Chinese Jews feel more at home in Israel

[High_Gravity]

Chinese Jews feel more at home in Israel

Reporting from Jerusalem and Beijing— As a child growing up in Kaifeng in central China, Jin Jin was constantly reminded of her unusual heritage.

"We weren't supposed to eat pork, our graves were different from other people, and we had a mezuza on our door," said the 25-year-old, referring to the prayer scroll affixed to doorways of Jewish homes.

Her father told her of a faraway land called Israel that he said was her rightful home, she recalls. But "we didn't know anything about daily prayers or the weekly reading of the Torah."

Jin has since fulfilled her father's dream. On a hot summer day in Jerusalem, where she works as a tour guide for Chinese citizens visiting Israel, Jin, who now goes by the Hebrew name Yecholya, wore a long khaki skirt, indicative of her conservative religious views, and Teva-like sandals, the national footwear of Israel.

Jin and her relatives belong to a community of Chinese Jews that was established in the 9th century by Persian traders who traveled along the Silk Road to Kaifeng, at the time China's capital.

Records documenting the group's history are spotty, but experts do know that some of the Jewish traders settled in Kaifeng and eventually built a synagogue with official recognition from the emperor. After the last rabbi in Kaifeng died in 1809, many began to forsake their religious practices while holding on to certain traditions, like the prohibition against pork and the celebration of a communal meal on Passover.

Then in 2005, Shavei Israel arrived. The privately funded conservative religious organization, based in Jerusalem, specifically targets descendants of Jews who have lost their connection to the religion, such as those forced to convert to Catholicism during the Inquisition in Spain.

"Chinese have a strong reverence for ancestry," said Michael Freund, founder and chairman of Shavei Israel. "Even though they don't know how to read the Torah, they know they're Jewish."

So far the organization has helped 14 Jews, out of an estimated 3,000 who live in Kaifeng, move to Israel. But Freund complained that Israel's bureaucratic and religious red tape has prevented Shavei Israel from bringing over more of these Chinese Jews.

Because the community intermarried and based Jewishness on patrilineal heritage rather than matrilineal, the norm in Judaism, Kaifeng Jews who want to move to Israel need to undergo Orthodox conversions under Israeli law.

The process takes a year or more of study at an Orthodox yeshiva, and requires a final examination before a rabbinical court.

Jin was brought to Israel with three others from her hometown by Shavei Israel specifically to begin the conversion process. Once converted, she was eligible to remain in Israel under the country's Law of Return. The statute allows Jews to claim citizenship, which she did along with her three Chinese classmates. Jin's father remains in China, although she said he hopes to join her soon.

At first, Jin and others were indignant about the need to formally convert to Judaism.

Chinese Jews feel more at home in Israel - latimes.com

 

[Sallow]

Many Chinese are extremely bigotted and racist. And they make no bones about it.

 

[High_Gravity]

Many Chinese are extremely bigotted and racist. And they make no bones about it.

Yeah they definently don't.

 

[techieny]

OY维伊 whats with the fake egg rolls I ask you!

 

[Mr. H.]

Chinese Jews = Chews.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emmy82tFT30"]just plain weird. But sometimes beautiful[/ame]

 

[syrenn]

Many Chinese are extremely bigotted and racist. And they make no bones about it.

That about sums it up.

 

[Avatar4321]

Glad to see the hearts of the children to their fathers.

 

[Lokiate]

Many Chinese are extremely bigotted and racist. And they make no bones about it.

Most Asians are.

 

[High_Gravity]

Many Chinese are extremely bigotted and racist. And they make no bones about it.

Most Asians are.

Filipinos aren't for the most part.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

I see something very funny in the formulation that "Most __________ (name your own minority) are racist."

Chinese in china are notoriously xenophobic. It is what held them back for over 800 years. But that is not the same as racism.