1929 - Gen. Morris 'Two Gun' Cohen in the H.K. & Shanghai Jewish Communities

Michael Alderton (essarem) notes: At the end of 1928, General Cohen was in Shanghai to attend the founding of the B’nai B’rith Lodge there. The B’nai B’rith’s National Jewish Monthly reported that: “The time was right for the birth of B’nai B’rith, and in 1928 the Shanghai Lodge was established. The lodge was committed to Jewish philanthropy in Shanghai. General Morris Cohen had an abiding loyalty to the Jewish people, and wherever he travelled he turned up at Jewish meetings – most often at B’nai B’rith lodge meetings. He was one of the founders of B’nai B’rith in Shanghai, and had also been a member (1913) of the lodge in Edmonton, Canada.”

“Whitechapel Jewish Boy As Chinese General. Morris Abraham Cohen, the London-born Jewish military chief in the Chinese army, is actively identified with the Jewish community in China. Mr S. Jacobi, who has travelled extensively in the Far East conducting campaigns on behalf of the Jewish immigration related scheme, O.R.T.–Oze-Emigdirekt, tells the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (early 1932) that he has obtained considerable support in his campaigns from General Cohen, who takes an active part in Jewish communal affairs, and is a member of the B’nai B’rith.”

Rena Krasno, writing for the S.J.I.’s Points East journal, recalls: (Shanghai 1936) My father, David Rabinovich, Hon. Secretary of the Shanghai Ashkenazi Jewish Community, met Cohen in Shanghai and mentioned his eagerness to help Jews in critical times of world turmoil. There was no doubt that the welfare of the Jewish people was always very close to Cohen’s heart

Michael Alderton (essarem) notes: General M.A. Cohen, regarded as a “knowledgeable Jew” by his co-religionists of the day, was well known to, and much admired by, Jewish audiences on three continents for his informative and entertaining talks describing Jewish life in China. In an interview he gave to London’s Jewish Chronicle late in 1932, General Cohen, in his own words, provides a description of the Jewish Community in China as he saw it at that time, as well as revealing some insights into his own participation in Community life. What follows are relevant extracts from the Jewish Chronicle article in question, which is titled “General Maurice A. Cohen, the Jewish Chinese Military Commander”. The interviewer commences his article by introducing General Cohen to his Jewish audience in the following manner: “Romantic adventure may still be found in this seemingly prosaic world, and in the person of the Jewish General Maurice A. Cohen, of the Chinese Army, I found one who has achieved it to the full. His manner is pleasant and he very kindly gave me some details of his life and work. As a picturesque figure, many stories have been printed about him in the Press, but he modestly deprecated these; instead discussing the Jewish Communities in China, the General noted that: “There are some flourishing communities of Orthodox Jews in China. In Hong Kong, for instance, there are about forty well-to-do families. They have a beautiful Synagogue, and a Club left to the Community by the late Mrs Kadoorie. I confess that on week-days it is a little difficult to form a minyan, but on festivals the Synagogue is crowded. There is a full staff – Rabbi, Chazan, Shochet, etc. Most of the Jewish people there are Sephardim, affiliated to the Jewish families in India. The greatest number of Jews – the most Yiddish, in fact – live in Shanghai where all sections of the Community, Sephardic and Ashkenazi, foreign or native-born, live amicably together. The town has six or seven Synagogues, while a handsome school has been just completed for the Jewish children. A large Lodge of the B’nai B’rith is very active in Shanghai, both in educational and charitable work.” The Jewish Chronicle interviewer then went on to ask the General whether he took any part in Jewish life in China. “Certainly,” he replied, “I am an active member of the B’nai B’rith and of the Community. In Hong Kong and in Shanghai I have been a constant worker for Jewish charities, and have long been connected with those interested in these things.” The interviewer concludes by asking General Cohen if there was any anti-Semitism in China. “No – emphatically no,” replied the General. “It is the only nation in the world that has never persecuted the Jews, and there is no such thing in China as anti-Semitism in the minds of any Chinese I have met. Being a Jew I have found has been an asset rather than a drawback in my work. Of course I am fortunate in being also a British subject. As I have said, anti-Semitism is absent, and my Jewishness has been no bar to my career.”

The above extracts have been taken from: Alderton, Michael, “General ‘Two-Gun’ Cohen: an Observant Jew in China”, April 2018. (1) Michael Alderton 區大同 | University Of Sydney - Academia.edu