Ahead of the Jewish festival of Purim this week, mainland China’s Reform communities have found an inventive way to remain connected in a country that is still largely on lockdown in the face of what is now being described as the coronavirus pandemic. Community coordinators from Kehillat Beijing and Kehilat Shanghai, lay-led progressive sister communities for their respective cities’ Liberal Jews, will host their traditional costume contest and readings of the Book of Esther via video conferencing.
“We’ll probably hold a couple of Zoom sessions for the different time zones to sing Purim songs and so people can celebrate,” said Julia Ulman, coordinator of Kehilat Shanghai. Her community has around 150 dues-paying members and many visitors throughout the year, Ulman told The Times of Israel over the phone.
Ahead of the Jewish festival of Purim this week, mainland China’s Reform communities have found an inventive way to remain connected in a country that is still largely on lockdown in the face of what is now being described as the coronavirus pandemic. Community coordinators from Kehillat Beijing and Kehilat Shanghai, lay-led progressive sister communities for their respective cities’ Liberal Jews, will host their traditional costume contest and readings of the Book of Esther via video conferencing.
“We’ll probably hold a couple of Zoom sessions for the different time zones to sing Purim songs and so people can celebrate,” said Julia Ulman, coordinator of Kehilat Shanghai. Her community has around 150 dues-paying members and many visitors throughout the year, Ulman told The Times of Israel over the phone.
Since the outbreak started at the beginning of the calendar year, the Liberal Chinese Jewish communities have held modified Sabbath services and Hebrew school, using Zoom video conferencing technology and WeChat, an app owned and operated by the Chinese government that has been described as Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and Venmo all rolled into one. The communities had used it in the past for updates, but now it’s become the lifeline for community members, many of whom are now stranded out of country.
As the global pandemic has spread, grounding airlines, sending global financial markets plummeting and closing schools, synagogues and now yeshivas, Jewish life in China has all but shut down.
Speaking with The Times of Israel this week, China’s Jewish multi-denominational community leaders describe a country on lockdown, with precious few Jews currently on hand out of the 10,000 who usually live there. Many Jewish families had been traveling over the Chinese New Year at the end of January as news of the outbreak spread. Facing certain quarantine, and with schools across the country closed, most stayed abroad. (Read more ...)
Article by Miriam Groner. Reprinted from Jewish Week, March 9, 2020.
Jewish leaders adapt to serve a small, tight-knit community — under lockdown at home or dispersed around the globe — with virtual activities and modified programming.
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