Jewish Practice in China

Congregation Har Shalom is proud to welcome Dr. Xu Xin, Director of the Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies at Nanjing University. He will speak about the history and practice of Judaism in China.

Congregation Har Shalom is proud to welcome Dr. Xu Xin, Director of the Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies at Nanjing University, People’s Republic of China. Xu Xin is also President of the China Judaic Studies Association. He will speak at Har Shalom on April 25, during Shabbat morning services about the history and practice of Judaism in China.

Xu Xin was raised in Nanjing and graduated as an English major from Nanjing University in 1977. He is author of Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng, Anti-Semitism: How and Why, and many other books and articles. He teaches courses on Jewish religion, history, culture, Holocaust studies, American Jewish literature and the history of Jewish Diaspora.

He served as a visiting professor and scholar at several American and Israeli university, including Harvard, Hebrew Union College, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University. He has given more than 500 lectures in the United States, Israel, Canada, the Great Britain, Germany, Hong Kong and China. His activities have been widely reported by such newspapers as New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Jerusalem Post, The Jerusalem Report, The Jewish Week and Forward.

In 2002, the Bar-Ilan University’s Board of Trustees and Senate in Israel decided to award him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Honoris Causa in recognition of the extremely important work that he has done on research of the Jewish people in China.