On the same night as the crazy taxi driver story my friends and I went to a club near Hengshan Rd. called Mural. A club is a club, so that’s not the point of this story, but I met a part-Israeli Jewish girl who told me about the Shanghai Jewish Center (here’s their website http://www.chinajewish.org/ ) that would be having Rosh Hashanah services later that week. I immediately thought how great it would be to invite my Chinese roommate to join me in celebrating the Jewish New Year. My roommate expressed great interest in joining me for Rosh Hashanah, so I called the Jewish Center to inform them that we would attend the Thursday night service and dinner. To my dismay, only foreign-passport holders are allowed to attend events at the Jewish Center. Ten years ago three Chinese citizens celebrated one of the Jewish holidays at the Jewish Center. The following day the Center received a notice from the government acknowledging the presence of the Chinese citizens and reprimanding both the Center and the three Chinese.

From what I learned from people at the Jewish Center, the Chinese government fears large religious gatherings transforming into sweeping national movements. If several Chinese citizens were to attend a Jewish event and afterwards decide to join the Jewish community, there would be potential for more citizens to join and create a Jewish movement in China. In other words, if China can avoid a potential headache, then it does not mind strict enforcement of social restrictions.

The history of Judaism in Shanghai is really cool, but if you would rather read about a rowdy Jewish dinner, skip to the next paragraph. So in the mid 1800’s Jewish people started coming to Shanghai to work in banks, as well as handle investments in Japan. In the 1930’s, Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia found retail jobs available in Shanghai. During World War II, Shanghai was the only place in the world that did not require a visa to enter, so more Jews found refuge in Shanghai. Eventually the Japanese took over Shanghai and constructed a ghetto to house all Jews in the city. Hitler instructed the Japanese to create concentration camps in Shanghai, but the large Jewish investments in Japan discouraged the Japanese from killing off Jews. The local correspondent for my study abroad program tells me that many Shanghainese risked their lives to help the Jews during World War II. The local interest in the Jewish people continues today. In fact, I mentioned to a Chinese student that I am Jewish, and he replied, “Don’t tell my girlfriend, but it is my dream to marry a Jewish girl.”

I hopped on the train at around 5 pm on Thursday Sept. 13^th looking sharp in my Jewish High Holiday clothes. The station that I got off at was a hike from the Center and I needed to grab a cab. Either the first three cabbies did not know the location of the Center - unlikely since most cabbies won’t tell you they don’t know where to go until after they’ve driven a mile – or they were afraid to go to that part of town, but I didn’t make it to the Center until 7:30 pm. Three ladies sitting near the entrance directed me towards the basement where the service was being held. “You will find the men on the left,” they mentioned. This was my first Orthodox service, so maybe this is no surprise, but the men have all the fun. We were singing and shouting throughout the service and when it was all done we sang and danced some more.

As we walked up to the dinning room, I met a man from Buffalo Grove, IL who designs light fixtures manufactured in Shanghai. I soon began meeting people from all over the world including Mexico, Uruguay, Brazil, Denmark, France, England, Israel, and Australia. Before eating, we read some prayers and then began what seemed to be an hour of singing. Some songs were in Hebrew, some Chinese, and some were a mix of the French trying to sing louder than the Uruguayans both in their native languages.  The meal began with dragon fruit, apple fritters, and a big yellow fruit. We were then served a tomato based soup. The main course included potatoes, egg kugel, and brisket (the beef was flown in from Inner Mongolia).

Throughout the entire meal, the Orthodox fellow who led the service served vodka to anyone with an empty glass. When the vodka bottles were empty, he brought out tequila. The songs continued during the meal and several times the man gathered everyone’s attention to tell a story and provide some insight on the holiday. It was an incredible experience to be with people gathering from all corners of the world each with the purpose that night of celebrating the Jewish New Year.