(Jewish Group) 'A small community in the hinterlands': Meet the Jews of Tokyo

The Olympic Games begin in Tokyo July 23, but no international spectators will be permitted. It’s an unfortunate turn of events for the city’s Jewish community, said Jerry Rosenberg, a former president of the Jewish Community of Japan, an egalitarian synagogue in Tokyo.

In fact, Rosenberg said the 100-family congregation “had big plans” for the Olympics but that was before COVID, which forced a one-year postponement of the Summer Games.

“I don’t think the athletes will be allowed out of their bubble during the Olympics, so we do not expect them to come to the JCJ,” he said. “There is significant resistance by the general public to holding the Olympics – especially due to a very slow rollout of the vaccine here in Japan. I think there will be significant pressure to keep the athletes separated.”

The current synagogue location is the third the Jewish Community of Japan has had since it first bought a beautiful old building in a prime location in Hiroo in 1954. It was close to the center of the city of Tokyo, a convenient location that Rosenberg said was “comparable to Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.”

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