"Oneg Yom Tov" - Handwritten announcement by the yeshiva exiles in Shanghai, for the Oneg Yom Tov meal on the holiday of Shavuot that falls on Saturday night at the "Ohel Moshe" synagogue on Ward Road in Shanghai. Shanghai, [1940s].
At top right appear Shabbat and holiday entry and exit times, and on the left a reminder to make an Eruv Tavshilin, Yiddish and German notices about the Oneg Shabbat taking place during Shabbat, and Oneg Yom Tov on the holiday of Shavuot. Some details in the right and left notices are printed in stencil.
The Ohel Moshe community in Shanghai was founded by Russian Jewish immigrants in 1907. This Ashkenazi community was named after Moshe Greenberg, a member of the Russian Jewish community, and was first established in rented premises. As the community grew to 250 families by the 1920s, Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, Chief Rabbi of Shanghai, supported creating a new space for the community. In 1927, the permanent building (still existing today) was erected on Ward Road in the Hongkou district by renovating a 3-story existing building, removing the second floor and adding a middle floor. During World War II when the Mir yeshiva exiles and others from Poland arrived in Shanghai they found refuge in Ohel Moshe synagogue and established their studies there.
Ohel Moshe and Ohel Rachel are the only two original Shanghai synagogues still standing today, out of the original six. (In 2007 the Hongkou district government restored the synagogue to its original architectural style based on original drawings in the city archive, and opened it as a museum commemorating the Jewish refugees).
[1] Leaf. 34x12 cm. Wrinkles. Light tears in margins. Good condition.
