SHANGHAI (dpa) – The usually helpful lady in the government press office is unusually tight-lipped. This is a matter for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But the friendly civil servant from the ministry shakes his head regretfully. Unfortunately, he cannot name anyone competent to speak on the matter. The diplomat from the Israeli consulate sighs and says: “That is a delicate matter”.A good 50 years after members of the once dynamic Jewish community of Shanghai were scattered all over the world, their descendants want to breathe new life into a synagogue dating back to 1920.It is the only one of seven synagogues originally built in Shanghai, five were destroyed and one has been converted into office space. It remains largely intact, having served the Jewish community until 1952.Shanghai’s Jewish community is tired of celebrating festive days in private quarters while the Ohel Rachel synagogue goes to rot and ruin only a stone’s throw away.Yet, it is doubtful whether the imposing building, built by the wealthy merchant Victor Sassoon in honour of his wife, and now seat of the education authorities, will become a centre of prayer and Jewish life.“There are a lot of different actors and motives involved,” says Seth Kaplan, a supporter of the restoration. The synagogue was confiscated by communists in 1952 and was badly damaged by the Red Brigade during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.Kaplan, 34, has managed to have the Ohel Rachel synagogue categorised as an endangered World Monuments Fund (WMF) building this year. The WMF is a New York-based non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving and protecting endangered works of historic art and architecture around the world.Kaplan and the other 300 members of the Jewish community hope to drum up support for their cause especially in their search for sponsors as the WMF does not offer financial means.Finding the millions required for a complete renovation is not the biggest obstacle. The political situation is proving to be a bigger headache as Judaism is not an official religion in China.The Shanghai community organises the celebrations on the Sabbath and on important festive dates under the guise of “cultural events”. The usually uncompromising secular authorities turn a blind eye.For the first time in almost 50 years, Shanghai’s government opened the doors of Oher Rachel in 1999 to celebrate Rosh Hashana, the new year festivity.“A miracle”, says Kaplan. Now the synagogue can be used three to five times a year.The future is uncertain though. Almost three years ago, Shanghai’s city council announced that the synagogue on the Shaanxi Road would be turned into a museum and a symbol of religious tolerance in China.This was to commemorate the almost 25,000 European Jews who had found refuge from Nazi persecution in Shanghai at the end of the 1930s when an entrance visa was not required.None of the announced measures have materialised yet – not even when the former First Lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton, visited in 1998.A year later, when German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited, superficial restorations had begun and the synagogue was hastily turned into a museum.The official city magazine Shanghai Scene reported recently that the site is to be developed in “a mutually beneficial way”.The situation can be likened to “an animated film in frozen animation”, says Kaplan, who wants to turn only outbuildings at Ohel Rahel into a museum. A decision about the synagogue’s destiny lies with the “high powers that be” in Beijing. And that could take months or even years.“As everything else in China, it is unpredictable”, says Kaplan.
