China’s Unexpected Jews

With the establishment of the state of Israel in 1950, one of the most controversial laws passed by the new country was the Law of Return. This law allows all those of ‘jewish ancestry’ to ‘return’ to Israel to live and claim citizenship. Although the exact intent of the law has long been debated, one of the outcomes of the law is very clear – the influx of Jews from a variety of countries and ethnicities few had anticipated.

Kaifeng Jews, at the turn of the 20th Century

With Israel making a name for itself as a rapidly growing economic power, the new law quickly began to attract Jews the world over. Although many had expected the new state of Israel to be populated largely by Jews fleeing persecution in the Soviet Union, or those displaced by the holocaust,

But, who was ‘Jewish’? Which people were ‘Jews’?

Israel began to realise that such a question was a lot more complicated than it seemed. In the years following the rule’s introduction a number of unexpected Jews began to evoke the new law.

Perhaps the most famous of these ‘unexpected jews’ were the large number of Beta Israel (or ‘Falasha’) from Ethiopia that migrated to Israel.

Peaking in the early 90s, with the end of the Cold War, hundreds of thousands of Falasha have immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia since the introduction of the Law of Return.

So popular became the lure of escape to Israel that Ethiopian Christians began passing themselves off as Jewish in order to escape the famine that was ravaging the country, an issue subsequently explored in the 2005 film “Go, Live, and Become“.

Over time, the continent of Asia also produced its share of claimants to the Law of Return. Perhaps the most interesting examples are the self-proclaimed Jews of Kaifeng, China . Further from Israel, geographically and culturally, than the Ethiopian Jews, this group is still fighting for recognition by Israel.

The Kaifeng Jews

For most, the city of Kaifeng is nothing more than a dusty medium-sized city in the middle of China’s Henan province.

The City of Kaifeng, as it looks today.

Although at one time perhaps the largest city in the world, and the capital of China during the Song Dynasty, these days Kaifeng is largely overlooked by the world at large.

However, for academics in general and scholars of Judaism in particular, Kaifeng holds a distinct point of interest – it claims a community of ethnic Chinese with a Jewish lineage over one thousand years old.

The historical existence of a Jewish community in Kaifeng is unchallenged. The religion first came to China via the trade routes of Central Asia, taking hold amongst the mercantile class of the city.

Their continued presence in Kaifeng was confirmed in 1603 by Italian explorer and Jesuit Matteo Ricci. However, over the centuries the community dwindled. Persecution, conversion to Islam and intermarriage saw the number of self-identified Jews in Kaifeng drop dramatically. From 10-12 families of practising Jews at the time of Ricci’s visit, by the 1800s that number had fallen to just a handful.

The practice of Judaism was already fading away in Kaifeng by this stage. In 1851, when visiting European missionaries purchased a 17th-century Hebrew Torah they had located in Kaifeng, they were unable to find a single Jew amongst the citizens of Kaifeng that were able to read it. What Jewish families resisted the pressures of assimilation and time were largely overcome by the dominant forces of Chinese nationalism and Communist oppression in the 20th Century.

However, with the reopening of China under the leadership of Deng XiaoPing, interest in the Jews of Kaifeng was renewed. Although almost all of the practices of Judaism had been forgotten, the Jews of Kaifeng still held a belief; albeit a vague, intangible one, that they were Jewish. The ‘Jewish’ families of Kaifeng avoided pork, almost unheard of amongst Han Chinese, and celebrated a ceremony very similar to the Jewish Passover. Yet despite this, they spoke no Hebrew, they did not read the Torah and they had little understanding of the cultural or religious foundations of Judaism. They were simply ‘Jews’ – whatever that meant.

Debate still rages in academic and political circles as to the authenticity s of the current citizens of Kaifeng’s claims to the Jewish faith. Many argue that but for the interest of foreigners, and the potential of Jewish tourist trade (for example, Jewish Heritage Tours of China), there would be few in Kaifeng claiming Jewish heritage. As has been discussed in previous articles, the Chinese have often been accused of pandering to historical fantasy in aid of increased tourism.

As evident in this video of their 2009 visit to Israel, many Kaifeng Jews are adamant they are true followers of the Judaic tradition :

Thus far this belief is not one shared by the State of Israel. So far the only way Kaifeng Jews can become Israeli citizens is by converting ‘back’ to Judaism – a route taken by a handful of Kaifeng Jews already. However, this is not an option for most Kaifeng residents. It took often two years of negotiations with the Interior Ministry of Israel to organise the ‘return’ of just seven Kaifeng Jews in 2009.

However, for many Kaifeng Jews, and their supporters within Israel, the matter is settled.

They believe they are Jews – hence they are Jews. And they do not need a formal confirmation from the Government Israel to prove what they know to be true.