עכשיו זה כבר ברור לרבים: נשיא ארה”ב, דונלד טראמפ, גורם נזק ממשי לכלכלת העולם. טראמפ שמתהלך ומתנהג כבריון שכונתי מאיים על כולם, מביא לפרוד רציני בין ארה”ב לאירופה וקנדה ושאר הידידות המסורתיות שלה, דבר שרק מעלה חיוכים אצל הרוסים והסינים. טראמפ שהוא בסך הכל סוחר ממולח וכוחני עד להחריד עם מונטין רע מאוד (כאשר מי שעשה עימו עסקים בעבר לא יעיז בכלל להתקרב אליו עוד), חושב שזו הדרך לנהל יחסים דיפלומטים עם המדינות החשובות בעולם. אך הוא לא מבין בתחום זה כמו בתחומים רבים אחרים (מלבד בלעשות כסף), הוא לא מכיר את ההיסטוריה ולא מכבד את מי שיש לו דעה אחרת, ובדרך כלל מדובר בליבראלים ובאנשים משכילים ממנו, שמחפשים לשתף פעולה אחד עם השני – בניגוד הגמור אליו.
בכל פעם שאחד ממנהיגי המדינות החשובות בעולם נאלץ להיפגש עם טראמפ, רואים בברור שהוא לא רווה נחת והיה מעדיף להיות רחוק מהנשיא האמריקני עד כמה שאפשר. בין היתר מדובר בראש ממשלת קנדה, ג’סטין טרודו, שהבין מהר מאוד שגם הוא לא חסין וטראמפ יתקיף גם אותו. לא נראה שטראמפ יודע לנהוג אחרת. עד עידן טראמפ ארה”ב וקנדה נחשבו לידידות קרובות ביותר ובעלות ברית בלתי ניתנת לערעור. השכנות ביניהן הפכה אותן לא פעם כמעט למדינה אחת. אך טראמפ הרס את הקשר המיוחד הזה של שתי המדינות, כמו שהוא הורס כל דבר אחר בו הוא נוגע.
לפי עיתון הפייננשל טיימס הבריטי מלחמת הסחר בה פתח טראמפ בתרחיש הגרוע שלה, יכולה להתנפח אף לטריליון דולר. היקף המכסים שארה”ב הטילה ובתגובה קנדה, מקסיקו, האיחוד האירופי וסין הטילו מכסים מצדן, יכול להשתוות בהיקף כולל לכרבע המסחר של ארה”ב עם העולם, או לחילופין ישתווה לשישה אחוזים מהיקף המסחר העולמי בסחורות (במונחים של אשתקד).
להלן שלוש הסיבות העיקריות לכך שמלחמת הסחר יכולה להגיע להיקף של כטריליון דולר:
1. ארה”ב הטילה מכסים על סחורות סיניות בהם דודי שמש ומחרטות לרובטים תעשייתים ורכבים חשמלים. בתגובה סין הטילה מכסים על סחורות אמריקניות בהם פולי סויה, מאכלי ים ונפט גולמי. טראמפ הרגזן הודיע כי יטיל מכסים על מוצרים סינים נוספים וסין מצידה איימה שוב בתגובה הולמת. לכן ניתן להעריך כי בתוך מספר חודשים רוב או כל הסחר בין ארה”ב לסין שמגיע לכ-640 מיליארד דולר – ימוסה. סין תגיב מצידה בצעדים לכיסוי הפער.
2. טראמפ מאיים בהטלת מכסים בגובה של כ-20 אחוז על כלי רכב וחלקים לכלי הרכב, בטענה המגוחחת שזה פוגע בביטחון הלאומי של ארה”ב. אשתקד ארה”ב ייבאה כלי רכב בשווי כ-192 מיליארד דולר וחלקים לכלי הרכב בשווי כ-143 מיליארד דולר. האיחוד האירופאי, יפאן וקנדה מאיימות בהטלת מיסים משלהן באותו היקף. כך שימוסו סחורות עולמיות בשווי כ-650 מיליארד דולר.
3. טראמפ ממשיך לאיים על שתי השכנות של ארה”ב קנדה מצפון ומקסיקו מדרום, כי יבטל את הסכם הסחר החופשי של צפון אמריקה נפט”א. דרישותיו בהן הסכם חדש כל חמש שנים נדחו על ידי קנדה ומקסיקו. ארה”ב הטילה בשלב זה מיסים על פלדה ואלומיניום מקנדה ומקסיקו, ועתה היא מאיימת במיסים על כלי הרכב וחלקים לכלי הרכב המיוצרים אצלן. אשתקד ארה”ב ייבאה כלי רכב וחלקים לכלי הרכב מקנדה ומקסיקו בשווי של כ-158 מיליארד דולר (במסגרת הסכם נפט”א).
Rebecca Fannin, founder of Silicon Dragon, at the event in Tel Aviv on Jan. 29. (photo from silicondragonventures.com)
Perhaps unlikely partners – 6,000 kilometres away from each other – Israel and China are cooperating and collaborating on business and investment deals worth billions of dollars. But it’s a not-so-hidden secret that China has been falling in love with Israeli start-ups, entrepreneurs and high-tech in general. And the feeling’s mutual.
The phenomenon was discussed Jan. 29 at an event called Silicon Dragon Israel, held at WeWork Sarona in Tel Aviv. Silicon Dragon events have occurred around the world since 2010.
Forbes contributor and author Rebecca Fannin is founder of Silicon Dragon, which boasts a 30,000-strong network of executives, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and angel investors. She recently noted in Forbes that “several mega-funded Chinese tech startups are poised to go public this year or next,” with a potential combined worth of a quarter-trillion dollars.
There are likely to be Israeli fingerprints in some of those, and other recent, deals, given how Royi Benyossef, developer relations manager of Samsung Next, explained, “They’re mesmerized by Israel and their technology-exporting capabilities…. The idea that it’s a ‘start-up nation’ leads the Chinese to believe this is a place they want to invest in.”
Benyossef was on the panel discussing how key Asian corporations are leveraging Israel tech knowhow. He was joined by the director of investments of Singtel Innov8, Gil Prashker.
In another panel, moderator Simon Weintraub of Yigal Arnon and Co. explained the best way to cooperate with investors, especially when dealing with cultural barriers. As Yahal Zilka, managing partner and co-founder of Magma Venture Partners, explained, “In one word, building trust…. That doesn’t happen in one day.”
By way of example, Zilka said the GPS mapping app Waze “failed twice, miserably” in China. “And it all had to do with trust, nothing else. It clearly is a different interaction, pace and activity.”
Avishai Silvershatz, managing partner, Infinity Group, added, “The short answer is, be careful. Nothing in your experience will give you the experience to enable you to understand it. You have to have local partners, and be careful with them as well – it takes … years to understand. You have to be smart. There’s a lot of money to be made, because there’s as much money to be made as lost.”
One jolt for which most investors were unprepared was a recent government intervention. Weintraub said that, in 2016, business interaction from China was at an all-time high, until the authorities there “cracked down on the outflow of currency.” He said, “It caused tremendous uncertainty for 2017 … but now they’ve eased some of those restrictions.”
Zilka noted that the bureaucracy in China is comprised of “very complex structures.”
“In the same way that [Donald] Trump says ‘America first,’ the Chinese are saying ‘China first,’” explained Silvershatz. “They want investments to go towards their own strategic interests and goals. This is the ‘party line.’ It’s government, then corporate … so long as the government has their way.”
This panel also included Ehud Levy of Canaan Partners Israel, Aaron Mankovski of Pitango Venture Capital and Nathan Low of Sunrise Israel Tech Capital.
Independent of the event, some academics weighed in on why the Israel-China business relationship works so well.
“It’s different in organizational culture,” Daniel Galily, a former lecturer at Beijing-Geely University, told the Jewish Independent. “The educational system in China places great emphasis on discipline and obedience to superiors, while the Israeli educational system and the Israeli army encourage students and soldiers to think about new ideas and to solve problems in situations of uncertainty. The Chinese understand that, and so they strive to integrate the Israeli creativity to their economy, and also strive to learn how to combine creativity in to their economy.”
Dave Gordonis a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in more than 100 publications around the world.
A Magen David is still attached to the roof of a former synagogue in Harbin, China. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields)
If a few years ago you had flown on an international flight from Beijing, China, you would have noticed a departure terminal display of Chinese marionettes. Like many other sites in China, there was more to this small puppet exhibit than met the eye. While the display explained the history of this colourful theatre, it ironically underscored the question about which we Westerners are most curious: who is pulling the strings in today’s China?
Our arrival point was Beijing. Right away, our local guide made critical comments about the regime. In her opening remarks, she stated the temperature in Beijing never went above 39°C. Why? Because then, she claimed, the government would have to give people the day off. So, officially, it never got hotter than 39°C. When she said this, I half-expected some secret police (perhaps our tour bus driver?) to arrest her for her sarcasm. As no one hauled her away, I started to rethink where I was and what I knew about China.
Our guide gave the group free time to wander Tiananmen Square. Like all those who visit the square, we passed through a metal detector and an X-ray security check. Yet, once past this point, uniformed police officers were few and far between. As my husband and I walked around the vast and infamous plaza, however, mounted cameras were everywhere. Nevertheless, everyone seemed oblivious to the fact that someone, somewhere was watching their every move. Chinese citizens and foreign visitors alike seemed preoccupied with one thing: taking photographs of each other.
This preoccupation with self expressed itself in different ways. For instance, several young Chinese awed me with their self-assurance. In Xian, a female guide-in-training confided in me that she wanted to do what she called exciting graduate work in the United States. She seemed undaunted by applying for permission to study abroad, having to take foreign entrance tests, getting accepted at an American university, finding funding and a challenging subject to study. She showed both marvelous confidence and a sense of mobility.
In a Jewish cemetery in Harbin, a young girl materialized by our side. Earlier, I had noticed her pushing her bike up the steep hill to the cemetery. It seemed she wanted nothing more than to practise her very limited English vocabulary. We huddled around her and the puppy she was carrying in her basket. She did not seem at all fazed that we weren’t able to understand her. We never learned where she came from (there were no homes close by) or where she was going. From our guide’s translation, all we learned was that she was 12 years old and that she had to leave to take care of her dog.
In Kaifeng, a 30-year-old female resident demonstrated a similar sense of unabashed certainty. Claiming Jewish descent, she expressed conviction in being able to build an entire synagogue. Although she seemed to have little knowledge of Judaism, much less about Jewish politics and/or philanthropy, she believed she would be able to achieve her goal.
In Beijing, one of our Chinese lecturers bombastically concluded that the Kaifeng Torah scrolls – which, according to the British Library, are from the 17th century – were fake. He offered no new study material; he simply and quickly discarded what others had written. Conversely, he offered a lengthy explanation of how, throughout his career, he had managed to be in the right place at the right time. And so it seemed, from his down-pat Silicon Valley gestalt and his outstanding command of American English.
I hoped that, on the road, I’d catch people “off guard.” In fact, there were lots of antics on the road. In big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, pedestrians had designated crosswalks and lights, but drivers didn’t honour them. People on foot would begin crossing with the “green walking man,” but would end up dodging approaching vehicles. Yet, no one yelled or raised a fist at the intruding scooters, cars, buses, trucks and taxis.
In traffic, drivers impulsively decided to make U-turns on multi-lane highways. Intriguingly, other drivers simply yielded. There was no Western-style road rage; Chinese drivers just let the others merge into traffic. There was likewise fascinating seen-but-not-seen vehicle activity: scooter owners pocketed illegal fares from passengers they had picked up, while parking attendants of an upscale spa discreetly covered the car licence plates of relaxing “Party” members.
Yet, even with all the upward mobility of the big cities, we saw signs of hardships, past and present. For example, a senior university lecturer and former member of the Chinese diplomatic corps, still carefully extinguished his cigarette butt, saving the remainder for a later smoke. On the way to our Harbin hotel, I saw people searching for clothes in a giant heap of cast-offs. Down the same road, people were picking up chunks of coal in a coal yard. We saw small dwellings where even my head (I am only 5’1”) would touch the ceiling.
Aha, I said to myself. I have found the “true” China in all this dust and pollution. The real China, I told myself, resembles the USSR of the late 1970s. But, as we kept driving, we reached the downtown skyscrapers and tall new apartment buildings. No beloved Chinese cranes (the ornithological family name is Gruidae) soared the horizon. They had been replaced by swiveling construction cranes.
Plastered on some of these buildings were the names of Western brand items. Not only were there ads for Western consumer products, but the Chinese models themselves all had surprisingly Western facial features. In fact, I later heard that Chinese plastic surgeons are doing a booming business “styling” Caucasian-type eyes.
And what of China’s Jews? The merchant economy of ancient China brought Jewish traders to Kaifeng as early as the eighth century. The community thrived, reaching its height in the 17th century at 5,000 members. But, following generations of war, poverty and religious isolation, the community significantly declined. Some claim that Kaifeng Jews were victims of their own success, as they assimilated so well.
Wanting to establish a foothold, Russia encouraged its Jews to settle in Harbin in the 19th century. By 1908, Harbin had a diverse Jewish community of 8,000.
Shanghai first saw Russian Jews fleeing czarist persecution and massacres in the early 1900s, continuing through the 1917 revolution. Then came Jews from Baghdad, Bombay and Cairo, including several financially successful families. In the 1930s and early 1940s, more families from Germany and Nazi-occupied areas fled to Shanghai.
Most of China’s Jews did not want to live under communism. So, after the Second World War ended, they left for either the West or Israel. Now, Beijing has a transient Jewish community of international businesspeople.
***
Even today, one party in China is calling the shots. Democratic freedoms such as multiple political parties or a free press are missing, so some elite group is still pulling the symbolic strings of millions of people. But the strings appear to have a lot of slack and the go-phrase ironically comes from other cultures: seize the day! In this, the Chinese seem to be having a lot of success.
Deborah Rubin Fieldsis an Israel-based features writer. She is also the author of Take a Peek Inside: A Child’s Guide to Radiology Exams, published in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
***
Sidebar …
In 2014, the Chinese film industry produced a movie entitled Dr. Rosenfeld, by director Xu Zongzheng. The movie, which stylistically calls to mind old Soviet movies, was recently screened in Jerusalem.
Dr. Jakob Rosenfeld came to China as a Viennese-Jewish refugee from Nazi Austria. A urologist and gynecologist by training, he joined Mao’s army to fight the Japanese. He was elevated to the rank of general and to a postwar job as health minister in the Manchurian government. At the end of the film, viewers read that, in 1952, Rosenfeld died in Tel Aviv of a heart attack.
מצעד הנשים בוונקובר ,21 בינואר השנה. (צילום: Roni Rachmani)
ראש ממשלת קנדה לשעבר, סטיבן הרפר, יוצא במתקפה נגד הנשיא החדש של ארה”ב, דונלד טראמפ. עם זאת הרפר לא מגיב כלל ליחסים ההדוקים בין טראמפ ושר החוץ שלו, לבין רוסיה ומנהיגה ולדימיר פוטין. הרפר וממשלתו החרימו את רוסיה בעיקר בגלל פעילותיה באוקריאנה, והובילו את המאבק הנחרץ ביותר בקרב מחנה מדינות המערב נגד פוטין.
מעניין כיצד ראש ממשלת ישראל, בנימין נתניהו, היה מתייחס לדברי הרפר כנגד טראמפ. כזכור הרפר ונתניהו ניהלו מערכת יחסים הדוקה ביותר וראש ממשלת קנדה לשעבר נחשב לידיד הקרוב ביותר של ישראל. עתה נתניהו מרגיש שיש לו הרבה במשותף עם טראמפ שלא מפסיק להבטיח שיתמוך באופן משמעותי בישראל, ואף יעביר את שגרירות ארה”ב מתל אביב לירושלים.
הרפר דיבר ביום חמישי שעבר בניו דלהי וזו בעצם הפעם הראשונה שהוא מדבר ישירות על נושאים פוליטיים בינלאומיים, מאז הובס בבחירות הפדרליות בנובמבר 2015 על ידי הליברלים בראשות ג’סטין טרודו. נאומו החשוב (בן החצי שעה) של הרפר התקיים בפני הפורום של קרן המחקר אובזרוור, שדן בעתיד העולם בעידן טראמפ. הרפר התייחס בנאומו לסידרה של זעזועים פוליטיים המתרחשים בעולם כיום, בהם החלטת בריטניה לעזוב את אירופה ובחירתו של טראמפ לנשיאות בארה”ב.
הרפר קורא למדיניות החוץ של טראמפ חוסר ודאות גלובלית. לדבריו שלטונו הבדלני של טראמפ הוא המקור עיקרי לאי הוודאות הבינלאומית. מדיניותו החדשה של טראמפ היא ציון דרך של שינוי מדיניות החוץ של ארה”ב, לעומת שבעים השנים האחרונות. לדברי הרפר אין לנו מושג ברור מה מתכוון הנשיא החדש של ארה”ב לעשות, אך יש לנו מספר קווי מתאר רחבים, והמשמעותי שבהם כאמור הוא לחזור אחורה ולהפוך את אבני היסוד של מדיניות החוץ האמריקנית, שמתקיימת מאז מלחמת העולם השנייה.
הרפר אומר כי טראמפ מתכוון להפחית משמעותית את מעורבות ארה”ב בעניינים בינלאומיים עולמיים, והוא יהיה מונחה על ידי אינטרסים כלכליים צרים. והראשונה שעל הפרק היא סין, שנחשבת על ידיו בוחריו ליריב גיאופוליטי ולכן יש לנקוט במדיניות קשה נגדה. ראש ממשלת קנדה לשעבר חושב שהנשיא החדש של ארה”ב יעבוד עם דידים ובני ברית של ארה”ב, אך עתה הם יאלצו להביא נכסים אמיתיים לשולחן הדיונים עם השלטון האמריקני. הוא לא הזכיר את קנדה במפורש אך התכוון גם אליה. הרפר ציין עוד כי השינוי במדיניות עם מדיניות ידידותיות יבוא לביטוי בראש ובראשונה עם מדינות אירופה.
הרפר טען עוד כי טראמפ הוא נשיא חסר תקדים בהיסטוריה של ארה”ב, והוא דוחה את הרעיון שאמריקה לבד צריכה לקבל את האחריות על נושאים עולמיים. רבים ממנהיגים העולם לא יאהבו את השינוי במדיניות החוץ של ארה”ב, שתתבסס מעתה על אינטרסים לאומיים חיוניים של ארה”ב, המוגדרים באופן צר ובעיקר מתייחסים לאינטרסים הכלכליים. המדיניות הבינלאומית החדשה הזו של ארה”ב תיצור סיכונים משמעותיים לעולם.
הרפר מאמין שהשינוי המשמעותי הנוסף במדיניות הבינלאומית של ארה”ב תחת שלטונו של טראמפ, מתייחס כאמור לגבי סין. בעידנו ארה”ב תפסיק להתייחס לגידול של סין כדבר שפיר וחיובי, אלא שיש להפסיק ולממן את היריב הגיאופוליטי. זה הולך להדאיג מאוד בעיקר נוכח המאזן השלילי המאסיבי ביחסי הסחר בין שתי מדינות אלה. היחס של טראמפ לסין מתאים להשקפה בדעת הקהל האמריקנית שתמיד הייתה סקפטית בנוגע לגבי מדיניות החוץ של ארה”ב כלפי סין, והאם היא באמת יותר הזדמנות מאשר איום.
ראש ממשלת קנדה, ג’סטין טרודו, הצליח להביא לקנדה מסין מספר בשורות עסקיות משמעותית, בביקורו המתקושר שם. (צילום: pm.gc.ca)
עליבאבא מגיעה לקנדה: הענקית הסינית תקים מרכז טכנולוגי שיאפשר לחברות הקנדיות נגישות לסין
ראש ממשלת קנדה, ג’סטין טרודו, הצליח להביא לקנדה מסין מספר בשורות עסקיות משמעותית, בביקורו המתקושר שם. טרודו והבעלים של קבוצת עליבאבא הסינית, ג’ק מא, הגיעו בסוף השבוע להסכם להקמת מרכז טכנולוגי גדול בקנדה. המרכז של עליבאבא יאפשר לחברות הקנדיות נגישות טובה ומהירה יותר לשוק הסיני הענקי. בפועל יאפשר הפרוייקט החדש לחברות קנדיות קשר עם כארבע מאות מיליון צרכנים סינים, ובמקביל יאפשר לסינים למצוא מוצרים קנדיים. לדברי טרודו שיתוף הפעולה בין עליבאבא לקנדה צפוי לקדם גם תיירות מסין לקנדה.
קבוצת עליבאבא למסחר אלקטרוני הוקמה של ידי מא ב-1996. הקבוצה מספקת שירותי תשלום מקוון, פורטלים בין חברות, פורטלי חיפוש ושירותי מיחשוב ענן. כשמונים אחוז מהקניות המקוונות בסין מתבצעות בעיקר על ידי עליבאבא. ב-2005 רכשה יאהו שלושים ותשעה אחוז ממניות עליבאבא תמורת מיליארד דולר. בחודש ספטמבר 2014 ביצעה עליבאבא את את ההנפקה הראשונה, שנחשבת לגדולה ביותר בהיסטוריה של הבורסה לניירות ערך בניו יורק. הקבוצה הצליחה לגייס לא פחות מעשרים וחמישה מיליארד דולר. מייד לאחר ההנפקה שוויה של עליבאבא הוערך בכמאתיים שלושים ואחד מיליארד דולר. וכשלושה חודשים לאחר מכן שווי הקבוצה הגיע כבר לכמאתיים ותשעים מיליארד דולר. כיום נחשבת הקבוצה לפלטפורמת העסקים (ביזנס טו ביזנס) הגדולה בעולם. בישראל מיוצגת עליבאבא על ידי חברת גיים און. בחודש יוני האחרון פורסם כי קבוצת עליבאבא השקיעה כחמישה מיליון דולר בסטראט-אפ הישראלי טוויגל, שמפתח מנוע חיפוש מתקדם לאתרי קניות מקוונים. עליבאבא השקיעה בחברות נוספות בישראל בהם: כחמישה מיליון דולר בחברת הסייבר התעשייתי טטהריי, וכשמונה מיליון דולר בחברת טכנולוגיית הברקודים ויז’ואל-ליד.
סביב העולם בחמש שנים: זוג מוונקובר איילנד שט בסירת מפרש קטנה וחזר הביתה בשלום
רבים המתינו על החוף וקיבלו בצהלות שמחה את קאתי וביל נורי, שהשיטו את סירת המפרש הקטנה שלהם אל הנמל של סידני שבוונקובר איילנד. ועל מה מהומה הזאת? הזוג נורי סיים משט ארוך ומייגע סביב העולם שנמשך מחמש שנים. וזאת בסירה באורך 11.3 מטר בלבד שעשוייה מפיברגלס ושיוצרה לפני עשרים וחמש שנים. בסירה הפשוטה לא הותקנו שום אמצעי ניווט אלקטרוניים ואף לא מתקן מיים. אך הנורים עם הרבה תעוזה ותושייה הצליחו במשימה הקשה.
לביל נורי ניסיון רב בהפלגה והוא פשוט רצה להגשים חלום ישן ולשוט ברחבי העולם ולאורך זמן. קאתי שאף פעם לא הפליגה הסכימה להצטרף איך שהוא למסע המתיש והארוך בים, אותו החלו בחודש יוני של שנת 2011. בימים הראשונים היא מאוד נבהלה מהים הבלתי נגמר והגלים הגבוהים, ולא הבינה מדוע הסכימה בכלל להרפתקה הזו. לאחר מכן החלה במסע הארוך להירגע ולהינות מכל רגע, שלא היה משמעמם כלל ועיקר. השניים שטו לאורך חודשים ארוכים ועצרו למנוחה על אחד החופים שמצאו וחוזר חלילה. ביל ניווט את הסירה במשך שמונה עשרה שעות ביום, בעוד שקאתי עזרה במה שיכלה. ובעיקר בישלה, וטיפלה בכל מה שנמצא בתוך הסירה. הזוג חוו סערות קשות וגלים גבוהים, דגים מדהימים מכל הגדלים והסוגים ואיים אקזוטיים שונים ומשונים. בדרך פגשו מפליגים כמותם וארגנו עימם מסיבות חוף שמחות רוויות באלכוהול. את המסע ליוו השניים בבלוגים ארוכים וקטעי ווידאו שתיארו את החוויות המרגשות וכל מה שעברו. למרבית הפלא, הזוג נורי לא מתכוון לשכון על האדמה בקביעות ובקרוב החל יחלו לתכנן את המסע הארוך הבא שלהם. פרטים עדיין אין.
Shavei Israel founder and chair Michael Freund greeted the five women from Kaifeng – left to right, Gao Yichen, Li Chengjin, Li Yuan, Yue Ting and Li Jing – at Ben-Gurion Airport on Feb. 29. (photo by Laura Ben-David courtesy of Shavei Israel)
Last month, five women from the ancient Chinese Jewish community of Kaifeng arrived in Israel to fulfil their dreams of making aliyah, thanks to the Jerusalem-based nonprofit Shavei Israel.
The women – Gao Yichen (“Weiwei”), Yue Ting, Li Jing, Li Yuan and Li Chengjin (“Lulu”) – have been studying Hebrew and Judaism for several years in Kaifeng. Upon arrival in Israel, they were greeted by Shavei Israel chair Michael Freund, who took them straight from Ben-Gurion Airport to the Western Wall (Kotel) so they could thank God for helping them return to the land of their ancestors.
“Kaifeng’s Jewish descendants are a living link between China and the Jewish people,” said Freund, who succeeded in obtaining the requisite permission to bring the Chinese Jews on aliyah after several years of struggling with the Israeli bureaucracy.
“After centuries of assimilation, a growing number of the Kaifeng Jews in recent years have begun seeking to return to their roots and embrace their Jewish identity,” Freund said, adding that, “These five young women are determined to rejoin the Jewish people and become proud citizens of the Jewish state, and we are delighted to help them realize their dreams.”
Believed to have been founded by Iraqi or Persian Jewish merchants in the eighth or ninth century, Kaifeng’s Jewish community built a large synagogue in 1163, which was renovated throughout the years. At its peak, during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Kaifeng Jewish community may have numbered up to 5,000 people, but widespread intermarriage and assimilation, and the death of the community’s last rabbi, brought about its decline by the early 19th century. Today, the community claims between 500 to 1,000 members.
Despite the pressure to assimilate, many Kaifeng Jews sought to preserve their Jewish identity and pass it down to their descendants, who continue to observe Jewish customs. Today, the community is experiencing a revived interest in its roots, and Shavei Israel has been providing support while helping some immigrate to Israel.
“Being part of the Jewish people is an honor, because of the heritage and wisdom,” said Li Jing, who on a brief previous visit to Israel put a note of prayer in the Kotel asking to return and live in Israel. “Now, my prayer has been answered,” she said.
The last time Shavei Israel was able to bring a group of Chinese Jews from Kaifeng on aliyah was in October 2009, when seven young men from the community arrived in the Jewish state. The organization has brought a total of 19 members of the Kaifeng Jewish community to Israel.
The five women plan to continue their Jewish studies at Jerusalem’s Midreshet Nishmat – The Jeanie Schottenstein Centre for Advanced Torah Study for Women, with the support of Shavei Israel, which will also cover their living expenses and support them as they prepare to undergo formal conversion by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. Upon completion of the conversion process, they will receive Israeli citizenship.
Shavei Israel is currently active in nine countries and provides assistance to a variety of different communities such as the Bnei Menashe of India, the Bnei Anousim (referred to as the derogatory “Marranos” by historians) in Spain, Portugal and South America, the Subbotnik Jews of Russia, the Jewish community of Kaifeng in China, descendants of Jews living in Poland, and others. For more information, visit shavei.org.
A model of the Kaifeng synagogue at an exhibit at the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv in 2011. (photo by Sodabottle via commons.wikimedia.org)
With the Chinese New Year taking place next week, it is an appropriate time to reflect on the close and positive relationship between Jewish and Chinese peoples, which reaches back almost 2,000 years.
It might be simplest to begin with the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in the year 70 of the Common Era. This was the climax of the first of three Jewish-Roman wars that would take place over the first and second centuries. The net result of these conflicts was the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews, the enslavement of many others, and those who managed to escape such tragedies fled as refugees. This scattering of Jews across the world we call the Diaspora ultimately resulted in the formation of the various communities we are familiar with today, such as the Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews. But there was a smaller, lesser-known Diaspora community that settled in China.
Between 206 BCE and 220 CE, China was ruled by the Han Dynasty. The Han established a vast international trading network that came to be known as the Silk Road. According to the oral history of the Chinese Jews, their ancestors first settled in China during the late Han Dynasty. Such a period would correspond with the Diaspora that followed the Jewish-Roman wars.
After the collapse of the Han Dynasty, the Silk Road trading network collapsed, but was reestablished in 639 CE during the Tang Dynasty. The Silk Road interconnected Tang Dynasty China with the wealthy states of India, East and North Africa, across Asia and into Europe. During the Medieval period, many Jews made their living as merchants. At this time, Christians and Muslims refused to trade directly with each other, and Jews earned great profits acting as intermediaries.
Many Jews traded along the Silk Road, the most prominent group of whom were the Radhanites, who inevitably found themselves in China. It is during this period that the first document indicating the presence of Jews in China has been found. It describes how a rebel leader executed foreign merchants and Jewish residents in the city of Guangzhou. Discovered at an important stop along the Silk Road in northwest China, the document dating to some point around the eighth or ninth centuries was written in a Jewish-Persian script on paper, which at the time would have only been available in China. Some historians have suggested that the Radhanites were responsible for bringing Chinese paper technology to Europe, although this theory is contested. The presence of Jews in Guangzhou at this time should not be surprising, considering it was an important port city linking Chinese and Middle Eastern trade. Guangzhou has one of the oldest mosques in the world and, at the beginning of the ninth century, may have had a population of as many as 100,000 foreigners.
In 908 CE, the Tang Dynasty fell, the Silk Road trading network again collapsed for several centuries and the prominence of the Radhanites declined. But this did not mean the end of the Jewish presence in China. Between 960 and 1279 CE, China was ruled by the innovative and prosperous Song Dynasty, with their capital city at Kaifeng. Kaifeng has been described as the New York of its day. It was a massive cosmopolitan city, a centre of global trade and the largest city in the world, reaching a population of 1.5 million people.
Though Jews would settle in other cities, such as Hangzhou, Ningbo, Ningxia and Yangzhou, most were in Kaifeng, and it became the centre of Chinese Jewry. The first synagogue was built in Kaifeng in 1163 CE. It was made of wood, in a Chinese architectural style. It would be destroyed and rebuilt many times throughout its history. The Jews of Kaifeng were held in high esteem by the Song emperors, and went on to pursue successful careers not only as merchants, but as court officials, scholars and soldiers. There is still a Kaifeng Jewish community today.
In the early 12th century, the first Jin emperor, Wanyan Aguda, unified the Jurchen, a group of tribal peoples living in Manchuria. The Jurchen waged war against the Song Dynasty and, in 1127, Jurchen forces conquered Kaifeng, an event that has come to be known as the Jinkang Incident. After this battle, the Song capital was moved south to Hangzhou, and many of the Kaifeng Jews accompanied the Song rulers in their migration. Nevertheless, there were some who stayed in Kaifeng. The Jurchen established the Jin Dynasty, and continued to wage war against the Song Dynasty for more than 100 years. Eventually, both the Jin and the Song were conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century.
In 1232, the Mongols besieged Kaifeng. During the conflict, the Jin used rockets against the Mongol invaders, which is the first use of rockets in warfare in recorded history; a technology all-too-familiar to the modern residents of Israel. In the mid-14th century, the Mongol rulers of China established the Yuan Dynasty, with their capital in Beijing. When Marco Polo traveled to Beijing in 1266, he wrote about the importance of Jewish merchants there.
In 1276, the Mongols conquered the Song capital of Hangzhou. In 1280, the Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan, issued a decree banning Jews from kosher practices and circumcision. Yuan Dynasty documents written in 1329 and 1354 issue a request of Jewish residents in China to go to Beijing to pay taxes. Though many atrocities occurred during the Mongol invasions, their rule was nevertheless marked by flourishing trade and the Jewish communities of China persisted.
At the site of the synagogue in Kaifeng, several stone steles have been recovered. The oldest, written in 1489, commemorates the construction of the synagogue in 1163. It describes how the Jews first entered China during the late Han Dynasty, and the Jinkang Incident, including how many of the Jewish population of Kaifeng fled to Hangzhou. Also inscribed on this stele were the following words: “The Confucian religion and this religion agree on essential points and differ in secondary ones.”
A second stone stele was made in 1512, which describes Jewish religious practices, which is fascinating considering it is written in Chinese. In 1642, a third stele commemorated the reconstruction of the synagogue in Kaifeng after it was destroyed by a flood. The synagogue was destroyed again by a flood in 1841, but was not rebuilt. This is likely due to the sociopolitical turmoil occurring in China at the time. It is interesting to note that, while Jews were persecuted, rejected and alienated by the nations of Europe, they were accepted and assimilated into Chinese culture.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, persecution of Jews in Europe began again on a massive scale. The worst events of these times were the many pogroms in the Russian Empire, where hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered, raped, robbed. Many Jews were forced to flee as refugees, some migrating to North America, some to Palestine, and some to China. The Russian Revolution in 1917 resulted in the deaths of around 250,000 Jews, and the orphaning of around 300,000 Jewish children. Many Russian Jews fled to the city of Harbin, in Manchuria, whose Jewish population reached 20,000. However, when the Japanese annexed Manchuria in 1931, many among that population left for Shanghai, Tianjin or Palestine.
Many Chinese intellectuals understood the plight of the Jewish people, and compared it to their own. The Chinese Nationalist and founder of the Republic of China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, made the following comparison: “Though their country was destroyed, the Jewish nation has existed to this day…. Zionism is one of the greatest movements of the present time. All lovers of democracy cannot help but support wholeheartedly and welcome with enthusiasm the movement to restore your wonderful and historic nation, which has contributed so much to the civilization of the world and which rightfully deserves an honorable place in the family of nations.”
During the course of the Second World War, the Jewish population in China would swell to 40,000, many of whom resided in Shanghai. A number of Chinese diplomats helped smuggle in Jews using special protective passports. One such hero, a Chinese diplomat working in Vienna named Ho Feng Shan, helped Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe get to China, ultimately saving around 3,000 lives. Ho Feng Shan was posthumously awarded the title Righteous Among Nations by Yad Vashem in 2001.
In 1943, the Japanese forced the 20,000 Jews living in Shanghai into a ghetto that was around one square kilometre in size, with conditions described as squalid, impoverished and overcrowded. The Shanghai ghetto was also inhabited by some 100,000 Chinese residents.
The Nazis pressured the Japanese to execute the 40,000 Jews living in China, but the Japanese purposefully delayed the planned atrocity, ultimately saving the Jews’ lives. When the Japanese military governor of Shanghai informed the leaders of the Jewish community of the planned execution and asked them why the Germans hated them, one rabbi responded by saying “because we are short and dark-haired,” a reply that allegedly caused a smile to appear on the serious face of the governor. After the war, most of the Jews in China migrated to the newly formed state of Israel.
Ben Leyland is an Israeli-Canadian writer, and resident of Vancouver.
In August, the Jewish Independent connected with Gary Brownstone about a Winnipeg tech incubator he was working on called Eureka. In the short time since then, the entrepreneur has already moved on to his next adventure.
“Most of my career has been characterized by taking on multiyear projects,” said Brownstone. “In many cases, I’d be involved with or invest in small companies needing help growing to the next level. I’d grow them to the next level and then I would exit. But, generally, the projects I get involved in have a Point A and a Point B, and my mission is to take them from A to B.
“When I went to the Eureka Project, which was an incubator in Winnipeg that a group of individuals together with government and the U of M [University of Manitoba] had tried to launch, for all intents and purposes, [it] had failed. They hadn’t achieved what they’d set out to.”
Brownstone was brought onto the Eureka team to try to save it. They needed answers to three questions. Was there enough world-class talent in Winnipeg to make a venture like this worthwhile? Could the incubator help advance their causes and spin off commercial enterprises? And could Brownstone help make the operation sustainable?
“A big challenge with incubation is that early- stage companies can’t always afford to pay market rates for help, but governments don’t want to pick up the costs forever,” said Brownstone. “When I got to the project, the Manitoba government was covering about 90% of the operating budget.
“The first two [questions] we solved in a relatively short period of time. But, the sustainability issue was longer and … this year, we saw a third of those solved with the signing of a multiyear funding agreement with the province – with them only needing to cover about 30% of our operating budget.”
Seeing that a service like the one he was providing in Manitoba was needed everywhere in Canada, Brownstone move on to create a small practice under the name of LucraTech. He soon had several clients across Canada, the largest one situated in Vancouver, where he now spends about 60% of his time. The other clients are located in Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
“I’ve got some associates that I bring into jobs as needed,” said Brownstone. “We are building up our business across Canada and have been for about six months now with some pretty decent success.”
The Vancouver-based company with which Brownstone is working is Canada’s largest technology incubation platform, Istuary Innovation Group. “This is a group of Chinese Canadians who see an opportunity to invest in or acquire Canadian technology for which there could be a market in China,” said Brownstone. “Their expertise is taking Canadian-developed world-class technology into China, where there’s a big market and hunger for this technology … so, these guys are trying to bridge the gap.
“Let’s say that you are an engineer and you have some unique approach to internet security, and they know that, today, in China, on an industrial level, there’s a huge demand for internet security. If they feel that your technology is suitable for that market, they will offer to do a deal with you, and they are very flexible about how they do that. They may offer you employment in one of their innovation labs or, if you had an existing company and were looking for investors, they would invest in you and help you access that market, or they could represent you on an agency basis.”
According to Brownstone, any Canadian technology looking for a home in the Chinese market can likely be aided by Istuary. He believes that Canada is in a unique position and has an advantage over other countries, due to the quality of its schools for engineering, computer programming and related fields, like clean technology and light sciences.
“There is also very strong R&D support in Canada, both federally and provincially,” said Brownstone. “The government will often match every dollar I invest. There is also a very strong tax-credit program, [and] rebates offered will sometimes offset the big costs of R&D.” As well, he added, Canada is an attractive place for developing technology at the moment with the low Canadian dollar compared to that of the United States.
LucraTech aims to take on a series of projects with each client and create a support team to work with that client, beginning by identifying a starting point and an end point.
“Typically, the companies we start working with are small,” said Brownstone. “They have some customers, they have some revenue, but they are trying to grow to the next level. Maybe you have a company that is doing $300,000 a year in revenue and you want to grow that to $3 million in the next couple of years. We create a road map and a plan that will get you from $300,000 to $3 million, and work with you to achieve that.
“By the time you are at $3 million, you’re probably at a size where you can get and manage the support talent in-house and you can now afford more full-time employees, so maybe we aren’t needed anymore at that level of expertise.”
LucraTech offers other services, as well, such as turnaround, wherein they take on medium-sized companies that, for one reason or another, have encountered some trouble and need help. In this scenario, LucraTech goes in and tries to fix the problem and make the company healthy again. Their typical timeline with clients can be anywhere from one to four years.
“If we believe in a company and the entrepreneur and we can add value to the whole equation, we are very flexible on how we work with companies and usually give them two or three choices. We know we will only get paid if the project goes ahead,” said Brownstone.
“Sometimes, we work just for success fees, where we set out to raise money for a company … sort of a finder’s fee. If we are successful, we get paid. If not, we don’t. Sometimes, we will work for a piece of the business or a small number of shares in the business. We’re really flexible. Once we believe in the concept and the entrepreneur, we will find a way to make it work, whether they have a lot or a little money.”
The Confucius temple is a must-see in Beijing. (photo by Thyristorchopper)
On Sept. 7, I arrived in Beijing for a 10-month adventure – teaching Hebrew at Peking University. (Yes, this is what it is still called.)
Among the many preparations I had to make for this journey were learning some basic Mandarin, downloading and scanning for the students a huge amount of Hebrew material that would not be accessible from China, and packing clothes for three seasons. I also had to think about celebrating the High Holidays away from my family.
On the internet, I learned that Beijing’s Jewish community enjoys two congregations: Chabad, as one would expect almost anywhere in the world, and Kehillat Beijing, “an egalitarian, unaffiliated, lay-led Jewish community organization.” The latter has a rabbi, but only a guest one, and only during High Holidays. This year, they invited, for the second time, Rabbi Jack Shlachter, a physicist-rabbi from Los Alamos, N.M. What a small world! His wife, Bruria (Beverly), who would accompany him, was one of my mini-ulpan students in Santa Fe last year! In an email exchange, she assured me that Kehillat Beijing is a warm and welcoming community and, by the way, would I mind taking part and reading a passage during the Yom Kippur service?
The first few days on campus are full of bureaucratically required errands, and they are a good way to get familiar with the geography of my new and fascinating environment – a beautiful campus, part of which was the southern edge of a huge imperial garden. Surprisingly, it doesn’t feel as foreign as I expected it would. Global village? Still, there are enough things, even those on the mundane side, which are so different and curious, they promise more surprises.
Three days after arrival, I venture into the super-modern subway, heading to the Israeli embassy. The ambassador’s wife had invited Israeli women in Beijing for an informal potluck evening to welcome the New Year, and I am on the list. The instructions I receive from a student are clear: change from Line 4 to 10, take Exit B, walk two blocks into the diplomatic part of the city, and I am there.
There are about 20 women from what seems to be a close-knit group. Among them, a now local restaurateur, an architect, some businesswomen, an event planner, the Chabad rebbitzen, embassy employees, and wives of businessmen or embassy workers, taking time off from their jobs in Israel and enjoying all that Beijing has to offer – a good group for a newcomer to get her first tips about life in China. Late at night and after a rainstorm, I safely walk to the subway and back to my campus residence.
On Friday night, I head to Kehillat Beijing. I take the same subway station, but Exit A gives me my first glimpse of a busy downtown street, a shopping centre, hotels, the construction site of a large and creatively shaped tower, many tiny little – some elegant – stores (are all stores in Beijing so small?) and street food prepared and sold in small carts.
KB meets every Friday evening on the third floor of the Capital Club Athletic Centre. Local Jews, fluent in Mandarin, living in China for periods ranging from a few years to a couple of decades – business owners, financiers, ESL teachers, people working in the American, Canadian and Israeli embassies, students of Chinese or Chinese medicine, and others – get together with local Chinese who are searching for a new spiritual path, as well as with visitors. These visitors are tourists, exchange students and university professors, here temporarily, or those with great ideas, who come to explore business potentials.
The service this time is led by the guest rabbi in front a Chinese antique piece that has been turned into a small ark. If you look carefully, you will notice the probably unintentional Magen David-like decorations on its doors.
The KB logo, embroidered on their kippot, also has a Magen David in it, only here it replaces one element of the Chinese characters denoting the word Beijing. It is something to take home for your kippa collection.
After the service, there are announcements – and a surprise. One of the organizers of Limmud China, which alternates yearly between Beijing and Shanghai, tells us about this year’s event in November, and invites potential presenters to apply. I approach him and offer to do so, in this way compensating for having had to withdraw my offer to present at Limmud Vancouver 2016.
Friday and holiday services at KB are usually followed by dinner. Attendees buy a ticket but, for students, it is subsidized. The social mix at every table ensures interesting and lively conversations.
Saturday is my first day as a real tourist. I visit the Confucius temple site, with its ancient trees and long library “avenue” – all the Confucian wisdom engraved in close to 200 stelas, each more than twice a man-size tall. At the end, a class of university history students stages their version of an ancient bow and arrow shooting competition in historical clothing.
The next day is erev Rosh Hashana and Rabbi Jack leads the service in a meaningful, beautiful way. At my dinner table sits a British journalism professor, an American government envoy here to discuss drug issues with Chinese officials, a father visiting his Chinese-language-student son and an American university librarian hunting for both Jewish and Arabic publications produced in China, accompanied by two young guests: a Chinese woman writing her master’s thesis on Cynthia Ozick’s work and an Arabic-Chinese translator working in Chinese television. For both, it is their first time in a synagogue. The translator speaks to me in the formal literary Arabic he learned at Peking U and in Sudan, and I answer in my colloquial Arabic, explaining the meaning of the various Jewish New Year customs.
The next day, after Kiddush and a bite of challa dipped in honey, we head to nearby LiangMa (Bright Horse) River for Tashlich, right beside a few fishermen sitting patiently, waiting to hook a fish. From there, we walk for a few blocks and sit on the roof of a brewery, reserved today especially for the KB community to share in vegetarian pizza and drinks. It is an enjoyable, almost family-like, holiday gathering that extends to the late afternoon. By now, I feel quite at home. I speak Hebrew and English at this table and another and, from a trilingual (English, Chinese and Hebrew) 10-year-old girl, I get a detailed explanation and demonstration of the different tones and, hence, meaning of two Chinese words that sound equal to my ear.
On the second day of Rosh Hashana, KB does not hold services, and I join Rabbi Jack and Bruria at Chabad for another warm welcome. I am surprised to find a few of my new acquaintances from KB now here at Chabad. Dividing your “Jewish time” between the two very different congregations is not uncommon, I am told. In Beijing, the two communities collaborate, especially when it comes to the local Sunday school.
In between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, school starts, and I meet my new students, as well as sprinkle in another couple of outings. I witness the locals dancing, playing games and singing, individually and in large groups, in their historical, beautifully preserved parks, taking advantage of the still nice weather and the unusually low pollution levels.
The Saturday between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is a musical Shabbat at KB. The service is accompanied by a group comprised of members of the congregation and of Moishe House, with their instruments. Moishe House in Beijing seems to be very active, their events include dinners, movie nights, cultural discussions, speakers, holiday celebrations and community service events. They are also central in the preparations for Limmud and host its organizing meeting.
Yom Kippur I spend again with KB, starting with the meal before the fast and ending with the break fast, but for the first night of Sukkot, I head again to Chabad to sit in the sukka. This evening is busy. On top on their usual varied crowd, they are hosting a group of Chabad followers from New York, a tour organized by the Beijing rabbi as a fundraiser for the local day school, Gannenu. As erev Sukkot coincides this year with the Chinese Mid-
Autumn (Moon) Festival, the sukka, which usually would not be decorated, after the Chabad custom, now has bright, red Chinese lanterns hanging from its schach (covering), and traditional (kosher) moon cakes are served for dessert in small, red paper bags.
Barely three weeks and so much to remember already, with the Jewish aspects only being a part of my experiences so far, albeit a significant part. And there are nine more months to go. For the first time in my life, I have started writing a diary, lest I forget.
Rahel Halabeteaches biblical and modern Hebrew in Vancouver and, this year, in Beijing. She is the author of Hinneh: Biblical Hebrew the Practical Way, and a translator of Arabic literature into Hebrew.
A senior delegation from Shengjing visits JVP in Jerusalem. (photo by Yael Rivkind, JVP, via israel21c.org)
Fiona Darmon, a partner at JVP, one of Israel’s most successful venture capital funds, was recently in China at a meeting with a large investor. She sat in his office for more than an hour, chatting with him about everything but business. Only then, she said, did he nod to his subordinates, and Darmon was taken into another room, where the business discussions began.
“The mindset in China is that if we’re going to do business and I’m going to entrust you with my capital, let’s see if we have a personal rapport before I even move to the next step,” Darmon told this reporter. “It’s about you as a person, first.”
Israelis are not known for their patience, and that can be a challenge, said Ilan Maor, a managing director of Sheng-BDO (Business Development Organization) and a former Israeli consul in China. Yet economic ties are “booming,” he said.
“The most important aspects of the commercial cooperation are gradually moving from buying and selling toward the main pillars of the future of technology and investment,” Maor explained. “China is taking its place gradually as a strategic player in the Israeli market.”
As an example, the Chinese company Bright Star is on the verge of buying a majority stake in Tnuva, Israel’s iconic dairy company. The company is so central to Israel’s image of itself that, on leaving Israel, the last thing you see on the way to duty free is the logo of Tnuva’s cottage cheese container made out of flowers. If the sale goes through as expected, China and Israel’s kibbutz cooperative movement will share ownership of the dairy company.
More and more Chinese business people are visiting Israel looking to invest and to learn from Israel’s entrepreneurs.
“Israel is not only the ‘startup nation,’ it is also the ‘innovation nation,’” said Xueling Cao, director of the Shengjing Group, who was in Israel when she spoke with this reporter. “China is a huge consumer market and Israel is a huge source of innovation and technology, and we can match the two together.”