Athletes and tourists in Beijing for the Summer Olympics will have plenty of kosher food.
Dini’s Restaurant, mainland China’s only kosher eatery that is not part of a Chabad House, will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the Games, with Shabbat meals served after services.
A South African ritual slaughterer visited Dini’s over a period of several months. Rabbi Chaim Klein in total prepared more than 7 1/2 tons of beef and 9 tons of chicken. “Everything is slaughtered and in the freezer,” Rabbi Shimon Freundlich of Chabad Beijing told JTA. Freundlich is anticipating hundreds of Jewish Olympic visitors, as his staff has arranged for hundreds of hotel reservations. The Games open Aug. 8. Five rabbinical students from Australia, South Africa and the United States will come to Beijing for the Games to help at the restaurant, as well as perform tasks such as delivering food or greeting people at the airport. The Olympic Village will have a place for those seeking kosher food and prayer services. Five sites in the Village will host religious activities — for Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and Jews.
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