A multipurpose Jewish community center opened in Taipei on Wednesday is to be a “new hub” for Jewish culture in Taiwan while fostering exchanges with Taiwanese, the Jewish Taiwan Cultural Association said.
“We wanted to share Jewish culture, traditions, education and religion” in Taiwan and “offer a space to call home for Jewish people in Taiwan,” Taipei-based businessman Jeffrey Schwartz said of the founding of the association.
“This goes beyond cultivating Jewish culture in Taiwan,” said Schwartz, who began working on the initiative to build the center in 2018 with his Taiwanese wife, Na Tang (?娜).
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“Our goal was to integrate the strengths of Taiwanese people and the fortes of Jewish people,” he told an inauguration ceremony. “We also want all Jewish people around the world to see the value and beauty of our Isla Formosa and to facilitate opportunities for global exchanges for Taiwan.”
The 2,090m2 Jeffrey D. Schwartz Jewish Community Center, named after the founder and chief executive officer of Four Star Group Inc, houses a synagogue, a mikveh (ritual bath), a kosher restaurant, banquet rooms, a kindergarten, and a museum of Jewish art and antiquities, the association’s Web site shows.
“The community center is at the center of Taipei, providing people with an opportunity to access and understand the Jewish culture with ease,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) told the ceremony.
Vice President William Lai (賴清德) said that the center would help “build a bridge for communication and interaction between Taiwanese and Jewish cultures.”
It would also promote friendship between the people of Taiwan and the Jewish community, Lai said, adding that both groups cherish the values of human rights and freedom.
Israeli Representative to Taiwan Omer Caspi said that the community center is “a significant and exciting milestone in the development of Jewish life in Taiwan.”
It symbolizes the prosperity and growth of the Jewish community, which has existed in Taiwan for decades, said Caspi, who heads the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan-based publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀) has been sentenced to three years in prison, fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,890) in personal assets and deprived political rights for one year for “inciting secession” in China, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said today. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdict on Feb. 17, Chen said. The trial was conducted lawfully, and in an open and fair manner, he said, adding that the verdict has since come into legal effect. The defendant reportedly admitted guilt and would appeal within the statutory appeal period, he said, adding that the defendant and his family have
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and