The history of the Jews in Hong Kong starts when Jews were among the first settlers after Hong Kong became a British colony in 1841. The first Jews arrived in Hong Kong from various parts of the British Empire as merchants and colonial officials. Among the first wave, the Baghdadi Jews stood out especially, including representatives of the influential families of Sassoon and Kadoorie. The construction of the Ohel Leah Synagogue in 1901 marked the beginning of a fully fledged religious life for the city's local Jews.
Hong Kong's Jewish community is able to freely practice most of their cultural and religious traditions, including holding Shabbat meals and celebrating the main Jewish holidays. The city currently has four active synagogues, three schools and a Jewish cemetery.
Jews never constituted a large community in Hong Kong, only numbering a few hundred prior to World War II. Nevertheless, many influential Jews have left their mark on the city. Among them are: Matthew Nathan, the first and only Jewish governor of Hong Kong, who established the Guangzhou–Kowloon through train; the members of the Kadoorie family, who founded the China Light and Power Company and Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels; and the members of the Sassoon family, the benefactors of the Jewish cemetery and the Ohel Leah synagogue. Jewish politician Emanuel Raphael Belilios became chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) from 1876 to 1882.
As it is based in a major commercial centre, much of Hong Kong's Jewish community consists of non-permanent residents—largely expatriates from countries with much larger Jewish communities such as Israel, the United States, France, and other nations. , Hong Kong has around 5,000 Jewish residents belonging to different denominations of Judaism.
History 19th century
Jews were one of the first settlers in Hong Kong after it became a British colony in 1841. From 1842, Baghdadi Jews from India, the Middle East, southern China, and a smaller population of Sephardim and Ashkenazim from Britain, Europe, India and other places, began immigrating to Hong Kong. The first settler was the Baghdadi merchant Elias David Sassoon (1820–1880), son of the powerful Mumbai businessman David Sassoon (1792–1864) who opened an office in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1844. This indicated the interest of the trading house David Sassoon, Sons & Co. in the Chinese market. David Sassoon, Sons & Co. opened a branch in Hong Kong in 1857, after moving their operations from Canton to Hong Kong, and E. D. Sassoon & Co. opened its own branch in 1867. The opening of two Sassoon-owned businesses in Hong Kong resulted in increased migration of Baghdadis to Hong Kong. A permanent Jewish community formed in Hong Kong in the 1850s. The social life of the community revolved around the homes of the wealthy Baghdadi families of Sassoon and Kadoorie, another family of Baghdad Jews, whose interests extended far beyond the colony. These families hired mainly Jewish employees in their trading firms, which encouraged the influx of new Baghdadi and Mumbai Jews to Hong Kong.
In 1855, a Jewish cemetery was established in the Happy Valley area, after one of David Sassoon's sons, Reuben Sassoon asked for a 999-year lease from the Hong Kong government. The first synagogue was opened by the Sassoons in 1870 in one of the tenement houses on Hollywood Road, but in 1882 it was replaced by a new synagogue. In 1884, David Sassoon's grandson, Meyer Elias Sassoon, together with the latter's brother, Edward Elias Sassoon and their uncle, Frederick David Sassoon, assumed the role of trustees. The synagogue was named Ohel Leah in honour of Leah Elias Sassoon, Edward and Meyer's mother. In the 1880s, a wave of Ashkenazi Jews who fled the pogroms in Russia and anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe settled in Hong Kong. The already established Baghdadi traders helped Ashkenazim start small businesses in Hong Kong after learning about their struggles from Jewish publications. Wealthy Sephardim distanced themselves from the predominantly poor Ashkenazi. The two communities did not pray together and buried the dead in different parts of the cemetery. Ashkenazim were forced to settle in poor neighbourhoods and boarding houses, work in bars and clubs with a dubious reputation, and some women worked in prostitution.
As the records of the Jewish community were destroyed during World War II, information on the historical numbers of Hong Kong Jews is incomplete. According to an unidentified Jewish encyclopaedia, there were 24 Sephardim and 17 Ashkenazim in the city in 1872. In 1876, there were 36 Sephardim and ten Ashkenazim. The numbers had risen to 49 Sephardim and 22 Ashkenazim by 1881. In 1882, there were about 60 Sephardic Jewish residents in Hong Kong. By 1897, the Jewish community consisted of 52 men, 25 women, 26 girls and 14 boys.
In the second half of the 19th century, Elias David Sassoon was the most influential figure in the Hong Kong Jewish community. He led the operations of the David Sassoon & Co. trading house in China and Japan, controlled the shipments of Indian opium, as well as the company's cargo transportation between Mumbai, Kolkata, Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, Nagasaki and Yokohama. With Sassoon's donations, a synagogue and the Sailors' House, one of the first charitable institutions, were built in Hong Kong. In 1865, the Sassoons supported the formation of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and in the early 1870s David Sassoon & Co. took first place in the supply of opium from Hong Kong to China, overtaking its main competitor, Jardine Matheson & Co. In October 1879, the company suffered a disaster—its coal warehouses in the port of Hong Kong burned down and in March 1880, Elias Sassoon died in Colombo.
Another prominent member of the Sassoon family in Hong Kong was Frederick David Sassoon (1853–1917). Initially, he helped his older brother Elias Sassoon and after his death, he headed the family business in Hong Kong and oversaw affairs throughout the Far East. In addition, in 1878–1879 and 1885–1886, he was chairman of the board of directors of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. From 1884 to 1887 he was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong as a representative of the justice of the peace. After moving to the UK, he was chairman of David Sassoon & Co. in London and director of the Imperial Bank of Persia. In addition to Frederick, his elder brother Arthur (Abraham) David Sassoon (1840–1912) was also on the board of directors of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
Among the wealthy members of the Jewish community in Hong Kong, there was also the Dutch Jew Charles Henri Bosman (1839–1892). He was the head of the Bosman and Co. trading house, co-owner of the Hongkong Hotel, and a director of the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock, which was founded in 1863 by Scottish businessman Thomas Sutherland. By 1869, Charles Bosman was the Dutch consul in Hong Kong and ran his own marine insurance company, one of whose important clients was the Jardine Matheson & Co. Later, Charles Bosman moved to Great Britain and received British citizenship in either 1888 or 1889. He died in London in 1892. By the end of the 19th century, one of the richest people in Hong Kong was the son of Charles Bosman, Robert Hotung Bosman, who was able to compete with the owners of the leading British trading houses in the colony due to his wealth and influence.
Along with the Sassoons and the Bosmans, Emanuel Raphael Belilios (1837–1905) also stood out among the Jews of Hong Kong. Arriving in Hong Kong in 1862, he became an exchange broker in the colony. He quickly became wealthy after opening his firm E.R. Belilios which traded opium between India and China. He had become a significant landowner by the 1880s. He headed the Hongkong Hotel Company and was also the chairman of the board of directors of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. His increasing prestige among the Jewish community and his goal to be the new head of the Jewish community by replacing Sassoons, who at the time were considered the leaders of Hong Kong's Sephardic community, led to a dispute with the Sassoons. The dispute started with Belilios wanting to build a new synagogue in the city. He then bought a piece of land on Kennedy Road. The other members of the Sephardic community tried to buy back the land but Belilios refused to give it up. In 1897, David Aaron Gubbay (Sassoons' family friend), Abraham Jacob Raymond (manager of E.D. Sassoon & Co.) and Abraham Jacob David (partner in E.D. Sassoon & Co.) took Belilios to court, arguing that Belilios had bought the land on behalf of the Jewish community and thus was obligated to return it. On 12 February 1898, Belilios won the case and the court asserted that Belilios had not bought the land on behalf of the Jewish community. However, the Jews of Hong Kong were still against Belilios' plan and it became clear that the community was loyal to the Sassoons. Soon after this, Belilios started to spend more time in London, possibly because of the failure of his plan.
First half of the 20th century
By the beginning of the 20th century, 165 Jews officially lived in Hong Kong. The heyday of the Jewish community of Hong Kong came under the rule of Governor Matthew Nathan (1904–1907)—the only Jewish governor of the colony. Under his governance, the Jewish cemetery was expanded and the construction of the railway between Kowloon and Canton began. The main street of Kowloon was named Nathan Road in his honour. From the early 1920s to the mid-1930s, there was an outflow of Jewish businessmen to the rapidly developing Shanghai and the number of the Jewish community dropped below 100 people. As before, the Sephardim predominated, but due to the influx of refugees from Eastern Europe, the balance began to change in favour of the Ashkenazim.
In the first half of the 20th century, the brothers Jacob Elias Sassoon and Edward Elias Sassoon (1853–1924), along with their relative Edward Shellim (1869–1928), were the most influential figures in the Jewish community of Hong Kong. Shellim, who was a nephew of Elias David Sassoon, started to work as a manager in the Hong Kong branch of David Sassoon & Co., and later became a chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1912 to 1913, as well as the director of the Hong Kong Tramways, Hongkong Land and Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company. He was also a member of advisory committees of China Sugar Companies Refining, Hong Kong Fire Insurance and Canton Insurance Society. In addition to his commercial activities, Shellim was also involved in public affairs as a justice of the peace, a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1913 to 1918, as well as a member of the committees of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, House of Sailors, head of the financial committee of Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, and the council of the Ohel Leah Synagogue and Hong Kong University Council. Shellim died on 8 December 1928.