Ohel Rachel Synagogue

Ohel Rachel Synagogue (拉结会堂, Lājié Huìtáng) is at 500 North Shaanxi Road in Jing’an District. It was built for Shanghai’s Sephardi Jewish community by Sir Jacob Elias Sassoon and Sir Edward Elias Sassoon, in memory of Jacob’s wife Rachel. The road was then Seymour Road, in the western part of the International Settlement, and the building was long known as the Seymour Synagogue.

The Shanghai firm Moorhead & Halse designed it to replace the Beth El Synagogue, which dated from 1887. It was finished in March 1920 and consecrated on 23 January 1921 by Rabbi W. Hirsch. Jacob Sassoon died shortly before the ceremony, so the building was dedicated to him and Rachel together. English Wikipedia calls it the first purpose-built synagogue in Shanghai; it had room for 700 worshippers and was described as the largest in the Far East.

Sources disagree on style. English Wikipedia says Baroque Revival, while Historic Shanghai and some other writers say Greek Revival. What they describe is a large pavilion entered through an Ionic portico between heavy rusticated piers. Inside, the plan and the round-headed side windows were modelled on London’s Bevis Marks and Lauderdale Road synagogues, with a second-floor gallery and a walk-in ark that held 30 Torah scrolls.

Use of the building has changed repeatedly. After Pearl Harbor the Japanese authorities took over the settlement, and the synagogue was turned into a stable. It served as a synagogue again after 1945, and the community kept it until 1952, when it was taken over and absorbed into the Shanghai Education Commission compound. In the 1960s it was a warehouse, and its windows and chandeliers were smashed. It was declared a protected architectural landmark in March 1994.

A clean-up funded by the city in 1998 brought it back into use as a synagogue, and the first Rosh Hashanah service since 1952 was held in September 1999. During the 2010 Expo it ran regular Shabbat services by reservation, but by 2013 use was limited to major holidays. It is one of two synagogues from old Shanghai still standing; the other is Ohel Moshe in Hongkou.

Do not expect to walk in. Sources describe the site as inside an education-authority compound with limited, occasional use, and no official visiting information was found. Check before you go.