Crystal Kwok, in jeans, flip-flops and a cotton hooded sweatshirt, is just another mother spotted in the Carmel School corridors, picking up and dropping off her children and attending school functions.

She doesn’t act like a movie star, beauty queen, talk show host, radio personality, renowned stage actress or award winning director, yet she is all of these.

In over thirty years in Jewish education, Edwin I. Epstein has continuously raised the standards of excellence for each community he touches. He has founded two Jewish schools and taken two others to the next level of development.  

At the same time, he maintains a unique atmosphere of warmth and tolerance. His influence on the educational standards of our children will be an essential part of the skills they take with them as they journey to adulthood.

Jewish Times Asia had the opportunity to sit down with Lord Peter Levene on his recent trip to Asia as Chairman of Lloyds and, on a personal note, to celebrate the baby naming of a granddaughter and his seventh grandchild. His son, Tim, resides in Hong Kong along with his wife, Katie, and their children, Luc and Amelie.

Lord Levene was first elected Chairman of Lloyd’s in November 2002 and was invited to serve a second term in November 2005. Lord Levene is an Alderman of the City of London and received a knighthood in 1989 and became a Life Peer in 1997 and he sits in the House of Lords as a Crossbencher. Lord Levene served as Lord Mayor of London in 1998/99.

Jack Ormut lives in Hong Kong but calls Israel home. Behind beautifully kind blue eyes there is a story of survival, of loss, of love, of pride, of strength and the story of a journey in search of home.

Jack was born in Tuszyn, Poland in November of 1926.  He remembers much of his childhood and describes his home that once was.  His small shtetl had a population of about 8,500, one third of who were Jewish. The Jewish community, of Tuszyn, came together to celebrate weddings and bar mitzvahs. They were simple but warm and joyous occasions.  On Saturday evenings several families would join each other for Havdalah.  They shared a meal of potatoes, beer from a cog and herring.