The Jeffrey D. Schwartz Jewish Community Center of Taiwan is the first permanent structure of its kind in Taiwan. Located in the heart of downtown Taipei, the Center is the new hub of Jewish life in Taiwan. The 22,500 square-foot building houses a synagogue with library, Kosher Culinary Lab, mikveh (ritual bath), kindergarten, adult classrooms, ballroom, and private dining room. Take a guided tour:
“This is a house of G-d. It has to be beautiful, it has to be solemn. I’ve toured the synagogues of Europe, and observed the domes, the mosaics, the carvings: you could see this was a gift to G-d and a home for G-d. This is my attempt to build a temple that draws on traditional elements, while including a few newer aspects as well.”
“I put a lot of thought into the selection of the materials, and to the height of the ceiling. I wanted this to be a place that, when people go up to the roof of the Center and emerge outside, they’ll see a beautiful Middle Eastern-style courtyard with a temple at the front. And when they enter the synagogue, with its high ceiling, they’ll be entering a beautiful and serene place of worship, a house of G-d. It’s a work of passion.”
“It has everything that a temple should have, including a library for study connected to it, a place to hold the prayer books. There’s going to be a beautiful bima at the center where the rabbi will lead services, and an ark which will contain the Torah scrolls. I tried to make the ceilings as tall and inspiring as possible; everything is focused toward heaven.”
“From the selection of the materials, to the design, to the shape, I’ve tried to create what is my version of what is holy and beautiful in a Jewish temple. And I’m hopeful G-d will be pleased with the work.”
“From the selection of the materials, to the design, to the shape, I’ve tried to create what is my version of what is holy and beautiful in a Jewish temple. And I’m hopeful G-d will be pleased with the work.”
“As I’ve learned more about the kosher rules, I realized it’s not just the raw materials you use, but how you prepare the food. We’ve built a large and professional kitchen, so we can have dairy in one area, and meats in another area—we’ll keep them separate. We’re in the process of finding a chef who will elevate the quality of our kosher cuisine to a whole new level. I want our restaurant to be a destination where people will come to enjoy brunch, afternoon tea, or dinner.”
“It’s an understatement to say people love to eat here in Taiwan. We have the best restaurants in the world. A small city like this has 50 Michelin-starred restaurants. Eating is a very important part of social life. We have a private dining room for small groups of 12 or so, and a regular dining room that sits about 50 or 60 people. We also have a banquet room that sits up to 300 people. It’s all kosher, and my goal is to make it top rate, a place where people will want to come and enjoy an authentic kosher and delicious kosher meal.”
“I want our restaurant to be a destination where people will come to enjoy brunch or afternoon tea.”
We will celebrate the Jewish holidays and simchas and hold events at our new Ballroom, which will accommodate up to 300 people.
“Just like on Shabbat, our day of rest, people do less; it’s a time to cut yourself off from the world and rest. The mikveh is another equally beautiful form of rest. This is not a spa. This is a purification ritual. I’m hoping once this is built, that many people will use it. And, quite frankly, many of us can use it. There will be an attendant to take you through it, while some may prefer to do it by themselves. It’s a place where you can spend a few minutes in meditation, a holy space, in a pure body of water, that can purify your mind, and help you face whatever you have to face in the real world.”
“The first room you enter is the preparation room, a large bathing area; that’s where you clean yourself completely. There are brushes to clean yourself. Then you walk into the area where the natural body of water is. There’s a prayer you say as you dip yourself three times into the water. This is a purification ritual, and it’s a time to have your own communication with G-d. It’s a place to go when you have a problem you’re dealing with, or if you’re about to pray, or it’s the beginning of a holiday or major event. I look forward to this being a place where people can get grounded for a few minutes, cleanse and submerge themselves in a pure body of water, pray to G-d, and have some time for personal meditation.”
“We’ve put a lot into the design and function. Above all, this has to be all-natural water, G-d’s water, stored in many different containers under the ground. We’ve designed an elaborate system of canals and buckets of water that then pour into a pool. The pool is being built according to the same rules and regulations that Jews have followed for thousands of years. I had to learn these concepts so I could teach our engineers here. The first thing they asked, ‘Where’s the drain?’ But mikvehs don’t have a drain because, like oceans and other natural bodies of water, they don’t have a drain.”
Jewish tradition describes children as the builders of the Jewish future. By educating our children, we are maintaining and building on our thousands of years of history. The new Center will feature a spacious kindergarten with books and instructional materials where our children can learn about the beauty and wisdom of Judaism, about Jewish history, and about Jewish culture.
“I’m proud to share a very special collection of Judaica and Jewish art that I’ve been gathering over the years from many parts of the world. This is one part of the Jeffrey D. Schwartz & Na Tang Jewish Taiwan Cultural Association (JTCA), the purpose of which is to preserve and raise awareness of our heritage.”
“I’ve taken it upon myself to go out and collect as much Judaica as I can. Some objects date back to the 17 th and 18 th centuries, all the way up to modern times. There are a lot of objects from the Kabbalist rabbis, rare photographs of influential figures, from rabbis to prime ministers.”
“I’m building a collection that’s gone from a few dozen to hundreds of items, with newly-acquired pieces arriving every day. We will display them throughout the entire Center, on the way to the synagogue, in the mikveh, in the restaurant, in the library. Before then, we will start to gradually digitize them and make them available on our website.”
“Our Judaica gallery has been a passion of mine. I’ve collected some of it while I travelled through Israel and the United States. A lot of it comes from estates of famous Judaica collectors. I also work with a group of people who are committed to passing our history down. As word has spread about my project, I get calls daily from people telling me about objects they have for sale. They say ‘we need to pass this down to the next generation.’ They have the same mission: to preserve our heritage and pass it down to the next generation.”
“This is related to my goal of building a legacy for the Jewish people: to pass down our heritage to the next generation. Once there’s a building that we can call our home, once you have the support of the government and the support of the people, this will have legs that will go far beyond a single individual like myself–or anyone else.”
“The initiative goes back to 2018, when I had to obtain the site through extensive government negotiations. The land that we have in the center of the city was owned by the Ministry of Defense. There were so many things we had to do to get approvals. It’s been years in the working to secure the location. I’ve been blessed that so many people have helped us.”
“Once we got access to the building, we then spent a year putting plans in place to reconstruct it and reinforce the structure to bring it up to current safety standards and regulations, to make it safe enough to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. The first shovel of dirt was dug at the beginning of 2020, and it took eight months to get the infrastructure of the building up to standards. We had a big team working on it and it is now complete.”
© 2024 Jewish Taiwan Cultural Association.
