Amid South Korea's pork menus and neon crosses, a Jewish congregation offers belonging

SEOUL, South Korea – On a clear September day, amid blue skies and the first cool breezes to sweep Seoul since summer’s hostile takeover, the joggers and cyclists speeding along the Han River trail occasionally slowed to watch the small group of foreigners gathered in a circle on picnic blankets, singing in a strange language. The group was Hakehillah (“the congregation” in Hebrew), a Progressive Jewish congregation. They’d assembled in the park for tashlich (a Rosh Hashanah custom to symbolically cast off sins by throwing bread crumbs or pebbles into the water). The service was led by the congregation’s new rabbi, Jeremy Sher, who took on the role in 2024. Based in California, Sher spends the Jewish holidays in South Korea leading the congregation’s services and events.