8. The Jew Club

            Before I leave San Francisco, Jeff Goldbetter tells me his sister lives in Taipei; would I check in on her and see how she is doing. I contact Sylvie to see if she is available to go to the Seder; I figure she’s Jewish because Jeff is. She tells me she went to a service with Rabbi Alcorn the year before. Rabbi Alcorn! Wow! That’s how I find out he is still alive. Jeff Goldbetter’s half-sister joined Alcorn for Passover last year I find out, but won't be attending the pricey dinner this year. She sounds ill-at-ease; I will visit her family two weekends from now. I owe it to Jeff.

 Outside Taipei, Taiwan is different; natives notice you, with curiosity or contempt, but typically with flattery, real or obligatory. International organizations have their offices in Taipei, even religious organizations, so it is that the island’s only rabbi holds ceremonies and gala dinners for mostly businessmen here. I go to Passover, even in San Francisco. While I am here, Passover rolls around.

I get an e-mail from a Rabbi Ziegler. “I was speaking with someone from the Israeli Economic Office that told me about you. Are you still in Taipei? Would love to connect if you have time. Hoping to hear from you back. And please come to the Passover Seder; details below.” Rabbi Ziegler neglects to tell me if Alcorn is coming to his shindig. Ziegler reminds me Rabbi Alcorn is 97 years old, not 93; I read an article from four years ago.

I write back, “Hi Rabbi: Thank you for the invitation. I will see how my schedule works out.” I am not ready for phone conversations with a rabbi. Religious people are generally too conservative for me. I have fond memories of Dr. Rabbi Alcorn though; he is ninety-three and still living in Taipei, but he is an exception. I appreciate how years ago he helps me with Xiao-Mei when she is pregnant. The first question I would ask Rabbi Ziegler would be about Alcorn. 

     I would like to go the Passover Seder in Taipei on Friday April 3rd. The dinner would cost 1,200NT for one person. The rabbi said he would like to introduce me to Joe Cooperman, another veteran; he has insider information about the Jew Club in Taiwan, but more about him later. Maybe the serial murderer is a Jew. I want to see Rabbi Alcorn again.

             

     Too bad Sylvie won't go to Rabbi Alcorn Passover service and dinner but I will see her for a few hours before we go. I can only surmise the 1300 NT price tag for dinner is too high for her income.  Since she is related to Jeff, my former colleague at SFPD, and because she is an ESL teacher living in Taipei, we have something in common. That she is Jewish, married to a Taiwanese man, and has a lovely toddler daughter makes me warm to her. In the afternoon, I meet and have lunch with Silvia and her family.

I meet Sylvie and her daughter in an underground food court near Taipei Terminal. I say her husband must be proud. She says she’s just left her husband but doesn’t explain. We chat. Nice woman. I leave and take the subway to the Grand Hotel station, then a taxi a short distance to the American Club. 

             Speaking with Rabbi Alcorn, I thank him for helping me in 1986 but he doesn’t recall; an amazing man for ninety-seven. He does an abbreviated service complete with his historical anecdotes about Hebrew being the mother tongue of all languages and the Christian cross being the symbol for death. His sixty-two year old Taiwanese wife is there. I chat with the folk around us; a Taiwanese attorney and some American businessmen passing through, like me. I am pleased at the variety of foods in the buffet (fish -no meat) and convince myself that it must be better than the food Rabbi Ziegler’s.

At 9:30 pm, I bid farewell and walk to my room at the Grand Hotel.

I first meet Rabbi Alcorn in Taipei 1985. At the time I had some strange notion that if Xiao-Mei converts to Judaism, it would be better I decide to start a family with her. I am Jewish by birth, not by religious involvement but my Taiwanese girlfriends aren’t. That is where Rabbi Alcorn comes in. I saw in the China Post that Sabbath services are held by this rabbi, in a hotel not far from the dancing clubs, and I go to the service to meet him. 

     I remember feeling close to Alcorn; he is friendly and funny and flexible belying his orthodox training. I feel he is a mench from Borough Park Brooklyn; my parents are from the fringe. I ask him to convert my girlfriend. He says it is her choice, not mine. Xiao-Mei goes with me to meet the Rabbi. Out of respect, she takes the dozen or so pages from the Old Testament; Alcorn says she needs to study for her conversion. I am to translate and explain it to her. Somehow, her conviction meets the Rabbi's approval and so she is given the name, Sarah, and was converted. Within a week, my girlfriend had a Jewish wedding to make it all kosher. It seemed like a Las Vegas wedding but what of it. Not long after, our daughter is born.

Alcorn arrives in Taiwan in January 1975 from Kuwait and starts administering Jewish prayer services five years later. He has one of Taiwan's of two Synagogues in room 577 of the Sheraton Taipei Hotel 

The other synagogue, which caters mainly to the Israeli crowd and arms merchants, is at the new Taipei Jewish Center. Along with religious duties, Alcorn helps promote diplomatic relations between the Taiwanese government and Eastern and Central Europe. He is the chairman of the Republicans Abroad Taiwan. The state of Israel has full diplomatic relations with the Mainland; it cannot fully recognize the government of Taiwan, which China considers separatist. Nevertheless, Israel maintains the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei (ISECO). Now Alcorn is old. In 2006, there is $1.3 billion worth of bilateral trade between Israel and Taiwan. Rabbi Ziegler arrives in Taipei in 2011. He doesn't call his gig Chabad House, but it is.
     In general, religious practice is far removed from the overwhelming majority of Jews in Taiwan because many of them, including Israelis, are married to Taiwanese women who have not converted.  Contrast them with the idolaters, atheists, and Mormon Christian missionaries. I have no religious mission. I am a Jew, being here now, not wanting to convince anyone to be a Jew like me or to not be a Buddhism-Taoism idolater; there is no need for me to interface with God through an intermediary. 
      
            When I contact Sylvie she is thrilled. “I didn’t think I would hear from you so soon.” She says she wants to get together. Her daughter is spending the weekend at her in-laws place. “Come with me to T’ai Ping Mountain.”

            “Where is it?”

            “West of Hualien; I have a map and directions.”

I can use a break. I’ve been hurting my head getting a handle on this case and can use a break. Sounds like Sylvie wants a break from her routine, too. She said she teaches at an English cram school for kids and gets no respect from her boss, but that’s the half of it.

I meet her at Taipei Main Station. I look for the woman with the Giants baseball cap. She looks nothing like her brother, Jeff. His hair is dark and nappy; hers is glistening, long and blonde. Jeff’s eyes, black and hidden, suspicious, behind thick glasses; hers are bright blue, wide and accepting, at least when she isn’t talking about her personal life. We meet at New York Bagel on the main concourse and have breakfast.

“Jeff’s my half-brother; our dad remarried after his mom passed away. Have you been in Taiwan long?”

“A few months now; I should have contacted you sooner.”

“Jeff will understand; you must be busy. Come; we’ll miss our train.” We go down to the platform for the Taiwan Rail heading east, she is tall and shapely; a rainbow in halter top, turquoise shorts and flip-flops. I look like a Blues Brother in white shirt-sleeves and black shorts; black sneakers with socks over my ankles.

“Jeff never told me what an attractive sister he has.” She smiles and blushes. The train arrives and we take our seats, me near the window, she standing in the aisle raising her arms to put her day bag on the overhead rack, revealing her cream-colored torso. She straightens her blouse and sits with a bag of fried pea chips in her hand, offering me.

“You have no change of clothes?”

“I’ll get something near the station.”

“You could.”

“Are you a cop, too?” I nod my head.

“Your brother and I went to police academy together in ’82. My; you’re so young!”

“My mom was twenty-two years old when she married dad. Jeff was studying in college when I was born; I think Golden Gate.”

“He told me he left Brooklyn to go there.” She offers another chip; I dug into the bag.

“I’m twenty-eight,” she says.

I nod my head to the sunlight from the window as the train leaves the tunnel. We talk on, changing tracks, pulling into stations; Taiwanese students, commuters coming in and out, some with children, others with bags, and everyone with smart phones. The worn town streets built up the mountainside condominiums like dominoes, tall, juxtaposed uncomfortably, through a film of smog.

I remember heading to Keelung this way in the seventies; meeting sailors docked there and enjoying the night life, but this train makes a turn south, bypassing Keelung, rounds the mountain, and picks up speed along the eastern Pacific coast Sylvie finishes the chips and slips the bag into the elastic mesh bin on the seat before her. A vendor passes and she stops her to get an iced tea, one for me, too. My smart phone dings with messages from Malcolm and Tim. They have updates about the forensics on the newest victim; naked raped and strangled on the roof of her language school. I speak low and little as I put the phone on vibrate and pocket it. Sylvie sees and smiles approvingly. I feel self-conscious but she puts her had on mine. I am with the lovely sister of my San Francisco colleague and she needs my trust; deserves my attention.

“So what are you doing in Taiwan, Nate?”

“They asked me to come solve a murder mystery.”

“A murder mystery. How exciting.”

“Only if you're the person being killed or the person doing the killing.”

“Do you know who's doing it? Did you find him, yet?”

“What do you mean him?”

“The murder is usually a man isn't he?”

“Well there have been female murderers; you've heard of ‘black widows’ haven't you?”

“I wish I was a black widow sometimes.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“My husband is a real asshole.”

“What's the matter; he doesn't like your cooking?”

“You know Taiwanese men very well, don't you.”

“Well I don't know Taiwanese men but I know Taiwanese women pretty well and it seems that they are trained to do everything for their husband like cook and everything.”

“I guess I was not the model wife for my husband.”

“I take it your husband is Taiwanese.”

“Yeah, we fell in love the third year I was here. I met him in a school I was teaching at, he was my student, and one thing led to another and before we knew it we were going out together and in the beginning everything was beautiful and then he decided that since I was a gold mine, being a teacher here, and getting $600 an hour, that he didn't have to work anymore he could enjoy his life and I would supply all of the finances for the house.”

“Well did you?”

“Yes, I did, until we had a baby. I had to stay home and take care of the child but he wouldn't have any of it. He wanted me to go back to work. He said why should he work for $150 an hour in a 7-Eleven when I could make $600 an hour. He said he would stay home and take care of the little sweetheart but I wanted to take care of her, too.”

“So you ended up working and taking care of the baby when you got home; is that right?”

“Exactly. But last month I told him that I wanted to spend some time at home with the baby and he threw a fit; said he was leaving and would ask his mother to take care of the baby; she lives down south. I was not going to let him bring the baby down to her; I wanted to see her every day.”

“So what did you do?”

“I got a phone call from my brother's friend from San Francisco and decided to spend some time with him. In the meantime my husband took our daughter down south and moved back home with his mom.”

“I can see why you wish you were a black widow. Now don't do anything I wouldn't do.”

“What wouldn't you do?”

“I wouldn't talk about killing somebody if I really planned to do it.”

“How about you?”

“Talking about somebody if I wanted to kill him?”

“No silly; are you married?”k

“Almost once; almost.”

“Think you wish you were?”

“It was a long time ago, Sylvie. I realized in time that it was not a good idea to marry the woman that I loved.”

“But you loved her, didn't you?”

“Yes, but she didn't love me the way I needed to be loved.”

“Interesting.”

“Yes; it takes two people caring for each other the way the other person wants to be cared for.”

“You two didn't produce any children, did you?”

“One daughter.”

“Where is she now? How old is she?”

“Sylvie, you don't want to talk about it. It is not a very happy story and I am too happy now to change my mood.”

“Sounds like you and I have similar issues.”

“Sylvie, you shouldn't know. Hey, let's take a look at the other side of the train for a while. I think I can see some ocean splashing out there. I'm getting tired of looking at mountains that are too high to climb, aren't you?”

“I agree. There are a couple of empty seats over there. I'd rather be looking at a cool fresh ocean that we can splash into. Can you swim?”

“Does a bear shit in the woods?”

“Now there you go talking about mountains that can't be climbed again.”

“I'm not talkin about climbing them; I'm talkin about shitting in them.”

Sylvie and I go to the mountains to watch the meteor shower. While we are there Sylvie talks about the young expat culture. She mentions Facebook groups that I later investigate. She tells me about Red Room. She is a very important resource for information about the non-Chinese speaking community. Thanks to Sylvie I realize how the business community in Taiwan controls the English-speakers through the radio station, cram schools, and Facebook English news groups. I don’t know modern online culture. Sylvie introduces me to the world of Line, Messenger, and Instagram.

  We’re sitting at an outdoor café  in the Cilan Resort in Datong Township, Yilan, Taiwan. We spend last night here in the main building, not one of the bungalows on the slope down toward the Lanyang River. The resort rests where the Lanyang converges upon by  the Dowan and Tiangu’er Creeks before emptying miles downstream into the Pacific Ocean on Taiwan’s east coast. It’s merely a dry wash most of the year, where watermelon is harvested, that naturally channels Taiwan’s torrential plum and typhoon rains off the mountains and into the seas. It is a beautiful spot, with clean cool air a few hours from sweltering Taipei.

Our first night was spent in Hualien at the Parkview Resort Hotel After breakfast, a van comes to drive us to the train station for an express north to Yilan where another van takes us solo an hour’s ride along the Lanyang River to the Cilan Resort, but let me not get ahead of myself.

     On the train south towards Hualien, I see a familiar sight; the cement pits and factory operated by the Asia Cement Corp., owned by Far Eastern Group. Though it has operated for sixty years despite being in a geologically sensitive zone, the Ministry of Economic Affairs extends the corporations mining right another twenty years. The KMT mayor of Hualien is nowhere to be found to comment. The corporation sells its cement more cheaply to China than it does to Taiwan. The minister who approved the extension resigned soon after. When we go on vacation in Taiwan, we ignore the things we cannot do anything about. 

Our way takes us north for an hour ride to Yilan where we are picked up by a van and driven to the Cilan Resort  We wait for three o’clock check-in looking through a museum, one of Chiang Kai-Shek’s summer homes, a place he sleeps in twice. We take the path up the mountain side behind the CKS Guesthouse for an hour hike. It is a wonderful little trail with a gazebo to rest in and plenty of surprises along the way. We met a monkey face to face! I spot him on the path up a ways and he walks towards us on the rail of the wooden trail bridge. We stand still and as the ‘Monkey King’ passed I took pictures.  The cicadas chirped noisy in the tropical vegetation surrounding us. A family of monkeys climbs a tree in the forest as a drizzle kept the cool humid air refreshing.

After the hike, we go for dinner at the Cilan Resort dining room; a set meal with Taiwan beer. We chat, tipsy and ready to go to bed for our early morning drive up to Divine Trees Garden. Taiwan beer; enough to put us to sleep.

Early the next morning, we get into two twelve-seater buses and head up the winding road to Divine Trees Garden. The road turns into a gravel path; take us further up the mountain where private cars are prohibited and attendance regulated. There are hundreds of Taiwan Red Cypress trees in the Chamaecyparis zone, many thousands of years old,. Looking like ancient giant broccoli, the Japanese colonizers and Chinese retrocessionists ignored them in favor of mining the cedar trees’ more versatile lumber, and so they remain in one of the three spots they can be found in the world, the others being Japan and the western U.S. Sylvie and I walk a three kilometer trail through the forest listening to the loudest cicadas in Taiwan carefully over piles of wild Taiwan deer droppings. The weather cooperates, cool and dry, and our energies are revived by the primitive woodland without a crowd of tourists. This forest is divine. 

After lunch we are driven back to the Cilan Resort to await our 3:30pm bus to Yilan’s new highway #5 through a thirteen kilometer- long tunnel back to Taipei. As we alight from the tour bus, the rain drops start falling. We rush to the sheltered open-air café patio as the sky opens up in time to await our trip back with a cappuccino near the riverside and tall green mountain.

With summer temperatures high, we trip to Taiping Mountain in Yilan County, Taiwan. We need a cool mountain getaway so we head back down Taiwan’s northeast coast to Yilan County, then southwest on Route 7 along the Lanyang River, crossing over the Jiayuan Bridge.

We rent a car and take the opportunity to spend a day and night in Taipingshan Villa, hiking on three mountain trails and catching the Perseid Meteor Shower on a cool clear night.

     Returning to Taipei after the two-hour drive return the car and take the Metro to Taipei Station’s Q Square for dinner and honey beer at Le Ble D’Or Restaurant.