There are several reasons why I decided to build the Jewish Community Center in Taiwan.
First, I wanted to create a permanent place where Jews in Taiwan can feel comfortable observing and celebrating their religion and their heritage. I’ve been continuously involved with the Jewish community since the early 1970s. Throughout this time, while we have had various temporary locations, we have never had a place that we could call our own. A few years ago, I chose to commit to taking a substantial amount of my own money and to donate it to the community for the purpose of building such a place.
Second, like most Jewish parents, I have always been concerned about passing on our heritage to my children and to their children. While they were born in Taiwan, my kids grew up being aware of and proud of their Jewish identity. They were bar and bat mitzvahed. They proudly wear their Jewish stars. My grandchildren, on the other hand, are likely to be one step away from our heritage–unless we do something about it. Each generation becomes a little more detached from their heritage. So, I made a commitment a long time ago to my mother and father that I’m going to make sure that everyone in my family will maintain their Jewish identity.
The Center is for my children’s generation. I want a place for them to go that they can be proud of, a place where they won’t forget the connection to the amazing legacy that they belong to, and a place where they can express their Jewish identity. This is so the next generation can be connected to the community.
To build the Center just for the Jewish people is too narrow of a goal. Which leads me to the third reason why I decided to build it: I want to open it up for the local community.
Taiwan has made my life. People look at me as a Jewish person, and they look at me as an American. But they also look at me as a Chinese person, because I’ve been living in Taiwan longer than I have in the United States. Even my mother says I’m more Chinese than I am American! And I’m very proud of that. My Chinese identity is just as important to me as my American identity. I feel very indebted to Taiwan, and I will do whatever I can at any time and at any point for the betterment of Taiwan. I thought I would use my background and my resources to create something that will last beyond me. The more that people in Taiwan understand about the Jews, and perhaps the more we understand about the people of Taiwan, will only help to strengthen our relationships. We can all learn from each other, take the good parts of everything, and help to build a better future for Taiwan and the Jewish community.
And finally, I decided to build the Center for the global Jewish community. I believe we have in our small community in Taiwan a community of people who have valuable experiences and ideas that they can share with other Jews around the world. We also hold a unique and growing collection of Judaica and Jewish art and books. I hope to share these items with the local Jewish and Taiwan communities by displaying them in the Center, and with the rest of the world by sharing them digitally through our website and social media channels.
It’s still early days, so where this initiative eventually leads, I don’t really know. I’m focusing at the moment on building our Jewish home here in Taiwan, a home that’s open to everybody, both Jews and friends of our community. In doing so, I also hope to put our congregation in Taiwan on the global map of Jewish communities.
