My son is an Orthodox Jew and dovens with a Chinese Jew in Highland Park NJ. This gentelman comes from the town of Kaefung which traces its jewish lineage back over 2,000 years. Their last Rabbi died about 100 years ago. Many people in his community have been reconverted to Judaism by Chabad. While I have no great positive feelings toward Chasidim and Orthodoxy, this is a Mitzvah.
The Jews of China were a respected minority in ancient imperial China. In fact, Chinese authorities would not let Pigs to be herded in front of synagogues as a sign of respect.
I have a reproduction of the Hagaddah of the Chinese Jews that my father passed on to me.
It`s a shame that "western" Jews know so little about their brethren in the Orient (China, Japan, India, Tibet, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc). |
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