Thanks so much to Ted and Roberta for warmly welcoming a nice selection of Kehillat's finest up to their Great Wall getaway for a weekend of hiking, snoozing, beer drinking, great vegetarian food, and Shavuot discussions late into the evening. 

A generous group of donors spearheaded by Stacy Palestrant has offered to match dollar for dollar every donation made by the end of June up to a cap of $3,500. The best news? If we unlock the full match, we will have raised enough to cover 100% of  Kehillat's projected 2014 expenses for Shabbat meal subsidies. No gift is too small!

This past May, nearly 200 Jews from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Australia, the US, the UK, and other places across the world converged for a long weekend in the shadow of the Great Wall of China. Organized jointly by the JDC and the Kehillat Beijing Foundation, the Limmud / Kehillat Beijing Retreat and Shabbaton was an opportunity to learn about and discuss a range of topics, all brought together by our wonderful participants.

As such a small community of Jews in a relatively far-out city, special life events aren't as frequent as they are in larger communities.  When they do come around, they're extra extra special, which is why the Kehillat Beijing community is proud to celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of Seth David Hodges.
 

Kehillat was in the news again, with our 2014 Passover Seder being featured in a recent issue of the Global Times. Check out the story here, and below!

So what I wanted to say, Kehillat Beijing, is thank you for providing me a home of the heart, and to please never stop, for we must keep the flame burning in this our Beijing tabernacle, always, tamid.  Amen.

We loved having members of the community come out to the suburbs on a fine fall day to enjoy our sukkah.  The bagels, courtesy of Moishe House & baked by Tavalin, were as much a draw as anything.  Many of the celebrants were familiar faces but, as always when abroad, we welcomed a few who are passing through and/or are considering ways to make this home.

What an amazing year at Kehillat Beijing. Our community was blessed this year to have three visiting clergy–Rabbi Dario Feguin, Cantor Yvon Shore, and Rabbi Dan Horwitz (twice!). We also held an amazing retreat by the Great Wall in Huairou, two bat mitzvot, and celebrated the High Holidays in a festive musical style with our new (and somewhat critically acclaimed) Kehillat Beijing Ensemble.