Ohel Rachel Synagogue

This guide to Ohel Rachel Synagogue in Shanghai follows Jacob Sassoon, heir to a Shanghai trading fortune, who built a synagogue for the city's Sephardic community in memory of his wife Rachel, and died before it opened. It traces the building's 1921 consecration, its decades as a thriving hub with Torah scrolls shipped in from Baghdad, and the upheavals of Japanese occupation and Communist rule that followed. Look up at the tall round windows as you step inside.