Kaifeng Torah and the Chinese Jewish Community

 They are the Jewish community settled the farthest from Jerusalem. They maintained their community for over thousand years on the banks of the Yellow River. Eventually they integrated themselves into the Local Chinese Community. 

Jewish arrival to China

Kaifeng was known as Bianliang in the early centuries and was one of the seven ancient capitals of China situated deep in the middle of country on the banks of Yellow River. It is not certain when the Jewish Community arrived in Bianliang. The oral history recommends they were Persian Traders who arrived in the first century and their synagogue is believed to have existed up to 1850. A business letter of 718 written using Hebrew charachter but in Persian language is the evidence that supports their origin. 

A Jesuit missionary in his letters to Vatican from Kaifeng had mentioned about the Jews living there. It is said there are about 6 casual reference to the Jews of Kaifeng by travellers till 1605 but no specific study was made untill 1800 by which time the Jewish community of Kaifeng had disappeared. 

Just like the Jewish Community of Cochin, the Kaifeng community was also prosperous and did not face any persecution or harassment. Much loved by the locals they also proudly displayed many gifts they received from the Emperor in their synagogue. 

The end of the community

The Jewish customs obviously were different from the Chinese way of life and the Confucian way of thinking. Not eating pork, Observing Sabbath and Torah reading at Synagogue, circumcising their children etc.. They did not take second wives nor bound their feet like the Chinese. They also had their own Rabbis as preist, the last one is said to have died in 1810. 

By the middle of 1800 the Jewish community had integrated into the local community so much so that they had nobody among them who could read or write Hebrew halting the Torah reading and subsequently their Synagogue fell without proper repair. Today there is a new Synagogue in its place and there are people who says they are Jews even though they have the physical features same like the other Chinese folks around them.

Kaifeng community is considered as a long lost Jews and some Chinese scholars like Zhou Un of the school of Oriental and African Studies, London, say the Jewishness of the Kaifeng Community is a Western Cultural Invention. 

The importance of the Kaifeng Torah

The Jesuit missionaries when they came across the Kaifeng community was hoping they would get from them owing to their long isolation from the mainstream 'un-corrupted Torahs' which they believed could help in their Biblical interpretations. As we know by the middle of 1800s there were hardly anyone in the Kaifeng community who could read Hebrew and they started selling old copies of their Torah to the inquisitive colonial visitors. The contents of the Kaifeng Torah was similar to the conventional scriptures. They did not have any Chinese Translations to help the later generation to read and understand the content of the scriptures. 

The Making of the Kaifeng Torah Scroll 

It is believed to have been made between 1643 and 1663. At any rate it was acquired by the Kaifeng Jesuit Missionaries in 1851 and was presented to the British Museum in 1852. The scroll is made from the thick sheep skin tied together with silk thread (not animal sinew which is customary). It has 239 columns of text written in Hebrew Square Script similar  to the ones used by the Jews of Persia without any signs to show the vowel sounds. Unfortunately only 7 of the 15 Kaifeng Synagogue Torahs have survived. 

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Courtesy Visit

A high-profile shooting in progess in our Jew town Mattancherry. It is a pity that the organizers do not usually advise the superstars to pay a courtesy visit to the last of the Paradesi community members.

 

Pessach Greetings

Last day of the Peaasach week at our Jew town in Mattancherry. Somedays of the week were rainy and lonely at the Heritage town. 

Sabbath Shalom - Kerala Jew Tour

 "The Prophet" 

By Alexander Pushkin 

[revised version] 

When, pained with spiritual thirst,

I trudged across a gloomy desert,

I came upon a six-winged seraph

Standing before me on my path.

With digits light as sleep he touched

My pupils both, and they enlarged,

Like a she-eagle's in a fright,

Filling up with prophetic sight.

He touched my ears: a din rushed in

Mixed with a ringing, a chiming din.

I heard a heavenly vibration,

And angels soaring high above us,

And sea fish gliding in the gulfs,

And yon far grapevine's maturation.

And from my mouth he tore and flung

My sinful, idle, crafty tongue,

Useless verbose appendage, and

He swiftly with his bloodstained hand

Implanted there a wise snake's kiss – 

A venom sting – behind numb lips.

His sword split up my chest, from whence

He plucked away the timid heart

And in its place a coal in flames

Into the hollow did insert.

And when like carrion silently

I lay, God's voice called out to me:

"Prophet, arise! Behold and hear,

And roam – for no mundane rewards – 

By land and sea, but everywhere

Sting people in their hearts with words.

Yom Kippur

Requesting forgiveness and praying for blessing. The fast start today sundown and continues till sun down tomorrow. 

Hanukkah

The festival of lights celebrated over eight days and nights to commemorate the memory of the re-dedication of the Old second temple at Jerusalem after Maccabees miraculously won the war over a larger army of the Greek-Syrians who were oppressing the lives and beliefs of the community. 

Hanukkah traditionally falls on the 25th day of the month of Kislev in the Hebrew Calendar which is December 22nd to 30th, this year coinciding with the Christmas. According to the Hebrew Calendar the Hanukkah can fall between any day from the last week of November to December in the Gregorian Calendar. 

A candle is lit each night adding up to eight candle on the final night. In Kerala, our Nehemia Mootha, died on the first candle of the Hannukah and is buried in the Chakka Maadam cemetery of the Kadavumbhagam Synagogue. Interestingly the saint's tomb is the only one that survived the local encroachment after the "Alia". This year, surprisingly after the service at the Synagogue the gathering walked all the way to the saints tomb and the elder made a talk about him. We found it very interesting as there was no such precedence. 

"Happy Hanukkah"

The season is on and the 'Meniyan' was not a problem at the Mattancherry synagogue for the Sabbath.

Season or not there is always a candle burning at Nehemiah Mootah's old tomb. In the December evening sunlight the neighbourhood was looking very charming. On the other side of the street, Ellickal temple was celebrating their festival with caprisoned elephant, which is always a top tourist attraction. But not many were aware of the glorious Kerala spectacle which was happening so close to the tourism circuit.
Pictures from Saturday.