The Jewish Cemetery (Hong Kong)
Jewish community life formally began in Hong Kong in the mid-1850s with the opening of the Jewish Cemetery. The granting of land to Jews for burial purposes was the first official recognition of the Jewish community by the government. The cemetery is still in use today, flanked on either side by a Buddhist temple and its school. It is one of the only Jewish cemeteries in the Far East that remains in its original nineteenth century location.
Pictured left to right: tombstone of Joseph Edgar Joseph and a view of the Jewish Cemetery taken in 2015. For more information on the Jewish Cemetery in Hong Kong, please see the Jewish Historical Society website which includes a very useful burial list.
The Ohel Leah Synagogue (Hong Kong)
Hong Kong’s first formal synagogue was donated by Sir Jacob Sassoon and named after his mother Leah. It was built on land donated to the Jewish community by Sir Jacob and his brothers Edward and Meyer in 1902. The Ohel Leah was renovated in the 1990’s and is a rare example of a synagogue in Asia which has been in almost constant use for worship since it was first built.