Jewish Scene
Singapore, a tiny heaven for Jews
Ayelet Mamo Shay
Published: 20.04.15, 23:51
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4 Talkbacks for this article
1. Singaporean Jewry
Yehudah ,   NY, USA   (04.21.15)
Mention should also have been made of the liberal synagogue which meets at the American Club.
2. The thriving progressive Jewish community of Singapore
sylvia rothschild ,   London England   (04.21.15)
I was sad to see that this article did not include any mention of the thriving progressive Jewish community in Singapore, whose website can be found at http://www.uhcsingapore.com/ They are open, inclusive, also busy doing Jewish activities and Hebrew school, and it seems to me no article describing Singapore should ignore the 500 plus Jewish souls connected to this community
3. Jewish community in Singapore
James Socrates ,   London, U.K.   (04.22.15)
I enjoyed reading Ayelet Shay article on the Jewish community in Singapore, which I know well. I do feel that while it may be true that "the community is mostly Orthodox" for the sake of completeness and honesty , mention should be made of the United Hebrew Congregation, which although "progressive" is of a similar size to the Maghain Aboth Synagogue
4. Misrepresentation of Singapore's Jewish community
Ben ,   Singapore   (05.06.15)
For a doctoral student, this article is shockingly full of inaccuracies and bizarre statements. It seems that the author managed to visit just one Jewish congregation and speak to one rabbi. Somehow, she managed to miss the fact that Singapore has a very active reform (progressive) Jewish congregation with hundreds of members. Stating that Singapore's Jewish community is mostly Orthodox is quite an exaggeration. Also, I'm not sure where the author got the number of "several thousand" Israelis who are "sent to Singapore every year". This is a huge overestimation, and the author herself states elsewhere in the article that the Jewish community numbers about 1,500. The author also repeatedly mentions how "wealthy" the Jewish community is and refers repeatedly to Singapore's "rich Jews". While there are no doubt many wealthy Jews in Singapore, many if not most, are not wealthy. There are plenty of teachers, university professors, students and others who are ordinary middle class people. But the author seems overly impressed with Jewish wealth and millionaires. Finally, the article needs a once over by a decent editor. The article correctly states that the David Elias building is no longer Jewish owned, having been sold long ago. However, a caption under the photograph of the building refers to it as belonging to Singapore's "rich Jews".
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