Expert on Asian Jewish life visits Kaifeng Jews
Plaque with the 10 Commandments in Chinese
Rabbi Marvin Tokayer is one of the leading experts on Jewish life in Asia. He spent nearly ten years as the rabbi of the Jewish community in Tokyo and has traveled extensively in the region including China. Earlier this month, he brought a tour group from the United States to meet the Chinese Jews in Kaifeng.
The visit, reports Shulamit Gershovich, Shavei Israel’s correspondent in Kaifeng, included lunch in a local hotel with ten members of the Beit HaTikva community, followed by a visit to the Beit HaTikva center. The Kaifeng Jews, with Shulamit’s help, created a striking laminated wooden plaque with the 10 Commandments written out…in Chinese. The plaque was hung on a wall in the community center in honor of Rabbi Tokayer’s visit.
Rabbi Tokayer, in turn, brought prints of an earlier 10 Commandments written in Chinese and dating from the 17th Century. He then shared with the community the story of the Jewish rebellion in the Land of Israel in the first century CE, using the character of Talmudic scholar and Jewish leader at the time, Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai, as a metaphor to say that, just as the Jewish nation was reconstituted following its decimation in Jerusalem, so too can the Kaifeng community once again grow and flourish.
Rabbi Tokayer's group with their Chinese hosts
Overcome with emotion, the group sang Hatikvah (the Israeli national anthem) – first in Chinese and then together in Hebrew with the American visitors. Rabbi Tokayer’s group called the visit “the highlight of their trip” and some even exchanged emails with the Kaifeng Jews. The group also had the opportunity to purchase local hand-made kippot (skullcaps) and Chinese hand fans (at $6.00, a real steal!)
The Kaifeng Jews prepared a short history of their community, also in Chinese (Shulamit translated it into English). They presented it, along with a group photo taken last Purim, to their honored guests.
You can see a full gallery from Rabbi Tokayer’s trip here. We also have information about the history of Jews in Japan on the Shavei Israel website, and a link to Rabby Tokayer’s own website.
Just before Rabbi Tokayer’s visit, Steve Hochstadt, the treasurer of the Sino-Judaic Institute, arrived in Kaifeng for four days. His main purpose was to check in with Kaifeng’s Henan University where his institute finances the Jewish studies program there. Of course, he also spent time with the Kaifeng Jewish community. The most immediate outcome of the visit, Shulamit reports, is that a larger group of people from the university will hopefully participate in the lessons on Hebrew and Judaism given in the Beit HaTikva school.