To get to Kaifeng, we took a train, and it was very late arriving and when we finally did, we barely got to the hotel which was very nice. Kaifeng, pronounced KIE-Fung, was a very big city in the 1400s, and there was a small Jewish community that strived, and a nice man named Shi-Lei showed us the sites in the city, both Jewish, and Chinese. I knew it would be fun, hanging out with all three Baum children, all week long.
The Jewish Sites
The first Jewish site we saw was a small museum that was at a theme park. Not a theme park with rides, but a park sort of like a county fair. It told the history of Jews in Kaifeng. Next we went to "Teach Torah Lane," a street that used to be filled with Jews but isn't any more. But they still call it Teach Torah Lane. After that we saw Shi Lei's house where the few remaining Jews in Kaifeng meet to practice prayer. After that, we got on the airplane to go to Beijing, and I will post about Beijing.
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| The two families at Shi Lei's house |
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| a picture of the synnagogue used in the days of the Kaifeng jews |
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| Teach Torah Lane |
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