Jewish from my bar mitzvah until
around age 28."
By that time, he'd graduated from
Carnegie-Mellon University, finished
his master of business administration
degree at the Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania and traveled
through Israel, Nigeria and Turkey, and
lived in Japan for four years. He speaks
Japanese and Chinese with a New York
accent.
He first went to China two years ago
to work for Compaq Computers. In
Shanghai, he now owns Informatics
College, a for-profit, foreign-adminis-
tered university that will grant three-
year degrees from overseas. Kaplan also
has become an investor in education
projects in China.
Suddenly, he got in touch with his
Jewish roots. "In Asia, I felt more
Jewish than American," Kaplan said.
"Asians admire the Jewish people.
Americans are seen as pushy, but the
Chinese relate to Jews, the longest-
standing civilization in the world, with
a history of learning and achievement."
Jews first settled in Shanghai 150
years ago. In the 1940s there were more
than 25,000 Jews in Shanghai, many of
.i, them refugees who had fled the Nazi
regime in Europe. After or War II,
most Jews returned to the West.
With help from Rabbi Arthur
Schneier of Manhattan's Park East
Synagogue, Kaplan became the founder
of the new Jewish community of
Shanghai. Though there is no rabbi in
China, every few months Chabad
Lubavitch sends one. The community
holds Passover seders and provides
kosher food, tefillin and mezuzot. They
are in the process of creating a center
where they can hold regular weekly ser-
vices, and they hope to have a perma-
nent rabbi within a year.
Shanghai, according to Kaplan, is
the most Westernized city in China,
one on the cutting edge. He says New
York City and Shanghai have a lot in
common. "They're both fast-paced, you
can feel the energy on the street, and
we're all obnoxious," he says.
Though he's lonely, he's had some
interesting visitors recently, including
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
and Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.
Kaplan's dream is to build a Jewish
family in Shanghai. So if you know a
traditional, shomer Shabbat, open-
minded, good-looking, cosmopolitan
woman between the ages of 22 and 34,
have her e-mail him at Post Office Box
30-56/Shanghai 200030. Kaplan will
be back in New York this month for
two weeks, he says, "God willing." 0

\VKEN s\:FRANien,:;:twm

Jingles

A local writer,
who wants to be anonymous,
takes some poetic liberties
with the singles scene and the
culture of ersonal ads.

am white
seeking
o tall
es danctng counhy music

GSM
old-fitshioned values important
looking for similar to date
long embraces

oznt

Free-thinking burly nature boy
to you
l it r e . 30 s
iS7iiefiOn, and h*alikar.0E::” ortant..

-

10/2
1998

Detroit Jewish News

71