Ephraim Einhorn

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Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Einhorn (Hebrew: אפרים איינהורן‎; born 1918) is the only rabbi living in Taiwan. Born in Vienna, Einhorn moved to the United Kingdom at age 14 and later to the United States (U.S.). Einhorn's parents were killed in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Einhorn arrived in Taiwan in January 1975 from Kuwait and started administering Jewish prayer services five years later. Einhorn now operates Taiwan's only synagogue in room 577 of the Sheraton Hotel (No. 12, Chung Hsiao East Rd., Sec. 1, Taipei 100) in Taipei.

The first Taiwanese synagogue had been created in the 1950's at the U.S. Military Chapel when U.S. soldiers had been stationed there. After the breakdown in U.S.-Taiwan relations and the Taiwan Relations Act, prayer services were moved to the President Hotel, which no longer exists, then for many years to the Landis (formerly Ritz) Hotel, and from February 2008 to its current location.

The synagogue mainly serves the small local Jewish community, mainly including expatriate foreigners and businessmen on relocation assignments. While High Holidays' services are packed, Einhorn is ecstatic if a minyan arrives for the regular Shabbat services.

Along with religious duties, Einhorn has helped achieve and promote diplomatic relations between the Taiwanese government with the Eastern and Central Europe countries such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Romania as well as the Republic of Macedonia and Ukraine. He is also the chairman of the US Republican Party in Taiwan.

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