. The synagogue is technically in Freundlich's
home, since free-standing religious buildings are forbidden. Even bringing in
Hebrew prayer books requires government permission.
Some Chinese have, in fact, expressed interest in conversion,
according to Freundlich, who firmly discourages such inquiries.
"When you come to live in a country that has vastly different
rules and regulations, you have to pay close attention to the government to make
sure everything you do is respectful," Freundlich said. But "at the end of the
day, they're not worried about us. We're not Mormons."
For many Chinese, the fascination with Jewish tradition and
history is not driven by religious belief, according to Xu Xin, a Nanjing
university professor who founded the Center of Jewish Studies
there.
"In China everyone wants to get rich now," he said. "Many
Chinese have heard that Jews have money, and this they respect. They think Jews
know the secrets of success."
The success of Beijing's Jews, as a religious community, has
come from many years of toil. Much of the groundwork was laid by a small group
of liberal North American Jews who first came to Beijing in the late
1970s.
"When I first got here there was nothing but a few Jews living
in hotels," said Roberta Lipson, one of the founders of the Kehillat Beijing
congregation, which is affiliated with the Reform movement.
Lipson arrived in 1979 with the first handful of Western
entrepreneurs, students and journalists. Along with some friends, Lipson, CEO of
the medical technology company Chindex, organized the first Passover Seder in
1980 in a member's home and then High Holy Day services in a hotel conference
room, starting Friday night Sabbath open houses shortly thereafter.
Over the next decade, they were joined by Jews from Europe and
the Soviet Union, and in 1992, when China and Israel established diplomatic
relations, Kehillat Beijing held a joint Seder with the Israeli Embassy. In
1995, the community began holding regular Friday night services in a local
activities center, followed by the first brit milah in 1997, the same year that
Kehillat Beijing established a Sunday school. Today that school, Ahavat
Yitzchak, teaches 40 children. Despite never employing a permanent rabbi,
Kehillat Beijing now has around 50 families.
Yet because Kehillat Beijing was a progressive community that
held egalitarian religious services and lacked kosher food, Beijing (and China)
remained a major headache for halachically observant Jews, who were coming in
increasing numbers as China was becoming a major source for kosher-ingredient
manufacturing and Jewish-owned businesses.
"When we were the only outlet for Jewish religious practice in
Beijing, we felt a lot of pressure to be all things to all people," Lipson said.
"We knew we weren't fulfilling more traditional religious needs."
Indeed, Orthodox Jews were forced to schlep suitcases of
kosher food with them from abroad and to live and travel amid a society that was
by and large ignorant of Judaism. To address these pressing issues, Chabad's
Freundlich arrived in Beijing in 2001.
"My goal was to build a Jewish infrastructure starting from
almost scratch," he said.
Freundlich's presence has provided a place for Jewish children
of all stripes. In 2002 his wife, Dini, opened Ganeinu International School an
accredited Montessori school that today educates 50 children, up to age 12, from
a diverse range of Jewish backgrounds and various levels of observance. This
openness is a major theme that connects Chabad and Kehillat
Beijing.
"We focus on what unites us, not what divides us," Freundlich
said. "I'm God's agent, not his policeman. I need to be able to balance a Satmar
in a shtreimel with a guy who brings his non-Jewish girlfriend to Shabbat
dinner."
Chabad provides teachers for Kehillat Beijing's Sunday school,
which shares both Ganeinu's building and the financial responsibility for it,
Lipson said. The two also come together for religious holidays and coordinate
their Seders to avoid schedule conflicts.
"I'm sure some visitors will look askance at our close ties,"
Lipson said, "but we realize Jews come in all colors, shapes and sizes, and we
are very grateful to Chabad for helping us make a community where all Jews can
feel at home."
In the past seven years, the Jewish community has grown to
1,500 people from 700, Freundlich said, and Chabad has established a downtown
location in the city's central business district as well as a community center,
in addition to the Chabad House, that holds a synagogue. Satmar Hasids donated
the funds for Mei Torah, a women's-only mikveh and spa complete with massage,
showers and manicure and pedicures.
Just as vital for the observant community is a readily
available supply of kosher food. A ritual slaughterer flies in from South Africa
every three months to shecht beef and chicken for the Jewish community,
including those who are customers at Dini's, Beijing's only kosher restaurant,
which opened in March 2007.
Before the Olympics, it appeared that kosher food for
participants and athletes could be a problem. But Freundlich dismissed such
claims, saying that there has never been a shortage of kosher food in China
under his watch and that Chabad has 7.5 tons of beef and 9 tons of chicken
waiting for kosher visitors.
The restaurant, Dini's, will be open 24 hours, six days a
week, during the Olympics and will provide kosher food for athletes in the
Olympic village, as well as snack baskets for spectators. And just to be sure,
five student rabbis are flying in for the games to help with kosher
certification.
