A Meeting with Shi Lei

By Lynne Elson

On March 29, 2004, I had the chance to reconnect with Shi Lei, whom I had met in Kaifeng when I was there on my second visit in April 1998 with the Sino-Judaic Institute group led by Arthur Rosen and Dr. Wendy Abraham.

I had been in contact with Shi Lei for about a year via email and we both had looked forward to my visit to Jerusalem this spring. When we greeted each other, Shi Lei recalled that our group in 1998 had shared a Shabbat dinner with him and other descendents and that we had also taken him with us to Shanghai-his first trip away from Kaifeng.

He has certainly come a long way since then. He has a deep interest in learning about his Jewish ancestry.His first year in Israel was spent at Bar Ilan University learning Jewish studies (in English).

For the past two years, Shi Lei has been at the Machon Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. The Amishav organization and Michael Freund have been helping him. He has tried to get a visa to come to the U.S. but has been turned down every time. He feels that, if several Jewish groups would get together and petition the State Department to give him a visa, it might have an effect. I don't' know who would be the person or group that could instigate such a movement. Perhaps the Sino-Judaic Institute could look into this. It seems to me that there would be numerous Jewish groups that would be interested in having Shi Lei come and speak about his ancestry and his experiences.

Shi Lei is indeed unique in the Jewish world. There has been a re-awakening among the Jews of Kaifeng because of the visits from various Jewish groups from the U.S.

Shi Lei's interest in Judaism has turned into concrete action by his desire to study in Israel. He deserves more support from those of us in the U.S. who want to reach out to Jews of other lands. Unfortunately, he does not feel totally accepted as a Jew by the Orthodox community in Israel. They are pressuring him to undergo a conversion. When I saw him he said that he hadn't decided what to do yet.

For his future plans, Shi Lei would like eventually to be a liaison between Israel and China - "a middle man in business" he said. He likes Israel very much. Before he came there, he was told, "people think this country is in chaos, but it's not." This is a young man with a most beguiling background and fascinating future possibilities.

I was enriched by my conversation with Shi Lei in Israel and feel that it is important to share what I learned with the members of the Sino-Judaic Institute.