THE Chinese history affirms the city of
Kaifengfu to have been the metropolis of the province and the seat of the
empire during a long succession of monarchs, till it was at length overflowed
and covered with sand by a great inundation.
It is situated in a large fertile plain, about 5 or 6
miles from the Yellow River, and its low situation occasioned its ruin in 1642,
when it was closely besieged by the rebel Li Chung, at the head of 100,000 men.
The general who was sent to relieve it conceived the
fatal design of drowning the besieging army by breaking the great bank which
had been reared at a vast cost to preserve the country from being overflowed by
the Great Yellow River.
His project succeeded, indeed, but proved the ruin and
destruction, not only of the noble capital but of three hundred thousand
inhabitants, by the violence and rapidity of the inundation.
Some fifty years after this dreadful
catastrophe a Jesuit missionary, going upon some occasion into the province of
Honan, found a considerable Synagogue in the city of Kaifengfu.
He soon became acquainted with some of its learned
chiefs, who introduced him into their Synagogue and showed him one of the
Parchments or rolls of the Pentateuch written in Hebrew, together with the
books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, some of the prophets, and others
containing their liturgy and commentaries they owned. They had lost some of the
sacred books and some of their targums or paraphrases.
This loss was caused by a violent overflowing of the
great river, which had laid the capital wholly under the water and had damaged
their Torah, or roll of the Pentateuch, and upon which they ordered twelve new
copies to be taken from it.
Today I find no synagogue, owing to another
overflowing of the Yellow River -- "China's Sorrow" -- but in its
place a dirty pond and a stone erected on the site bearing the following
strange inscription: "A monument in memory of the Great Ching Ching
Cenoby.
Oh Wu Lo Hau, the creator of this religion and grandson
of the nineteenth generation of Punku, the principal ruler of the Mythical Era,
was born in 146th year of the Chow dynasty
(976 B.C.). He proved himself to be very wise, prudent, and merciful.
He understood the mysteries of creation and the ideas of
creation and could trace the troubled source of religion. The religious elements were not to believe in
any idolatrous representation and not to flatter the ghost and fairy, and so
many people were at liberty to serve his religion as Cenobites in a manner that
was as free as running water.
The successor of Oh Wu Lo Hau was called La, and was born in the 613th year
of the Chow dynasty. His conscience and
benevolence were noted by ever one as he traveled to the La-na Mountains for
the purpose of informing them regarding the Scripture. He restricted himself to fruits and
vegetables instead of meat and bathed and fasted for forty days and nights.
He attended to his duty with the utmost simplicity and
sometimes even forgot to eat or sleep, but never ceased to pray with a sincere
heart to his God, for he had obtained a
book containing many sections.
In this book there were strange things that could not
be easily explained -- in short, it indicate that the good was affected by
those who became good, and the evil by those who did not bear in mind the
warning.
The successor of La was called Lo Tze Loh, and
received from his predecessor the proper doctrine and explained the four words
-- "ching" (clear), "chew" (pure), "li"
(ceremonial), and "pai" to
worship with a bow). The word "ching" means to "direct your
heart singly to one religion". The word "chew" means "not
to be confused by any other secular ideas."
The word "Ii" means "to stand on
ceremony." And the word "pai" "to worship with a
bow." With these instructions, the
Cenobites were to teach one another in the future.
During the beginning of the Sung Dynasty (96 A. D.)
there was a missionary surnamed "Li," who was accompanied by a crowd
of Cenobites, and arrived in China with a lot of western cloth, which they
presented to the Emperor of the Sung Dynasty and became citizen of the country. Subsequently one of the grandsons of these
people, called "Mu Sy Ta Pan," was appointed to do the preaching, and
another, called "Jen Tu La," began to build a cenoby.
It was destroyed after that and had to be rebuilt
southeast of Tu Chai, in the 16th year of the Yuen dynasty (1280 A. D.)
The Emperor Tai-Tsu, of the Ming dynasty (1368 A. D.),
gave the Cenobites descended from Li a piece of land for their building,
because he could well understand their Scriptures, which persuaded the people
to good instead of evil.
In the year of "Wung Lo" (1403 A.D.) the
Cenoby was rebuilt, and was long afterwards destroyed by, water, and the ruined
scene that exists now proves this little bit of narrative. .
The vast community referred to in the inscription has
dwindled down to 8 families, numbering in all about fifty persons, who have in
a great measure forgotten their characteristic observances through frequent
vicissitudes and varied conditions of
life.
I reached the main gate of the city of Kaifengfu (the
ancient capital of the Middle Kingdom) one night about ten thirty, with not too
favorable an impression of Chinese carts or the shaggy little Chinese pony,
which had a great habit of tearing off at every opportunity.
The soldiers belabored the massive gate most industriously
for about twenty minutes, when a small trap-door opened and the gate-keeper
hurled epithets at us that volcanic and picturesque.
But his sattron-colored palm had been covered with a
few coins, his ruffled nature became as smooth as a sheet of polished silver,
and we entered the ancient capital of the Middle Kingdom.
Main gate of the city of Kaifengfu
For two miles we had to pick our way through narrow,
stinking, slushy streets, packed with men, boys, horses. goats, sheep, dogs,
cats. and donkeys, sleeping in all over the place, while the changing of the
night watchman's irons and the piercing wail of ragged, starving. filthy
beggars carried one for the moment to the land of "tell thousand
curses."
What an unspeakable joy to reach the residence of
Mr. C. W. Shields, the district inspector of China
posts, who received me with the courtesy of a prince. We had scarcely spoken a dozen words when the
magistrate's secretary, called for my card.
Next morning, before I was out of bed, another
dignitary wanted to copy my passport, and informed me that it would be well to
call at the at the Foreign Office.
This I did, and found the officials polite and much
interested in the object of my visit to their city, particularly his Excellency
Chang Shu Shen, with whom I paid a visit to the imperial palace, one of the
greatest curiosities in the whole empire and situated in the very heart of the
city---a prodigious group of edifices, vast courts, gardens, kiosks, and palms,
surrounded with a stately wall of considerable compass.
It contains all the
spacious and stately apartments of the Emperor and his family, and afforded a
safe retreat for the Dowager Empress during the occupation of Peking by the
foreign troops.
I discovered were Prayers against the evil influences
of the foreign devil that had just arrived, and it was with considerable
difficulty that I managed to get through
the tremendous crowds, gathered in the streets to hear the foreign devil speak
and curse him as he passed.
During the first three I located all temples and
mosques likely to afford me any data, and on the fourth morning visited the
ruinous site, which gave no, evidence of the magnificent synagogue that once
stood there or the wealth of its community, save for a weather-beaten
commemorative stone that told the strove of these people.
While I was photographing and rubbing this stone,
thousands of Chinese gathered around, and they came to the erroneous conclusion
that I was a Jewish rabbi come to succor Chinese Jews, which the Mohammedan
portion did not particularly relish, owing to the fact that a great many of the
Jewish community had merged into Mohammedanism through persecution and
distress.
The Chinese always referred to the Jews as the
"sect which pulls the sinews" and as the "Mohammedans with blue
bonnets," because they wear blue bonnets as well as take off their shoes
during all religious ceremonies.
One handsome, intelligent
Chinese Jew came forward and introduced himself, inquiring very diligently the
reason of my taking the photograph and rubbing of the stone that spoke of the
grandeur of his ancestors and their synagogue.
I told him that I wished to inform the Westerners, who feel the deepest
interest in the Jews, because our Christian religion has come from a Semitic
race.
The long line of noble men to whom the Jewish nation
has given birth, from the time of its founder, Abraham, and the fearless
testimony which since the days of captivity it has borne to the lofty truth
that there is one God, and none other, must ever give to the scattered people a
Iarge place in our veneration and love.
Only it must be not blind, but a pure and true,
veneration. born of a careful study of all they have been and all they have
done. I persuaded him to come to the
house, and he unfolded the following remarkable story:
"My elder brother -- I am not yet forty years
old, but I have thought and talked much with my friends about our ancestors,
who were rich and numerous and who worshiped in a fine synagogue, built on the
land presented to them bv the Emperor Tai-tsti.
This synagogue, you know, has been swept away by
'China's Sorrow' [the Yellow River]. Our
ancestors came to this land from the northwest nearly three thousand years ago,
and had with them a roll of the law that was very ancient and in a language
that we do not understand today, because we have no teachers.
The beautiful synagogue had a number of courts, and in
the center of the first there was a large, noble arch, dedicated to the
Creator, Preserver, and Father of all men.
The second comprised sacred trees, and the houses of the good men who
cared for the buildings.
The third had many trees, and on its walls tablets in
memory of our great Chao [a Jewish mandarin judge, who rebuilt the synagogue on
one occasion] and other holy men. It was
very large and contained the Hall of Ancestors, the brazen vases of flowers and
the censors, in honor of Abraham and others.
The nerves and sinews were extracted from the animals slain for food in
this court.
The synagogue itself was small, but exceedingly
beautiful, and in the center was the throne of Moses, a wonderfully carved
chair, covered with embroidered silk, upon which they placed the sacred book
while it was read.
Above the throne, in letters of gold, were wise and
good words our ancestors brought from afar: 'Hear, 0 Israel: The Lord our God
is one God, Blessed be the name of the Glory of his Kingdom forever and ever,'
and in another part of the synagogue, 'Blessed be the Lord forever; the Lord is
God of gods and the Lord; a great God, strong and terrible.'
Near the arch on which these last words were written
our ancestors always washed their hands except the chief rabbi who entered the
'House of Heaven' [a little square room, which none but the rabbi can enter
during the time of prayer].
In the 'House of Heaven'
the rolls of the law were kept in silken curtains, and on the western wall the
Ten Commandments were written in large golden letters.
After much difficulty and tipping I persuaded my
visitors to be photographed, and then accompanied by Mr. Shields, My Hu (my
interpreter), and two soldiers, I visited mosque after mosque, which excited
and annoyed the Mohammedans, who mistook me for a Jewish rabbi in disguise.
The fourth proved to be the one I wanted, for in a
small room I saw the ark on a table, and made toward it, when the crowd
objected and pushed me out, emphasizing their disapproval in no uncertain
manner. The soldiers were helpless, but
I had a strong suspicion that they were at heart with the mob.
The climax came when I clambered on the roof of the
mosque and began to examine the tiles, for thousands of Chinese surrounded the
mosque, yelling out, "Kick the devil's stomach!"' "'Batter his
devil's brain on the stones!" "Kill the Jew!" "Choke the
sinew-puller!"
"Tear the foreign devil's entrails out!" and
other diabolical things too numerous and too disgusting to mention. The majority were armed with bricks, clubs,
or knives and were mad with rage. Every
second I thought would be my last, for the fury of the Chinese mob beggars all
description.
A happy thought flashed through my mind and, quick as
lightning, I pulled out my folding camera and turned it toward them, thinking
to photograph the murderous beasts before they butchered me. The shock was
tremendous; they dropped their bricks, knives, and clubs, and crushed and
jammed one another in their rush from the "devil's glass."
My friend, interpreter, and soldiers very discreetly
banged and fastened the doors after them, and the interpreter explained to the
Mohammedan priests that I was not a Jew, but a British traveler, and only
wanted to see these things.
They said if I would promise that in the event of the
Jewish synagogue being rebuilt their mosque would not be interfered with, the
people would be pacified and permit me to see the ark and examine the tiles.
They are much afraid their
mosque will be destroyed if the synagogue is rebuilt, in order to get tiles
which they have stolen. I promised
everything they asked.
The Chinese government, which now recognizes Jews as
an official Chinese ethnic group, is also paying more attention to the
country's Jewish past.
The Jewish presence in China is at least one thousand
years old, and elements remain today, despite assimilation and Communist
anti-religious persecution.
An Ancient Letter Tells the Story
A letter written around 718 by a businessman seeking
to sell some sheep was found preserved 100 years ago in western China. The
document, which was written on paper, then made only in China, is in
Judeo-Persian, then a common business language in Central Asia, using Hebrew
letters. Scholars believe it indicates a Jewish presence.
Later, another paper containing a Selihot, a Hebrew
prayer, was found in the Caves of One Thousand Buddhas in Dunhuang.
Silk Road Merchants Flourish
Capital of the Sung Dynasty, Kaifeng was a bustling
Silk Road trading center one thousand years ago. Around 960, a group of Persian
Jews, merchants or refugees, arrived in the city.
The emperor allowed them to build a synagogue,
commemorated by a 1489 stone tablet in the Kaifeng Museum. In addition, a
street in what was once the Jewish quarter is known as "The Lane of the
Sect that Teaches the Scriptures." A Chinese-language Torah from the
Kaifeng synagogue is in the British Museum in London.
Working on the Railroad
Russian Jews were numerous in Harbin around the turn
of the century. Many came to build railroads in China. BBC News recently
reported that officials think several hundred buildings in Harbin were part of
the Jewish community. The city also contains a Hebrew cemetery.
European Refugees
Shanghai has long been one of the most cosmopolitan
cities in China. Jews fleeing Russia in the 1900s were followed by refugees
from the Nazis during World War II. Once there were 30,000 Jews in Shanghai.
Most fled when the Communists took over in 1959. On
Sept. 29, 2000, Rosh Hashanah services were held at the Ohel Rachel Synagogue
for the first time in nearly 50 years. There are also a Jewish library and a
Jewish museum in the city.
Kaifeng Jews
The Kaifeng Jews are members of a small Jewish
community that has existed in Kaifeng, in the Henan province of China, for
hundreds of years. Jews in modern China have traditionally called themselves
Youtai (, from Judah) in Mandarin Chinese which is also the predominant
contemporary Chinese language term for Jews in general.
However, the community was known by their Han Chinese
neighbors as adherents of Tiaojinjiao, meaning, loosely, the religion which
removes the sinew (a reference to kashrut).
History
According to historical records, a Jewish community
lived in Kaifeng from at least the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127) until the
late nineteenth century and Kaifeng was Northern Song's capital. It is surmised
that the ancestors of the Kaifeng Jews came from Central Asia.
It is also reported that in 1163 Ustad Leiwei was
given charge of the religion (Ustad means teacher in Persian), and that they
built a synagogue surrounded by a study hall, a ritual bath, a communal
kitchen, a kosher butchering facility, and a sukkah. .
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a Ming emperor
conferred seven surnames upon the Jews, by which they are identifiable today:
Ai, Shi, Gao, Jin, Li, Zhang, and Zhao.
Interestingly, two of these: Jin and Shi are the
equivalent of common Jewish names in the west: Gold and Stone.
The existence of Jews in China was unknown to
Europeans until 1605, when Matteo Ricci, then established in Beijing, was
visited by a Jew from Kaifeng, who had come to Beijing to take examinations for
his jinshi degree.
According to his account in De Christiana expeditione
apud Sinas, his visitor, named Ai Tian (Ai T'ien) explained that he worshipped one God. It is
recorded that when he saw a Christian image of Mary with the child Jesus, he
believed it to be a picture of Rebecca with Esau or Jacob, figures from
Scripture.
Ai said that many other Jews resided in Kaifeng; they
had a splendid synagogue ( libai si) and possessed a great number of written
materials and books.
About three years after Ai's visit, Ricci sent a
Chinese Jesuit Lay Brother to visit Kaifeng; he copied the beginnings and ends
of the holy books kept in the synagogue, which allowed Ricci to verify that
they indeed were the same texts as the Pentateuch known to Europeans, except
that they did not use Hebrew diacritics (which were a comparatively late
invention).De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas, p. 109 in Gallagher's English
translation (1953)
When Ricci wrote to the "ruler of the
synagogue" in Kaifeng, telling him that the Messiah the Jews were waiting
for had come already, the "Archsynagogus" wrote back, saying that the
Messiah would not come for another ten thousand years.
Nonetheless, apparently concerned with the lack of a
trained successor, the old rabbi offered Ricci his position, if the Jesuit
would join their faith and abstain from eating pork. Later, another three Jews
from Kaifeng, including Ai's nephew, stopped by the Jesuits' house while
visiting Beijing on business, and got themselves baptized.
They told Ricci that the old rabbi had died, and
(since Ricci had not taken up on his earlier offer), his position was inherited
by his son, "quite unlearned in matters pertaining to his faith".
Ricci's overall impression of the situation of China's Jewish community was
that "they were well on the way to becoming Saracens [i.e., Muslims] or
heathens."
Later, a number of European Jesuits visited the
Kaifeng community as well.
The Taiping Rebellion of the 1850s led to the
dispersal of the community, but it later returned to Kaifeng. Three stelae with
inscriptions were found at Kaifeng. The oldest, dating from 1489, commemorates
the construction of a synagogue in 1163 (bearing the name, Qīngzhēn Sì, a term
often used for mosques in Chinese).
The inscription states that the Jews came to China
from India during the Han Dynasty period (2nd century BCE-2nd century CE). It
cites the names of 70 Jews with Chinese surnames, describes their audience with
an unnamed Song Dynasty emperor, and lists the transmission of their religion
from Abraham down to the prophet Ezra.
The second tablet, dating from 1512 (found in the
synagogue Xuanzhang Daojing Si) details their Jewish religious practices. The
third, dated 1663, commemorates the rebuilding of the Qingzhen si synagogue and
repeats information that appears in the other 2 steles.Weisz, Tiberiu. The
Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions: The Legacy of the Jewish Community in Ancient
China. New York: iUniverse, 2006 (ISBN 0-595-37340-2)
Ink rubbings of the 1489
stele (left) and 1512 stele (right)
2 of the stelae refer to a famous tattoo written on
the back of Song Dynasty General Yue Fei.
The tattoo, which reads
"Boundless loyalty to the country", first appeared in a section of
the 1489 stele talking about the Jews’ “Boundless loyalty to the country and
Prince”.
The second appeared in a section of the 1512 stele
talking about how Jewish soldiers and officers in the Chinese armies were
“Boundlessly loyal to the country.”
The same source even claims that Israelites
served as soldiers in the armies of Yue Fei.
Father Joseph Brucker, a Roman Catholic researcher of
the early twentieth century, notes that Ricci's account of Chinese Jews
indicates that there were only in the range of 10 or 12 Jewish families in
Kaifeng in the late sixteenth to early 17 centuries, De Christiana expeditione
apud Sinas, p. 108 in Gallagher's English translation (1953) and that they had
reportedly resided there for five or 600 years.
It was also stated in the manuscripts that there was a
greater number of Jews in Hangzhou. This could be taken to suggest that loyal
Jews fled south along with the soon-to-be crowned Emperor Gaozong to Hangzhou.
In fact, the 1489 stele mentions how the Jews "abandoned Bianliang"
(Kaifeng) after the Jingkang Incident.
Earth Market Street,
Kaifeng, 1910. The synagogue lay beyond the row of stores on the right.
Despite their isolation from the rest of the Jewish
diaspora, the Jews of Kaifeng preserved Jewish traditions and customs for many
centuries. In the seventeenth century, assimilation began to erode these
traditions.
The rate of intermarriage between Jews and other
ethnic groups, such as the Han Chinese, and the Hui and Manchu minorities in
China, increased. The destruction of the synagogue in the 1860s led to the
community's demise.
However, J.L. Liebermann, the first Western Jew to
visit Kaifeng in 1867, noted that "they still had a burial ground of their
own". S.M. Perlmann, the Shanghai businessman and scholar, wrote in 1912
that "they bury their dead in coffins, but of a different shape than those
of the Chinese are made, and do not attire the dead in secular clothes as the
Chinese do, but in linen".
Today, 600-1,000 residents of Kaifeng trace their
lineage back to this community. After contact with Jewish tourists, the Jews of
Kaifeng have reconnected to mainstream Jewry. With the help of Jewish
organizations, some members of the community have emigrated to Israel.
Skepticism
One scholar, Dr. Xun Zhou, doubts the authenticity of
the Kaifeng community, believing it to have been largely a Western cultural
construct. Xun Zhou, a research fellow at the School of Oriental and African
Studies in London, maintains that the community had no Torah scrolls until
1851, when they suddenly appeared to be sold to eager Western collectors.
She also states that drawings of the synagogue were
doctored in the West because the original did not look like one, and that the
Kaifeng community claimed to have kept some Jewish practices since before they
are known to have begun. Xun Zhou's conclusion is that the Kaifeng community
was not Jewish in any meaningful sense.
Kaifeng Jews today
Due to the political situation, research on the
Kaifeng Jews and Judaism in China came to a standstill until the beginning of
the 1980s, when political and economic reforms were implemented. The establishment
of diplomatic relations between China and Israel in 1992 rekindled interest in
Judaism and the Jewish experience, especially in light of the fact that 25,000
Jewish refugees fled to Shanghai during the Nazi period.
The Kaifeng Jews intermarried with local Chinese, and
are thus indistinguishable in appearance from their non-Jewish neighbors.
Within the framework of contemporary rabbinical Judaism, matrilineal
transmission of Jewishness is predominant, while Chinese Jews based their
Jewishness on patrilineal descent.
As a result, they are required to undergo conversion
in order to receive Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return. Most
descendants of Kaifeng's Jewish community are only vaguely aware of their
ancestry.
Some, however, say their parents and grandparents told
them that they were Jewish and would one day "return to their land."
The one trait that differentiated them from their neighbors was not eating
pork. They also have celebrated Jewish events such as Chanukah.
Interior of the Kaifeng synagogue
The last census revealed about 400 official Jews in
Kaifeng, now estimated at some 100 families totalling approximately 500 people,
to 1,000 residents have ties to Jewish ancestry, though only 40 to 50
individuals partake in Jewish activities. It is difficult to estimate the
number of Jews in any country, but in China it is nearly impossible.
Numbers may change simply because of a change in
official attitudes. For example, the number of ethnic Manchus during the reign
of the last Manchu emperor was estimated at 2 million; after the fall of the
Manchu Empire, Manchus, fearing persecution, virtually disappeared and only
500,000 were counted in the succeeding census.
When official policies
regarding minorities were changed, affording them protective rights, the number
of ethnic Manchus jumped to 5 million.
Although overseas Jewish communities have been
indifferent toward the putative descendants of the Kaifeng Jews, a Sino-Judaic
Institute has been established in California to further research the history of
the Jewish communities in China, promote educational projects related to the
history of the Jews in China and assist the extant Jews of Kaifeng.
Recently a family of Kaifeng Jewish descendants
formally converted to Judaism and accepted Israeli citizenship. Whether or not
more Kaifeng Jewish descendants will follow in this family's path remains a
matter of speculation.
The upcoming documentary film, Kaifeng, Jerusalem, by
Dr. Noam Urbach, describes the ordeal of this family.
On October 20, 2009, the
first group of Kaifeng Jews arrived in Israel, in an aliya operation
coordinated by Shavei Israel.
Documentary films
In his 1992 documentary series Legacy, historian
Michael Wood walked down a small lane in Kaifeng that he said is known as the
"alley of the sect who teach the Scriptures", that is, of the Jews.
He mentioned that there are still Jews in Kaifeng today, but that they are
reluctant to reveal themselves "in the current political climate."
The documentary's companion book further states that
one can still see a "mezuzah on the door frame, and the candelabrum in the
living room.
"Similarly, in the documentary Quest for the Lost
Tribes, by Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, the film crew visits the home
of an elderly Kaifeng Jew who explains the recent history of the Kaifeng Jews,
shows some old photographs, and his identity papers that identify him as a
member of the Jewish ethnic group.
A recent documentary, Minyan in Kaifeng, documents and
covers the present-day Kaifeng Jewish community in China during a trip to
Kaifeng that was taken by some Jewish tourists.
Books about the Kaifeng Jews
Kaifeng city map, 1910. It shows the exact placement
of the Kaifeng synagogue on the site now occupied by Number 4 People's Hospital
In The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions: The Legacy of the
Jewish Community in Ancient China, Tiberiu Weisz, a teacher of Hebrew history
and Chinese religion, presents his own translations of the 1489, 1512, and 1663
stone stelae left by the descendants of the Kaifeng Jews.
Based on the new info gleamed from this translation,
Weisz theorizes after the Babylonian exile of the sixth century BCE,
disenchanted Levites and Kohanim parted with the Prophet Ezra and settled in
Northwestern India.
Sometime prior to 108 BCE,
these Jews had migrated to Gansu province, China and were spotted by the
Chinese general Li Guang, who was sent to expand the borders of Han Dynasty
China.
Centuries later, the Jews were expelled from China
proper during the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution (845-46), where they lived in
the region of Ningxia. Weisz believes they later returned to China during the
Song Dynasty when its second emperor, Song Taizong, sent out a decree seeking
the wisdom of foreign scholars.
In a review of the book, Irwin M. Berg, a lawyer and
friend of the Kaifeng Jewish community, claims Weisz never figured the many
religious documents—Torah, Haggadah, prayer books, etc.—into his thesis and
only relied on the stelae themselves. Such documents can be roughly dated from
their physical and scribal characteristics.
Even though he refers to Persian words utilized in the
stelae, Weisz did not include a study on when the Judeo-Persian language of the
liturgical documents first came into use in his thesis. Judeo-Persian first
developed in Central Asia during the eighth century, well after the author
supposes the Jews first entered China.
Berg questions the historical reliability of the three
stone inscriptions themselves. He gives one anachronistic example where the
Jews claim it was an emperor of the Ming Dynasty who bequeathed the land used
to build their first synagogue in 1163 during the Song Dynasty.
Chinese Jews reading the Torah from a "chair of
Moses."
Kaifeng manuscripts
Little of the written works
of the Kaifeng have survived. A significant portion, however, are kept in the
library of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Among the works in
that collection are a siddur (a Jewish prayer book) in Chinese characters and a
Hebrew codex of the bible.
The codex is fascinating in that, while it ostensibly
contains vowels, it was clearly copied by someone who did not understand them.
While the symbols are accurate portrayals of Hebrew vowels, they appear to be
placed randomly, thereby rendering the voweled text as gibberish.
Since Hebrew is generally written without vowels, a
literate Hebrew speaker can disregard these markings, as the consonants are
written correctly, with few scribal errors.
Literary references to Chinese Jews
Pulitzer-prize-winning American novelist Pearl S.
Buck, raised in China and fluent in Chinese, set one of her historical novels
("Peony") in a Chinese Jewish community. The novel deals with the
cultural forces gradually eroding the separate identity of the Jews, including
intermarriage.
The title character, the Chinese bondmaid Peony, loves
her master's son, David ben Ezra, but cannot marry him due to her lowly
station. He eventually marries a high-class Chinese woman, to some
consternation of his mother, who is proud of her unmixed heritage.
Descriptions of remnant names, such as a "Street
of the Plucked Sinew", and of customs such as refraining from the eating
of pork, are prevalent in this novel.
History of the Jews in China
Jews and Judaism in China have had a long history.
Jewish settlers are documented in China as early as the 7th or 8th century CE,
but may have arrived during the mid Han Dynasty, or even as early as 231 BCE.
Relatively isolated communities developed through the Tang and Song Dynasties
(7-12th cent. CE) all the way through the Qing Dynasty (19th cent.), most
notably in the Kaifeng Jews (the term "Chinese Jews" is often used in
a restricted sense to refer to these communities).
By the time of the establishment of the People's
Republic of China in 1949, few if any native Chinese Jews were known to have
maintained the practice of their religion and culture. In the late 20th and
early 21st centuries, however, some international Jewish groups have helped
Chinese Jews rediscover their heritage.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish
immigrants from around the world arrived with Western commercial influences,
particularly in the commercial centers of Hong Kong, which was for a time a
British colony, Shanghai (the International Settlement and French Concession),
and Harbin (the Trans-Siberian Railway).
In the first half of the 20th century, thousands of
Jewish refugees escaping from the 1917 Russian Revolution and the Holocaust in
Europe arrived in China.
Today, with the current expansion of trade and
globalization, Jews of many ethnicities from multiple regions of the world have
settled permanently and temporarily in China's major cities. Jews may be
considered one of the officially undistinguished ethnic groups in China.
Overview
China's Jewish communities have been ethnically
diverse ranging from the Jews of Kaifeng and other places during the history of
Imperial China, who, it is reported, came to be more or less totally
assimilated into Chinese culture, to 19th and 20th century Baghdadis, to
Indians, to Ashkenazi Jews from Europe.
The presence of a community of Jewish immigrants in
China is consistent with the history of the Jewish people during the first and
second millennia CE, which saw them disperse and settle throughout the Eurasian
landmass, with an especial concentration throughout central Asia"."
Asia Society. 12 July 2000 (Accessed 19 Nov 2006).
By the ninth century, ibn Khordadbeh noted the travels
of Jewish merchants called Radhanites, whose trade took them to China via the
Silk Road through Central Asia and India.
Jacob of Ancona, the supposed author of a book of
travels, a scholarly Jewish merchant who wrote in vernacular Italian, had
reached China in 1271, although some authors question it.
During the period of international opening and
quasi-colonialism, the first group to settle in China were Jews who arrived in
China under British protection following the First Opium War. Many of these
Jews were of Indian or Iraqi origin, due to British colonialism in these regions.
The second community came in the first decades of the 20th century when many
Jews arrived in Hong Kong and Shanghai during those cities' periods of economic
expansion.
Many more arrived as refugees from the Russian
Revolution of 1917. A surge of Jews and Jewish families was to arrive in the
late 1930s and 1940s, for the purpose of seeking refuge from the Holocaust in
Europe and were predominantly of European origin.
Shanghai was notable for its volume of Jewish
refugees, most of whom left after the war, the rest relocating prior to or
immediately after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
Over the centuries, the Kaifeng community came to be
virtually indistinguishable from the Chinese population and is not recognized
by the Chinese government as a separate ethnic minority. This is as a result of
having adopted many Han Chinese customs including patrilineal descent, as well
as extensive intermarriage with the local population.
Since their religious practices are functionally
extinct, they are not eligible for expedited immigration to Israel under the
Law of Return unless they explicitly convert.
Today, some descendants of Jews still live in the Han
Chinese and Hui population. Some of them, as well as international Jewish
communities, are beginning to revive their interest in this heritage.
This is especially important in modern China because
belonging to any minority group includes a variety of benefits including
reduced restrictions on the number of children and easier admission standards
to tertiary education.
The study of Judaism in China has been, like other
Abrahamic religions, a subject of interest to some Westerners, and has achieved
moderate success compared to other western studies in China.
History
It has been asserted by some that the Jews who have
historically resided in various places in China originated with the Lost Ten
Tribes of the exiled ancient Kingdom of Israel who relocated to the areas of
present-day China. Traces of some ancient Jewish rituals have been observed in
some places.
One well-known group was the Kaifeng Jews, who are
purported to have traveled from Persia to India during the mid-Han Dynasty and
later migrated from the Muslim-inhabited regions of northwestern China (modern
day Gansu province) to Henan province during the early Northern Song Dynasty
(960-1127).
A massacre of Jews in Canton, China occurred during
the Chinese Tang Dynasty in the 9th century during the Huang Chao Rebellion.
Origins
thumb|left|200px|Jews of Kaifeng, late 19th or early
20th c. There is an oral tradition that the first Jews immigrated to China
through Persia following the Roman Emperor Titus's capture of Jerusalem in 70
CE. A large number of Jews emigrated from Persia during the reign of Emperor
Ming of Han (58-75 CE). Writing in 1900, Father Joseph Brucker hypothesized
that Jews came to China from India by a sea route during the Song dynasty
between 960 and 1126.
3 steles with inscriptions found at Kaifeng bear some
historical suggestions. The oldest, dating from 1489, commemorates the
construction of a synagogue (1163) (bearing the name Qīngzhēn Sì, a term often
used for mosque in Chinese), states the Jews entered China from India in the
Later Han Dynasty (25–220 CE), the Jews' 70 Chinese surnames, their audience
with an "un-named" Song Dynasty Emperor, and finally lists the
transmission of their religion from Abraham down to the prophet Ezra.
The second table, dated 1512 (found in the synagogue
Xuanzhang Daojing Si) details the Jews' religious practices. The third is dated
1663 and commemorates the re-rebuilding of the Qingzhen si synagogue and recaps
the information from the other two steles.Weisz, Tiberiu. The Kaifeng Stone
Inscriptions: The Legacy of the Jewish Community in Ancient China. New York:
iUniverse, 2006 (ISBN 0-595-37340-2)
2 of the stelae refer to a famous tattoo written on
the back of Song Dynasty General Yue Fei. The tattoo, which reads jǐn zhōng bào
guó ("Boundless loyalty to the country"), first appeared in a
section of the 1489 stele talking about the Jews’ “Boundless loyalty to the
country and Prince”.
The second appeared in a section of the 1512 stele
talking about how Jewish soldiers and officers in the Chinese armies were
“Boundlessly loyal to the country.” One source even claims that Israelites
served as soldiers in the armies of Yue Fei.
Father Joseph Brucker believed Matteo Ricci's
manuscripts indicate there were only approximately ten or twelve Jewish
families in Kaifeng in the late 16–early 17th century, and that they had
reportedly resided there for five or 600 years.
It was also stated in the manuscripts that there was a
greater number of Jews in Hangzhou. This could be taken to suggest that loyal
Jews fled south along with the soon-to-be crowned Emperor Gaozong to Hangzhou.
In fact, the 1489 stele mentions how the Jews "abandoned Bianliang"
(Kaifeng) after the Jingkang Incident.
thumb|right|150px|Section of the 1512 stele which
mentions Yue's famous tattoo.
Many Jewish communities were established in China in
the Middle Ages. However, not all left evidence of their existence. The
following are those known today: Kaifeng, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Yangzhou, and
Ningxia.
Names
The contemporary term for Jews in use among Chinese
today is Youtairen () in Mandarin Chinese. The term Youtai has similar phonetic
sound of Jude or Judah, Greek terms for Jew.
It has been recorded that the Chinese historically
called the Jews Tiao jin jiao (挑筋教), loosely,
"the religion which removes the sinew," probably referring to the
Jewish dietary prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve (from Genesis
32:32).
Jewish dietary law (kashruth), which forbids the
eating of, among other foods, non-ruminant mammals, shellfish and reptiles,
would have most likely caused Jewish communities to stand out from the
surrounding mainstream Chinese population,
as Chinese culture is typically very free in the range of items it deems
suitable for food.
Jews have also been called the Blue-Hat Hui, in
contrast to other populations of Hui people, who have identified with hats of
other colors. The distinction between Muslim and Jewish Hui is not, and
historically has not been, well recognised by the dominant Han population.
A modern translation of the "Kaifeng Steles"
has shown the Jews referred to their synagogue as "The Pure and
Truth", which is essentially the same as the term used in modern China to
refer to Muslim mosques (清真寺).
According to an oral tradition dictated by Xu Xin,
Director of the Center for Judaic Studies at Nanjing University, in his book
Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng, the Kaifeng Jews called Judaism
Yīcìlèyè jiào (一賜樂業教), lit. the religion of Israel. Yīcìlèyè is a
transliteration and partial translation of "Israel". Xu Xin
translates this phrase as "Chosen people, endowed by God, and contented
with their lives and work".
Early record
The earliest evidence showing the presence of Jews in
China is from the beginning of the eight century: a business letter written in
the Judeo-Persian language, discovered by Marc Aurel Stein. The letter (now
housed in the British Museum) was found in Danfan Uiliq, an important post
along the Silk Road in northwest China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
The text is thirty-seven lines in length and was
written on paper, a product then manufactured only in China. It was identified,
by David Samuel Margoliouth, as dating from 718 C.E. Ibn Zeyd al Hassan of
Siraf, a 9th century Arabian traveler, reports that in 878 followers of the
Chinese rebel leader Huang Chao besieged Canton (Guangzhou) and killed a large
number of foreign merchants, among others Jewish, resident there.
Sources indicate that Jews in China were often
mistaken for Muslims by other Chinese. The first plausible recorded written
Chinese mention of Jews uses the term Zhu-hu, or Zhu-hu-du (perhaps from Hebrew
Yehudim, "Jews") found in the Annals of the Yuan Dynasty in 1329 and
1354. The text spoke of the reinforcement of a tax levied on
"dissenters" and of a government decree that the Jews come en-masse
to Beijing, the capital.
Famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who visited
China, then under the Yuan Dynasty, in the late 13th century, described the
prominence of Jewish traders in Beijing. Similar references can be found in the
notes of the Franciscan John of Montecorvino, first archbishop of Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing at the early of 14th century, and the writings
of Ibn Batuta, an Arabian envoy to the Mongol Empire in the middle of 14th
century.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a Ming emperor
conferred seven surnames upon the Jews, by which they are identifiable today:
Ai, Shi, Gao, Jin, Li, Zhang, and Zhao'; sinofications of the original seven
Jewish clan's family names: Ezra, Shimon, Cohen, Gilbert, Levy, Joshua, and
Jonathan.
Interestingly, two of these: Jin and Shi are the
equivalent of common Jewish names in the west: Gold and Stone.
The first modern Western record of Jews residing in
China is found in the records of the seventeenth century Jesuit missionaries in
Beijing. The prominent Jesuit Matteo Ricci, received a visit from a young
Jewish Chinese man in 1605.
Ricci mentioned this man's name as Ngai, who has since
been identified by the French sinologist Paul Pelliot as a Jew named Ai T'ien,
who explained that the community he belonged to was monotheistic, or believing
in only one God.
It is recorded that when he saw a Christian image of
Mary with the child Jesus, he took it to be a picture of Rebecca with Esau or
Jacob, figures from Hebrew Scripture. Ngai (Ai Tian, Ai T'ien) declared that he
had come from Kaifeng, and stated that this was the site of a large Jewish population.De
Christiana expeditione apud Sinas, Book One, Chapter 11. Pages 107-111 in the
English translation: Gallagher (1953). "China in the Sixteenth Century:
The Journals of Matteo Ricci", Random House, New York, 1953.
The Latin original text, can be found on Google Books.
The corresponding text is on of Book One of the Latin text.
Ricci sent an ethnic Chinese Jesuit Lay Brother to
visit Kaifeng; later, other Jesuits (mostly European) also visited the city. It
was later discovered that the Jewish community had a synagogue (Libai si''),
which was constructed facing the west, and housed a number of written materials
and books.
19th century
During the Taiping rebellion of the 1850s, the Jews of
Kaifeng apparently suffered a great deal and were dispersed. Following this
dislocation, they returned to Kaifeng, yet continued to be small in number and
to face hardships, as is recorded in the early 20th century.
Shanghai's first wave of Jews came in the second half
of the 19th century, many being Mizrahi Jews from Iraq. The first Jew who
arrived there was Elias David Sassoon, who, about the year 1850, opened a
branch in connection with his father's Bombay house. Since that period Jews
gradually migrated from India to Shanghai, most of them being engaged from
Bombay as clerks by the firm of David Sassoon & Co.
The community was composed mainly of
"Asian," (Sephardi) German, and Russian Jews, though there were a few
of Austrian, French, and Italian origin among them. Jews took a considerable
part in developing trade in China, and several served on the municipal
councils, among them being Silas Aaron Hardoon, partner in the firm of E. D.
Sassoon & Co., who served on the French and English councils at the same
time.
During the early days of Jewish settlement in Shanghai
the trade in opium and Bombay cotton yarn was mainly in Jewish hands.
Modern times
Contemporaneous sources estimated the Jewish
population in China in 1940 - including Manchukuo - at 36,000 (source: Catholic
Encyclopedia).
Jewish life in Shanghai had really taken off with the
arrival of the British. Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East came as traders via
India and Hong Kong and established some of the leading trading companies in
the second half of the 19th century.
Later, after World War I, many Ashkenazi Jews came
from Europe. Rebbe Meir Ashkenazi (Chabad-Lubavitch) was the Chief Rabbi of
Shanghai (1926-1949).
At the early 20th century many Russian Jews fleeing
pogroms in several towns in Russian Empire decided to move to northeast China
for permanent settlement (Rabbi Aaron Kiselev served in Harbin from 1913 until
his death in 1949). After the Russian Revolution of 1917, a lot of White
Russians, fled to Harbin (former Manchuria).
These included, among others, Dr. Abraham Kaufman, who
played a leading role in the Harbin Jewish community after 1919, the parents of
future Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Teodor Parnicki at the age of
12.
The Japanese occupation of northeast China in 1931 and
the establishment of Manchukuo in 1932 had a negative impact on the Harbin
Jewish community (13,000 in 1929). Most of those Jews left Harbin for Tianjin,
Shanghai, and British Mandate of Palestine. Until 1939, the Russian Jews were
about 5,000 in Shanghai.
WORLD War II
Another wave of 18,000 Jews from Germany, Austria, and
Poland immigrated to Shanghai at the end of 1930s and the early of 1940s.
Shanghai at the time was an open city and did not have restrictions on
immigration, and some Chinese diplomats such as Ho Feng Shan issued
"protective" passports.
In 1943, the occupying Japanese army required these
18,000 Jews, formally known as "stateless refugees," to relocate to a
3/4 square mile area of Shanghai's Hongkew district (today known as Hongkou
District) where many lived in group homes called "Heime" or
"Little Vienna".
The total number of Jews entering Shanghai during this
period equaled the number of Jews fleeing to Australia, Canada, India, New
Zealand and South Africa combined. Many of the Jews in China later moved to
found modern Israel.
Shanghai was an important safe-haven for Jewish
refugees during the Holocaust, since it was one of the few places in the world
where one didn't need a visa. However, it was not easy to get there. The
Japanese, who controlled the city, preferred in effect to look the other way.
Some corrupt officials however, also exploited the plight of the Jews. By 1941
nearly 20,000 European Jews had found shelter there.
thumb|Jacob Rosenfeld, a doctor for the [[New Fourth
Army, between Liu Shaoqi (left) and Chen Yi (right).]]
Notable Chinese Jews during the Second Sino-Japanese
War include Hans Shippe, Dr. Jakob Rosenfeld, Eva Sandberg, photographer and
wife of Communist leader Xiao San, and Morris Abraham Cohen.
Late in the War, Nazi representatives pressured the
Japanese army to devise a plan to exterminate Shanghai's Jewish population, and
this pressure eventually became known to the Jewish community's leadership.
However, the Japanese had no intention of further
provoking the anger of the Allies after their already notorious invasion of
China and a number of other Asian nations, and thus delayed the German request
until the War ended.
With the intercession of the Amshenower Rebbe and the
translation skills of Leo (Ariyeh) Hanin, the Japanese ultimately kept the Jews
of Shanghai safe.
The relative safety of the Jews during the period, in
contrast to the Japanese treatment of Chinese during the war, was linked to an
appreciation of Jewish culture and history by the Japanese and to the
connections that many Jews had in the United States. Nevertheless, conditions
in the Designated Area were unpleasant, particularly during the summer months.
In general, in the period of 1845 to 1945 more than
40,000 Jews came to China for business development or for a safe haven.
Late 20th century
After World War II and the establishment of the PRC in
1949, most of these Jews emigrated to Israel or the West, although a few
remained. Two prominent non-Chinese lived in China from the establishment of
the People's Republic of China to the contemporary period: Sidney Shapiro and
Israel Epstein, two American emigres, are of Jewish descent. Another
Jewish-American, Sidney Rittenberg served as interpreter to many top Chinese
officials.
Sara Imas, the Shanghai-born daughter of Shanghai's
Jewish Club president, Leiwi Imas, became the first Jewish-Chinese immigrant to
Israel after the two countries established formal diplomatic relations in 1992.
Leiwi Imas, who had to leave Germany for Poland in 1939, arrived in Shanghai
the same year.
He spent his final years in Shanghai until 1962, prior
to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Although Sara Imas's non-Chinese
appearance and family background brought her much trouble during the Cultural
Revolution when she was accused of being a foreign capitalist and spy, today
Sara Imas has returned to Shanghai, working as the Chinese representative of an
Israeli diamond company.
The Institute of Jewish Studies was established at
Nanjing University in 1992.
Since the 1990s, the Shanghai municipal government has
taken the initiative to preserve historical Western architectures that were
constructed during Shanghai's colonial past. Many formerly Jewish-owned hotels
and private residence have been included in the preservation project. In 1997,
the Kadoorie-residence-turned Shanghai Children's Palace, had their spacious
front garden largely removed in order to make room for the city's overpass
system under construction.
A One Day Tour of the history of Jewish presence in
Shanghai can be arranged through the Center of Jewish Studies Shanghai. Rabbi
Shalom Greenberg from Chabad-Lubavitch in New York arrived in Shanghai to serve
this community in August 1998.
Rabbi Arthur Schneier, president of the Appeal of
Conscience Foundation of New York, donated a Torah to the community that same
year. On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, in September 1999, a Jewish New Year
service was held at the Ohel Rachel Synagogue for first time since 1952.
21st century
Synagogues are found in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong
Kong today, serving both international Jews and native Jews. In 2001, Rabbi
Shimon Freundlich from the Chabad came and settled in Beijing with the mission
of building and leading the center of Chabad-Lubavitch of Beijing, an Orthodox
congregation. In 2005, the Israeli embassy to China held their Hanukkah
celebrations at the Great Wall of China.
Jews Around the World American Jews
In Egypt the Karaites had customs which differed from
those of the Rabbinates, although some were similar. In Cairo, more members of
both communities lived in certain neighborhoods, in 'Abbasiyah, Ghamrah,
Sakakini and al-Dahir. The well-to-do lived in Hilwan, Ma',adi, or Heliopolis.
The wealthy had villas in Garden City or Zamalek.
That, of course, does not include many among the poor,
the middle class and even a few well-to-do members who preferred to stay in the
Karaite neighborhood in Khurunfish where they felt more secure and were very
near to Rab Simhah synagogue.
Because most of the Karaites were of Egyptian origin,
they acquired certain Egyptian customs. The men dressed like natives. Until
early in the 20th century, most of the goldsmiths used to wear the gibbah and
quftin. Lower class men wore the galabiyah with a coat over it, especially in
winter.
Most women wore a two-piece dress, usually black. The
bottom part was almost like a skirt, the top a plain piece of material that
covered the head and shoulders to the waist. It could also be used to veil the
face.
This is the same kind of clothing that the middle
class Muslim women in Egypt and in Turkey used to wear during the first quarter
of the 20th century; it is called habarah. Upper middle class and wealthy women
wore European dress. In the period covered, there were no restrictions on the
kind of material or the style of clothes, as was the case in earlier
centuries.'
It was not easy, therefore, to distinguish Jews,
Christians, or Muslims by their style of dress. Karaites tended to be more
conservative than Rabbinates. While the latter quickly adopted European
customs, the Karaites held on longer to the Oriental ways, especially with
regard to women's activities. Rabbinate girls occupied many different jobs,
while Karaite girls were more interested in getting married.
Until the early 1930's it was not acceptable for young
Karaites of different sex to meet with each other. Karaites in general mingled
more freely with non-Jewish Egyptians. They did not have a noticeable accent,
as did the Rabbinates. They did, however, use some Arabic words in a manner
different from the non-Jews.'
Some Karaite women, especially the poor, were affected
by their Muslim neighbors and wore amulets to keep away the evil eye and evil
spirits.
Until the first quarter of the 20th century, the poor
among the Karaites depended a great deal on folk medicine.
Egyptian men were more attracted to fat women.
Karaites were no different. It was not difficult for women to put on more
weight. In the neighborhood of al-Azhar there was and still is a market called
"Suq al-'Attarin" spice market, where one can find all kinds of
spices, herbs and the like.
Women used to visit the market and buy what was
usually offered as a sure formula to put on more weight. The spice market is a
short distance from al-Saghah, where most of the Karaite men carried on their
businesses as silver or goldsmiths. It was no trouble to get what their women
wanted.
Karaites were well known for their cleanliness. Even
the poor among them kept a clean house and especially a clean kitchen. Until
they left Egypt, Karaites used to clean their utensils with soft sand and
yellow clay.
It was common to see two copper containers next to the
kitchen sink, one for the soft sand and the other for the yellow clay (Tafl).
Social activities among the Karaites were limited to
visits among relatives and friends. Sunday was the preferred day for this. Late
in the 1930's dance parties were held at homes to encourage young people to get
together.
Gambling with cards was very common among rich and
poor members. Rich people used to get together in their villas, while the poor
used to play in the cafes owned by Jews.
Karaite synagogues did not carry on any social
activities, but there were some educational activities such as teaching Hebrew
and the faith. From time to time, there were lectures in the synagogue or in
the center of any existing association.
Jews Around the World American Jews
Jews arrived in England from Normandy with William the
Conqueror and the Normans after 1066. It is unclear whether these Jews, most of
who were involved in finance, had received any charters or invitations or
whether they arrived in England as aliens without any rights from the start.
The fortune of the Jews of England deteriorated very
rapidly. Although because at first they were needed, they received protection,
but soon hostility developed, their assets were expropriated and they were
expelled within two centuries.
During the twelfth century the Jews of England enjoyed
the right to inherit property and benefited from more rights than Christians
whose lives were very limited by the feudal system.
By the end of the century, however, the king shifted
from borrowing money from the Jews to taxing them heavily. As a result, in
1187, during the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), tillage of one quarter of their
possessions was imposed on the Jews of London.
Jews Around the World American Jews
In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte had a problem. Jews had
been living in France for a thousand years, since Charlemagne, but until the
French Revolution, they had remained, in Abram Sachar’s words, disinherited
politically, restricted economically, and despised socially.
Suddenly, in 1791, they were granted citizenship along
with everyone else living in France. But although fifteen years had gone by, it
still wasn't clear to many in France how this was going to work.
And so Napoleon gathered in Paris a select group of
over one hundred Jewish notables, including rabbis, businessmen, financiers and
scholars to represent all the Jews living in France. They came to be called a
"Sanhedrin" -- a Hebrew/Greek term referring to the supreme judicial
body in ancient Judea.
In France, as in the Germanic lands, new developments
in popular agitation against the Jews included the spread of accusations
against them, however, unlike the German Emperors who challenged the authority
of the pope, the kings of France were sympathetic to the wishes of the popes,
especially to their Jewish policy, which further diminished the opportunities
for the Jews for long-term success in France.
Jews Around the World American Jews
The present Jewish Community dates back to the year
1671 when several Jewish families arrived after being expelled from Vienna.
After the Thirty Years War the country was in ruins and the Emperor Frederick
William of Prussia allowed different groups to enter the country and build it
up.
Before the Nazis came to power, the Berlin Jewish
community had 160.000 members. Today Berlin’s Jewish community is the fastest
growing in the world due to Russian Jewish immigration. Jewish Community, an
umbrella organization which provides for 6 synagogues, 2 mikvot, schools, adult
education programs and social services has 12000 members, but many Jews several
thousand say the estimates living in Berlin are not affiliated. The small
orthodox community Adass Yisroel has 1000 members.
Jews Around the World American Jews
One of the most important Jewish peoples of India are
the Bene Israel ("Sons of Israel"), whose main population centers
were Bombay, Calcutta, Old Delhi, and Ahmadabad. The native language of the
Bene Israel was Marathi, while the Cochin Jews of southern India spoke
Malayalam.
The Bene Israel claim to be descended from Jews who
escaped persecution in Galilee in the 2nd century BCE. The Bene Israel
resembles the non-Jewish Maratha people in appearance and customs, which
indicate intermarriage between Jews and Indians. However, the Bene Israel
maintained the practices of Jewish dietary laws, circumcision, and observation
of Sabbath as a day of rest.
The Bene Israel says their ancestors were oil pressers
in the Galil and they are descended from survivors of a shipwreck. In the 18th
Century they were "discovered" by traders from Baghdad. At that time
the Beni Israel were practicing just a few outward forms of Judaism (which is
how they were recognized) but had no scholars of their own. Teachers from
Baghdad and Cochin taught them mainstream Judaism in the 18th and 19th
centuries.
The first Jews in Cochin (southern India) were the
so-called "Black Jews", who spoke the Malayalam tongue. The
"Sephardic Jews" settled later, coming to India from western European
nations such as Holland and Spain.
A notable settlement of Spanish and Portuguese Jews
starting in the 15th century was Goa, but this settlement eventually
disappeared. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Cochin had an influx of Jewish
settlers from the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain.
The Jews of Cochin say that they came to Cranganore
(southwest coast of India) after the destruction of the Temple in 70ce. They
had, in effect, their own principality for many centuries until a chieftainship
dispute broke out between two brothers in the 15th century.
The dispute led neighboring princes to dispossess
them. In 1524, the Moors, backed by the ruler of Calicut (today called
Kozhikode) attacked the Jews of Cranganore on the pretext that they were
"tampering" with the pepper trade.
Most Jews fled to Cochin and went under the protection
of the Hindu Raja there. He granted them a site for their own town, which later
acquired the name "Jew Town".
Unfortunately for the Jews of Cochin, the Portuguese
occupied Cochin in this same period and indulged in persecution of the Jews
until the Dutch displaced them in 1660. The Dutch Protestants were tolerant and
the Jews prospered.
In 1795 Cochin passed into the British sphere of
influence. In the 19th century, Cochin Jews lived in the towns of Cochin,
Ernakulam, and Parur. Today most of Cochin's Jews have immigrated (principally
to Israel).
Typical is the founder of the Calcutta community,
Shalom Aharon Ovadiah HaCohen. He was born in Aleppo in 1762 and left in 1789.
He arrived in Surat in 1792 and established himself there. He traded as far as
Zanzibar.
In 1798 he moved to Calcutta. In 1805 he was joined by
his nephew, Moses Simon Duek HaCohen, who married his eldest daughter Lunah.
Soon other traders swelled the community and Baghdad's outnumbered those from
Aleppo.
Under British rule, the Jews of India achieved their
maximum population and wealth, and the Calcutta community continued to grow and
prosper and trade amongst all the cities of the Far East and to the rest of the
world.
The Indians were very tolerant and the Jews of
Calcutta felt completely at home. Their numbers reached a peak of about 5000
during WW-II when refugees fleeing the Japanese advance into Burma swelled
them.
The first generations of Calcutta Jews spoke
Judeo-Arabic at home, but by the 1890s English was the language of choice.
After WWII, nationalism fever caught the Indians rather strongly and it became
less comfortable for the Jews who came to be identified with the English by the
Indians. India's Jewish population declined dramatically starting in the 1940s
with heavy immigration to Israel, England, and the United States.
It is in these 3 nations where the most significant
settlements of Indian Jews exist today. Today there is just a handful of old
people and the once vital community with its 3 synagogues is no more.
The Baghdadi Jews migrated to British India around the
end of the 18th century for purposes of trade, and settled mainly in the port
cities of Bombay, Calcutta and Rangoon. They retained their language, Arabic,
and a separate cultural identity.
Mostly traders and financiers, their contribution to
the industrial growth of Bombay is well documented. David Sassoon, a member of
this community was a well-known philanthropist. After independence there was a
continuous migration of the Baghdadi Jews to Israel. At present the community
is almost extinct in India.
Jews Around the World American Jews
The Jewish community of Persia, modern-day Iran, is
one of the oldest in the Diaspora, and its historical roots reach back to the
6th century B.C.E., the time of the First Temple. Their history in the
pre-Islamic period is intertwined with that of the Jews of neighboring Babylon.
Cyrus, the first Achaemid emperor, conquered Babylon
in 539 B.C.E. and permitted by special decree the return of the Jewish exiles
to the Land of Israel; this brought the First Exile to an end.
The Jewish colonies were scattered from centers in
Babylon to Persian provinces and cities such as Hamadan and Susa. The books of
Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel give a favorable description of the
relationship of the Jews to the court of the Achaemids at Susa.
Under the Sassanid dynasty (226-642 C.E.), the Jewish
population in Persia grew considerably and spread throughout the region, yet
Jews nevertheless suffered intermittent oppression and persecution. The
invasion by Arab Muslims in 642 C.E. terminated the independence of Persia,
installed Islam as the state religion, and made a deep impact on the Jews by
changing their sociopolitical status.
Jews Around the World American Jews
The history of the Jews of Iraq began, with the exile
of the Jews of Palestine by the Assyrians and, later, the Babylonians. The
deportation of Palestinian Jewry to Babylon occurred in three waves the first
the Exile of Samaria, in which ten Hebrew tribes were exiled by the Assyrians.
The second the Exile of Jehoiachin, in which ten thousand inhabitants of
Jerusalem was brought to Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar.
The third the Exile of Zidqiah, which marked the end
of the Kingdom of Judah, the ruin of Jerusalem and the destruction of King
Solomon's first temple. About forty thousand Jews were exiled by the
Babylonians during that time.
In 1950, Iraqi Jews were permitted to leave the
country within a year provided they forfeited their citizenship. A year later,
however, the property of Jews who emigrated was frozen and economic
restrictions were placed on Jews who chose to remain in the country.
Jews Around the World American Jews
Commodore Matthew Perry's opening of Japan in 1853
paved the way for a permanent Jewish community. Alexander Marks, who arrived in
Yokohama in 1861, was the first Jewish resident of modern Japan; by the end of
the 1860's, the city had 50 Jewish families from Poland, the United States and
England.
Toward the close of the nineteenth century, 2 more
communities emerged: a predominantly Sefardic one in Kobe and a mainly Russian
one in Nagasaki.
The first Jewish-Japanese encounter to have a lasting
impact on Japan came in 1904. Japan was at war with Russia and the governor of
the Bank of Japan was sent to London to arrange for loans to finance the war
effort.
He got nowhere with the British banking elite, but
while in London he had a chance meeting with the American investment banker
Jacob Schiff, whose hatred for the Russians was fanned by the pogroms of the
time. Schiff arranged for more than $200 million in loans, Japan won the war,
and an American Jewish financier became a hero in Tokyo and was invited to
lunch by Emperor Meiji.
But his help also set the stage for a stereotype that
would resurface periodically in Japan with both positive and negative facets
the belief in the world-wide influence of Jewish wealth.
In 1942, Mitsugi Shibata, the Japanese consul in
Shanghai, became privy to a plan by the local Gestapo representative to kill
the 18,000 Jews who lived there. He warned the Jewish community, whose leaders
used contacts in the foreign ministry to have the plan quashed.
There are areas in which Jews have left their marks on
Japan, although not always in ways that are visible to the Japanese. Raphael
Schoyer was mayor of Yokohama's foreign colony in the 1860's. He was also the
founder of one of Japan's first foreign language newspapers; Jews subsequently
played a prominent role in English language journalism.
The Japan Times, largest of the country's four
English-language dailies, traces its roots to the prewar Japan Advertiser,
which was owned by the Fletcher family.
Jews Around the World American Jews
When Christian Arabs ruled Lebanon, Jews enjoyed
relative toleration. In the mid-50’s, approximately 7,000 Jews lived in Beirut.
As Jews in an Arab country, however, their position was never secure, and the
majority left in 1967.
Muslim-Christian civil war swirled around the Jewish
Quarter in Beirut, damaging many Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues. Most
of the remaining 1,800 Lebanese Jews emigrated in 1976, fearing the growing
Syrian presence in Lebanon would curtail their freedom of emigration. In the
mid-1980's, Hezbollah kidnapped several prominent Jews from Beirut most were
leaders of what remained of the country's tiny Jewish community.
Four of the Jews were later found murdered. Nearly all
of the remaining Jews are in Beirut. Because of the current political
situation, Jews are unable to openly practice Judaism. In Beirut there is a
committee that represents the community.
Jews Around the World American Jews
The date of the arrival of the first Jews onto Polish
soil is unknown. Ibrahim ibn Jakub in the account of his journey in 965
mentioned Krakow and wrote of his first historic Duke of Poland, Mieszko I. The
author of these historically valuable notes was certainly not the only Jew to
travel through the Piast lands.
Some settled here permanently with their families to
make their livelihoods through commerce and the crafts. In later times,
banished from many countries, victims of social and religious upheavals,
intolerance, and persecution, Jews looked to Poland for asylum and here they
found it.
Polish dukes and kings, such as Boleslaw Pobozny and
Kazimierz Wielki, appreciated their talents and thus granted them privileges
and conditions for a peaceful life. Boleslaw Pobozny's Charter of Kalisz
guaranteed full security for Jews, their communities, and property.
The major influx of Jews into Poland took place
between the 12th and 15th centuries. This was the period when the Crusades and
the Holy Inquisition led to the persecutions of Jews in the countries of
Western Europe and their subsequent wandering eastwards in search for asylum.
They found the protection and tolerance they sought in
Poland, a country that was, at that time, poorly developed and in need of
merchants and craftsmen.
Poland became host over time to the largest
concentration of Jews in Europe and the most potent hub for Jewish culture as
well. Poland became home to primarily the Ashkenazi, and the Sephardi.
There existed a diversity of various religious and
cultural currents, from Chassidim a movement for religious renewal in Poland as
Podolia (now the Ukraine) under the leadership of the legendary Baal-szem-tov
all the way through progressive movements of the Enlightenment - the Maskilim
(proponents of assimilation).
Jews Around the World American Jews
The history of Spanish (Sephardic) Jewry goes back at
least 2,000 years to the time of the Roman Empire. The first anti-Jewish laws
were passed in 589 CE, when it was ruled that children of a mixed
Jewish-Christian marriage should be baptized and this soon led to a policy of
forced conversion of all Jews in the kingdom.
In 1694, the 17th Council of Toledo made all Spanish
Jews slaves. In the period of Arabic rule, the Jews of Spain fared better,
scholarship and culture flourished.
Beginning in 1478, in the reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella, no less than the Inquisition executed 13,000 secret Jews. At the same
time, the monarchs continued to employ Jewish functionaries, such as Don Isaac
Abravanel, in their court.
On March 31, 1492 the Edict of Expulsion was signed,
resulting in 300,000 Sephardic Jews leaving for refuge in North Africa, Turkey,
etc. The last Jews left on August 2, 1492, the day before Columbus sailed, and
that was also the traditional day of mourning for the destruction of the First
and Second Temples.
Thus, the first words Columbus wrote in his log were:
"After you expelled the Jews your majesties sent me with a fleet."
Jews Around the World American Jews
Sultan Bayazid II's offer of refuge gave new hope to
the persecuted Sephardim. In 1492, the Sultan ordered the governors of the
provinces of the Ottoman Empire "not to refuse the Jews entry or cause
them difficulties, but to receive them cordially".
According to Bernard Lewis, "the Jews were not
just permitted to settle in the Ottoman lands, but were encouraged, assisted
and sometimes even compelled".
Immanuel Aboab attributes to Bayazid II the famous
remark that "the Catholic monarch Ferdinand was wrongly considered as
wise, since he impoverished Spain by the expulsion of the Jews, and enriched
Turkey".
The arrival of the Sephardis altered the structure of
the community and the original group of Romaniote Jews was totally absorbed.
Over the centuries an increasing number of European
Jews, escaping persecution in their native countries, settled in the Ottoman
Empire. In 1537 the Jews expelled from Apulia (Italy) after the city fell under
Papal control, in 1542 those expelled from Bohemia by King Ferdinand found a
safe haven in the Ottoman Empire.
In March of 1556, Sultan Suleyman "the
Magnificent" wrote a letter to Pope Paul IV asking for the immediate
release of the Ancona Marranos, which he declared to be Ottoman citizens. The
Pope had no other alternative than to release them, the Ottoman Empire being
the "Super Power" of those days.
By 1477, Jewish households in Istanbul numbered 1647
or 11% of the total. Half a century later, 8070 Jewish houses were listed in
the city.
The present size of Jewish Community is estimated at
around 26.000. The vast majority live in Istanbul, with a community of about
2.500 in Izmir and other smaller groups located in Adana, Ankara, Bursa,
Canakkale, Iskenderun, Kirklareli etc. Sephardis make up 96% of the Community,
with Ashkenazis accounting for the rest.
There are about 100 Karaites, an independent group who
does not accept the authority of the Chief Rabbi.
Turkish Jews are legally represented, as they have
been for many centuries, by the Hahambasi, the Chief Rabbi. Rav David Asseo,
Chief Rabbi since elected in 1961, is assisted by a religious Council made up
of a Rosh Bet Din and 3 Hahamim. 35 Lay Counselors look after the secular
affairs of the Community and an Executive Committee of fourteen, the president
of which must be elected from among the Lay Counselors, runs the daily affairs.
Synagogues are classified as religious foundations
(Vakifs). There are 16 synagogues in use in Istanbul today. Three are in
service in holiday resorts, during summer only. Some of them are very old,
especially Ahrida Synagogue in the Balat area, which dates from middle15th
century. The 15th and 16th century Haskoy and Kuzguncuk cemeteries in Istanbul
are still in use today.
Jews Around the WORLD: American Jews
Jews have made an important contribution to the
history and culture of America from the time of Columbus till today.
The first group of Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish
settlers arrived in New Amsterdam in September 1654, following their escape
from the onslaught of the Inquisition in Brazil. But, they did not receive a
warm welcome.
Peter Stuyvesant tried to refuse haven to the
penniless refugees, and protested. Fortunately, he was overruled thanks to the
influence of some people.
Probably in deference to Stuyvesant, the Jews were not
permitted to build a synagogue. However, this situation changed after the
surrender of New Amsterdam to the British in 1664. While there is some evidence
that services were held in a private home as early as 1695, the first
congregation - Shearith Israel - was organized around 1706.
Circa 1730, they erected a small synagogue on Mill
Lane. At this time there were only about 30 Jewish households in New York City.
The synagogue was expanded and rededicated in 1818.
Jews sailed with Columbus and were burned at the stake
in Mexico and Peru. Jews explored Iowa with LaSalle and surveyed the Northwest
Territories with Washington. The Jews traded with Indians, fought in the
Revolution and brought the Liberty Bell from England. Jews defended the
American nation in the War of 1812.
Early Jewish Americans explored, wrote poetry, created
industries, formed congregations. In the War Between the States some of them
served in Northern armies, some in the armies of the South. Jews became
Legislators, Governors, judges, artists, businessmen, soldiers and scientists.
They helped build the country.
The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem are
comprised of approximately 2,000 men, women and children residing in three
development towns Dimona, Arad and Mitzpe Ramon in southern Israel. They
maintain a vibrant culture which includes a communal lifestyle, a vegan diet, a
system of preventive health care and high moral standards, a holistic approach
to life based on righteousness.
Their intent is to live according to the laws and
prophecies of God. Since their arrival in Dimona, in 1969, it has been their
objective to be the foundation for the establishing of God's Kingdom on Earth.
The accomplishments of the past years have only strengthened their faith in the
words of the prophets.
In 70 C.E. the remnants of The African Hebrew
Israelites were driven from Jerusalem by the Romans into different parts of the
world, including Africa. Many Hebrew Israelites migrated to West Africa where
they, once again, were carried away captive, this time by Europeans on slave
ships, to the Americas along with other African tribes’ people.
In 1966 their spiritual leader, Ben Ammi, had a vision
that it was time for the Children of Israel who remained in America (the land
of their captivity) to return to the Holy Land (the land of their origin).
Jews were among the first convicts deported from the
United Kingdom to Australia in the 18th century. By the 19th century, there was
an established Jewish community, overwhelmingly made up of free settlers.
In the late 1930s, about 7,000 Jewish refugees, mainly
from Germany and Austria, found sanctuary in the country. After the war,
Australia admitted tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors, and today
Australia has the highest percentage of Holocaust survivors of any Jewish
community in the world.
The leading communal organization is the Executive
Council of Australian Jewry.
In Australia Zionism is strong and Australian Jews
have emigrated to Israel in larger numbers than any other English-speaking
Jewish community.
The Australian Jewish community is characterized by a
number of phenomena that distinguish it from other English-speaking Jewish
communities. These include a high rate of enrollment in Jewish day schools and
a low rate of intermarriage. Melbourne and Sydney each boast Jewish day
schools.
There are 2 Jewish weeklies (the Melbourne and Sydney
editions of the Australian Jewish News) and several other periodicals,
including the Australia-Israel Review and Generation. Each week Australia's
ethnic radio stations feature several hours of programming of Jewish interest
in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish.
After their exclusion during the period of French
rule, Jews arrived together with the British soldiers who made their homes in
Montreal. The first synagogue, Shaarei Israel, was consecrated there in 1768.
The census of 1831 recorded 107 Jews.
In 1832 Canadian Jews were granted full civil rights.
However, until the 1850s aside from a few Jews scattered throughout the
country, nearly all of Canadian Jewry lived in Montreal. In the 1850s Jewish
immigrants arrived from Lithuania and began to settle in Toronto and Hamilton,
raising the number of Jews to 2,500 by the early 1880s.
This was a watershed year for Canadian Jewry. Russian
oppression brought a new influx of Jewish refugees which increased the Jewish
population to 16,000 in 1900 and to 126,000 in 1921. In the face of the Nazi
onslaught against European Jews, Canada slammed its doors shut. In the years
preceding the war, and during the Holocaust itself, only a few thousand Jews
managed to find sanctuary here.
The energetic campaign of
the Canadian Jewish Congress after the war helped to open the gates to
Holocaust survivors and refugees from North Africa. This immigration
significantly increased the size of Canadian Jewry from 170,000 to 260,000.
by Windows of the West 1WORLDCommunity
Prophet of Allah, Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam
Said: Three hundred fourteen (314) among those who are female, joined the
AlMahdi who will act on the leader are doing wrong and uphold justice as hoped
for by everyone. After that, there is no longer good on this earth is more than
good at the time of AlMahdi. Sabda Nabi Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam: Tiga ratus
empat belas (314) orang yang diantaranya adalah perempuan, bergabung dengan
AlMahdi yang akan bertindak ke atas setiap pemimpin yang berbuat zalim dan
menegakkan keadilan seperti yang diharap-harapkan oleh semua orang. Setelah
itu, tidak ada kebaikan lagi dimuka bumi ini yang melebihi pada masa AlMahdi.
