From The Wall Street Journal: “For much of the past millennium, Jews in Kaifeng— descendants of merchants who arrived here from Persia, probably around the 11th century—have been struggling with an existential question: What does it mean to be Jewish?…The question has surprising consequences in this dusty walled city in central China. According to the Chinese government, there are no Kaifeng Jews because there are no Chinese Jews. Judaism isn’t one of China’s five official religions and Jews aren’t designated as one of the country’s 55 official minorities…Except there is [a Jewish community], though it’s divided and diminished. Somewhere between 500 and 1,000 people in the city say they are descendants of Kaifeng Jews and cling to at least some Jewish traditions.”
This is a fascinating look once again at the cultural and ethnic roots of a religion, particularly Judaism, and what it means for its adherents if they are not born Jewish, according to the traditional definition. The larger issue is the inevitability of any religion to be influenced and transformed by a new culture resulting in a hybrid or mixed expression of that religion. Often, traditionalists (or those more orthodox) resist it, but those more progressively-minded cultivate those expressions because of the added depth the culture’s interaction with the religion offers to all its followers. In the end, I hope that Chinese Judaism is embraced by both the Chinese and Jewish faith communities for the sake of a broader, richer expression of that religion.
[Photo courtesy of WSJ]
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