3. Our Euro-Centered (Ashkenazi) Perception of Judaism
Woody Allen Barbara Streisand Fiddler on the Roof
Al Jolson
Matza Ball Soup Bagels & Lox
4. B’nei Anusim (Crypto Jews)
Beta Israel (Ethiopia)
Jews of Kaifeng (China)
Bnei Menashe (India)
Hidden Jewish Communities Around the World
5. Questions for Messianic Judaism
1. How is the face of the Jewish community changing?
2. How is Jewish identity changing (i.e. who is a Jew)?
3. What is truly “Jewish” culture?
4. How does this shape the way we “do” Messianic Judaism?
6. Course Schedule
Contact: stan.meyer@mjti.org | Text: 480-535-7826
• Tuesday, December 7 @ 12 (EST) - B’nei Anusim (Spanish Conversos)
• Tuesday, December 14 @ 12 - Beta Israel & Lemba (E. Africa)
• Tuesday, December 21 @ 12 - Kaifeng Jews (China)
• Tuesday, December 28 @ 12 - B’nei Menashe (India & Central Asia)
9. Shanghai
Feng Shan Ho (1901 - 1997)
• Ambassador to Germany
• No visa needed during occupation
• Rescued 2,000 - 5,000 Jews
• 20,000 Jews total
https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/a-tale-of-two-diplomats-ho-fengshan-sugihara-chiune-and-jewish-e
ff
orts-to-
fl
ee-nazi-europe/
10. Harbin
1903 - 1947
• Starting 500 to 15,000
• E. European Jewish soldiers settled after Russio-
Sino war
• Jews
fl
eeing pogroms
• Independent shtetl
• Occupied by Japanese
• Ended in 1947 with Russian occupation
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/harbin
11. Kaifeng
7th Century AD to 1912
Jewish Settlement at the end of the
Silk Route
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/harbin
14. Kaifeng
• Pop. 595,000
• Historical commercial city
• Crossroads of Silk Route
• Became important in 608 AD when the
Grand Canal was built linking silk route to
the Paci
fi
c Ocean.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Kaifeng." Encyclopedia Britannica, September 2, 2014. https://www.britannica.com/place/Kaifeng.
15. Earliest Evidence
205 - 226 AD
• Synagogue inscription found in 1896
• Judaism arrived during Han Dynasty
Edersheim, A. History of the Jewish Nation. New York: Longman Green & Co. 1896. p. 66
16. Business Letter
718 AD
• During Tang Dynasty
• Written in Judeo-Persian
• Found in Khotan, along Silk route
• Near a Himalayan Buddhist Monastery
Ursula Sims-Williams “Eighth Century Judaeo-Persian Letter” British Library UK 2004.
https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/china/
17. Abu Zayd Hasan ibn
Yazid Al Sirafi
878 AD
The Voyages of the Arab Sulayman to
India & China in 851
Found Jews in China
19. First Synagogue
1163 AD
Stone inscription
Claims established
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Kaifeng Jew." Encyclopedia Britannica, September 26, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kaifeng-Jews.
20. Genghis Khan
1162 - 1227
• Khan mentioned Jews in China
• Established laws governing Jews
• Judaism
fi
rst prohibited
• Judaism permitted after conquest of
Persia
Atwood, Christopher P. “Validation by Holiness or Sovereignty: Religious Toleration as Political Theology in the
Mongol World Empire of the Thirteenth Century.” The International History Review 26, no. 2 (2004): 237–56.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40109471.
21. Hongwu
1328 - 1398
• Expelled the Mongols
• Founded the Ming Dynasty
• Empire composed Muslims, Mongols,
Buddhists, Jews, and Chinese
https://chinesejews.com/ming-dynasty
22. The Intermarriage Act
1368
• Required ethnic minorities to marry outside
of their communities
• To ensure social harmony & integration in the
empire.
• Judaism began patrilineal descent
https://chinesejews.com/ming-dynasty
23. Emperor Yongle
1421
• Declared Jews would have one of 8 family names
• Stone (Stein?), Gold, Levi
https://chinesejews.com/ming-dynasty
24. Matteo Ricci
1605
• Catholic missionary to China
• Met Ai Tian who came from Kaifeng
• O
ffi
cer in the Imperial court
• Sought out Ricci because believed in One God & Bible
• Told him about Jews in cities around China
•
https://chinesejews.com/ming-dynasty
26. Zhao Yingcheng
1616
• Qing Dynasty
• Moshe ben Abraham from Kaifeng
• Spoke Chinese & Hebrew
• Appointed director ministry of Justice
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
27. Zhao Yingcheng
1663
• Gathered Jews in Kaifeng after a
fl
ood
had destroyed the synagogue &
community.
• Funded a new synagogue in Kaifeng
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
28. Zhao Yingcheng
1663
• Gathered Jews in Kaifeng after a
fl
ood
had destroyed the synagogue &
community.
• Funded a new synagogue in Kaifeng
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
29. The Stone Tablets
1663
Stone tablet tells story of the last
synagogue in Kaifeng established by
Zhao Yingcheng. Only surviving part
of the synagogue.
31. Kaifeng Synagogue
1623 - 1912
• Sketch by Catholic missionary Fr. Jean
Domenge in 1722
• Temple of Purity & Truth
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
32. Kaifeng Synagogue
1623 - 1912
• Main hall for kosher slaughter
• Booths with incense to venerate ancestors
• Trees in the courtyard
• Two Stone Tablets with the history (previous slide)
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
33. Kaifeng Synagogue
1623 - 1912
• Holy of Holies only rabbi could enter on Yom Kippur.
• 13 Torah Scrolls
• Chair of Moses to place scroll on
• Above the chair a plaque “Long live the emperor!”
• Above that plaque the Shema
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/archived_objects/542-kaifeng-jews-slide-china/
Photo of Kaifeng Jews with Torah circa 1910
34. Torah read upright
Torah sat upright, set of Moses
Encased in its own “ark”
Read upright
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-jews-of-kaifeng-chinas-only-native-jewish-community/
Photo of Kaifeng Jews with Torah circa 1910
35. Wore Blue Caps
Similar to Muslims but blue
Faced West instead of East
Service in Mandarin except Hebrew
prayers
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-jews-of-kaifeng-chinas-only-native-jewish-community/
36. Other Traditions
Kept Shabbat
Abstained from Pork
Removed sciatic nerve from meat
Patrilineal Jewish descent
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-jews-of-kaifeng-chinas-only-native-jewish-community/
37. Chinese Customs
• Read the Confucian classics
• Practiced ancestor veneration
• Incense bowls in the great hall in front of
• Tablets with names of ancestors
• Dedication to the emperor in main room.
• Observed Chinese festivals
Sharot, Stephen. “The Kaifeng Jews: A Reconsideration of Acculturation and Assimilation in a Comparative Perspective.” Jewish Social Studies 13, no. 2 (2007): 179–203. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4467770.
38. Siddur
Ming Dynasty 17th Cent.
• Prayer book with men’s names
• Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati
http://huc.edu/sites/default/
fi
les/library/rbrexhibit/kaifeng/mss4memoriabook-men.PNG
39. Torah scroll
Mid-17th Century
• Kaifeng
• Acquired in 1851
• by London Jews Society
• Today at SMU in Texas
• Seems many scholars and missionaries
• Came to save the torah scrolls up until 1912
https://www.smu.edu/Bridwell/SpecialCollectionsandArchives/Exhibitions/Harrison2017/BiblicalLanguages/BRMS59
40. Haggadah
Ming Dynasty 17th Century
• Judeo-Persian Script
• Chinese block letters
• Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati
http://huc.edu/research/libraries/collections/rbr/kaifeng
44. Kaifeng Synagogue
1849
• 1810 last rabbi died
• 1849 Aaron Ha Levi Fink, British emissary
• Synagogue in disrepair
• Only 1,000 Jews left, none read Hebrew
• None could read Hebrew
• Photo: National Geographic 1907
Leslie, Donald Daniel, and Michael Pollak. “The Fink/Liebermann Visit to the Kaifeng Jews.”
Studies in Bibliography and Booklore 20 (1998): 54–81. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27943552.
45. Destroyed
1854
City Flood
Last photo of synagogue
Rabbi had died in 1810
Never rebuilt
https://chinesejews.com/qing-dynasty
Last Photo of synagogue (museum in Kaifeng 19th century)
https://judaic.utk.edu/china/kaifeng.php
46. Lost Touch
Between Japanese occupation
during WWII and the Communist
takeover in 1949, the West lost
touch with the community.
48. Sino-Judaic Institute
1985
Leo Gabow, Stanford University
Academic Organization to study the
history of the Jews in China
https://sinojudaic.org/sji-history
49. Sino-Judaic Institute
1985
• Gathered artifacts from the community
• Studied the history
• Brought the community to public
attention
https://sinojudaic.org/sji-history
55. Shut Down The
Jewish Study Center
2016
China began shutting down unapproved
religious groups including Kaifeng study
center and the community’s museum.
56. Aliyah
2015
• Shavei Israel, Orthodox Aliyah agency
• Helped bring Chinese Jews to Israel
• Because Patrilineal descent, Israel required that
they undergo Orthodox conversion
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/chinese-kaifeng-jews-seek-new-lives-israel-n527876
57. Aliyah
2015
• 26 Chinese Jews families
• Most claim distant Jewish ancestry
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/chinese-kaifeng-jews-seek-new-lives-israel-n527876
58. Population
2016
• 500 Jews, or 100 families (Elazar, 1985)
• 1,000 residents claim distant ties
• Haaretz (2010).
Pfe
ff
er, A. Taking the Silk Route. HaAretz. 24 Jan 2010.
Elazar, Daniel. “Are There Really Jews in China?”. Jerusalem Center for Public A
ff
airs. https://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/china.htm
