Israel’s Messenger. A Jewish Paper Devoted to the Interests of Jews and Judaism in the Far East.

This Official Organ of the Shanghai Zionist Federation was established in 1904 by a “Baghdadi” Jew, Nissim E. B. Ezra. Israel’s Messenger was the largest and oldest Shanghai Jewish community newspaper and the world’s first Zionist publication. Its goal was to inform its readers of world news as well as the activities of Jewish communities in China, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore and elsewhere. Also covered are Jewish religious subjects, the details of Shanghai Jewish welfare organizations, local business activities, relations with the Jewish communities in Baghdad, India and Eretz Israel, and of course, much social “Who’s-Who.” An important source of knowledge about the Shanghai Jewish community and thus opens a unique window into a fascinating period of life in China at the turn of the 20th-century.