Other Programs
In addition to our Fireside Chat Series, we have launched In the Present Tense.
In the Present Tense is a series of panel discussions with community leaders, artists, musicians, business leaders, and other personalities to talk about what matters now.
1. In the Present Tense: Visual Artists
The first instalment of our In the Present Tense series exploring who we are today. This is the
interview of two Hong Kong Jewish artists, Carol Man and Louise Soloway Chan. Hear their art journeys and how Hong Kong and Judaism inform their art.
2. In the Present Tense: Musicians
The second instalment of In the Present Tense. Hear from two Hong Kong Jewish musicians, Paul Luxenberg and Jerome Hoberman.
3. In the Present Tense: The Next Gen
Hear from successful, emerging, and established entrepreneurs and leaders, Philippe Bera, Joe Diestel, Dan Green, and Jonathan Zeman, whose parents and grandparents first forged their destinies in Hong Kong.
Our four guests are all part of the Hong Kong story, people connected to Hong Kong by their dynasty and who have stayed and developed their own careers and destinies here.
Other Public Lectures
Rabbi Asher Oser on the Life of Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman
Rabbi Isserman served as a spiritual leader of Hong Kong's Ohel Leah Synagogue from April 1963 -November 1963.
Author Vaudine England
Author Vaudine England talks to the JHS about the fascinating Jewish history in her book Fortune's Bazaar.
The Life of Solomon Bard
A conversation with Monica and Paul Bard, and Kenneth Pomerantz, professor and curator of Refugee and Renaissance Man: Solomon Bard (1916-2014) and His 60 Years in Hong Kong.
Dr Solomon Bard was born in Chita, Siberia, and moved to China with his family in 1924. He eventually made his way to Hong Kong, where he was an active member of Ohel Leah Synagogue, a doctor, a conductor, an archaeologist, and a composer, making many contributions to Hong Kong's cultural life, including leading the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and founding the Sino-British Orchestra, which later became the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a true Renaissance man.
Yiddish Tears on the Bubbling Well Road Talk by author Paul French
A JHS presentation by author Paul French (Midnight in Peking, The Badlands: Decadent Playground of Old Peking) on lesser-known Jewish stories from Old China, based on his research.