A

s global health officials struggle to 
contain the effects of the coronavirus, 
a Detroit-area Chabad rabbi adds his 
own layers of concern — and personal pride.
Rabbi Schneor Greenberg, who, with his 
wife, Estie, directs the Chabad Jewish Center 
of Commerce, Michigan, has two siblings 
running Chabad centers in the Shanghai 
region of China — about 500 miles from 
Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus outbreak in 
late December. 
As of Feb. 10, there have been 40,574 
confirmed coronavirus cases and 910 deaths 
worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins 
University Center for Systems Science 
Engineering, which maintains a dashboard 
using combined figures from various sources, 
including the World Health Organization 
(WHO). Mainland China alone has 40,175 of 
the cases and 908 deaths. 
Greenberg understands the risks for 
those, like his brothers, who live and work 
in Shanghai, where 292 cases have been con-

firmed as of Feb. 9, according to the WHO.
One brother, Rabbi Avraham Greenberg, 
and his wife, Nechamie, run the Chabad 
Jewish Center of Pudong, a district in 
Shanghai. They left with their family last 
month and now are aiding relief efforts from 
the Detroit area, where two of their children 
attend school. 
Another sibling, Rabbi Shalom Greenberg, 
co-directs the Shanghai Jewish Center with 
his wife, Dinie. Shalom has remained in 
Shanghai to look after the center and provide 
local aid. Dinie left the country with their 
childrens on Feb. 5.
Shanghai has been home for Shalom 
and Dinie since 1998, when the two first 
established their Chabad center and Shalom 
became the first rabbi in mainland China. 
Today, together with Avraham’
s Pudong cen-
ter and a third Chabad outpost in Shanghai, 
they serve the 2,000 Jews who live scattered 
throughout the metropolis of nearly 28 mil-
lion people. 

The Chabad outreach centers serve Jewish 
students and travelers, as well as individuals 
relocated for work who often come with 
their families. The centers provide services, 
including classes, kosher meals and holiday 
programming. 
In recent weeks, the rabbis helped their 
community members obtain subsidies for 
plane tickets home, and now 95% of the Jews 
in Shanghai have left. 
“Only about 35 or 40 of them remain, so 
when Shabbat comes and 10 Jewish people 
come to Shalom’
s for dinner, these people find 
other Jews,
” Avraham told the JN. “For them 
to know Chabad is still here and they can 
come have a meal together is very special.
”
Along with emissaries at the 12 other 
Chabad Jewish Centers in China (including 
Hong Kong), the two Greenberg families 
helped establish a relief fund to aid the coun-
try’
s Jewish communities. Four rabbis remain 
in China; the others continue fundraising 
efforts from other countries. 

12 | FEBRUARY 13 • 2020 

Jews in the D

Local Chabad rabbi’
s relatives help reduce coronavirus risk in Shanghai.
China Mitzvah 

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Shanghai Jewish 
Museum Curator Chen 
Jian and Rabbi Shalom 
Greenberg of the 
Shanghai Jewish Center 
examine donated masks.

CHABAD SHANGHAI

continued on page 14

