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For Chinese-speaking Jews in New York, ‘Mazel Tofu’ offers a new kind of community

JL;DR SUMMARY Mazel Tofu, a unique collective of Chinese-speaking Jews in New York, has formed an unexpected yet vibrant community centered around shared linguistic and cultural interests. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

IdentityJewish CultureJewish CommunityNew York CityChabadIntersectionalityCultural ExchangeMazel TofuChinese LanguageMandarin

Places mentioned

New York City, New York, United States
"Its not the setup to a Borscht Belt joke  its half of the party that grabbed a table recently at Buddha Bodai in New York Citys Chinatown for a lively debate over dim sum and tea."
Shanghai, China
"Roubeni made a name for himself among the Jewish Chinese-speakers in recent months after starting a fundraiser to get mezuzahs for Shanghais small Jewish student community."
Taiwan
"Weinstein, for example, learned Chinese while studying abroad in Taiwan, then taught English as a second language to seventh-graders there after graduating from the University of Chicago."
Tianjin, China
"Liangda Hu, 38, moved to New York in 2021 from Tianjin, China, a city outside of Beijing."

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Cairo Item ID 77421
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2026-03-11 18:00:17 UTC
Curated 2026-03-11 19:00:28 UTC