Subject: Chinese Authorities Clamp Down on Small Jewish Community

Chinese authorities have been closing down all signs of organized Jewish life in Kaifeng, and the few hundred people who claim Jewish ancestry have been forced underground to practice their religion, The Times of Israel reports.

All public signs of Jewish history in the city have also been removed, such as an ancient well believed to be the last remnant of a synagogue, which the Chinese have now buried under rubble.

Scholars say the Kaifeng Jewish community is about 1,200 years old and numbered, at its height some 500 years ago, about 5,000 people. It had strong institutions, but intermarriage and conversion gradually weakened the community before a recent revival.

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