Harbin & Kaifeng Jews

1
Jewish Harbin Kaifeng Jews
2
The Harbin Huang Shan Jewish Cemetery, located
in the city's suburbs, is the largest and the
best-preserved cemetery in the Far East.
3
(No Transcript)
4

• The cemetery, with about 600 tombstones engraved
  in Russian and Yiddish, was built in 1903 in the
  city center and was transferred outside the city
  in 1958. In 1992, after the establishment of
  relations between Israel and China, it was
  renovated.

5
(No Transcript)
6

• Ehud Olmert,
• Israel's prime minister, paid respects to his
  grandfather who is buried in the cemetery.
• He left a stone
• on the tomb of his grandfather Joseph Olmert,
  who died in Harbin in 1941.

7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
The group members  are saying "Kaddish"
10
Jewish Hospital
11
The Harbin Jewish hospital was once a
first-class hospital in Harbin , it received not
only Jewish patients, but also patients of other
nationalities.
12
Modern Hotel and Kaspe Jewellery were founded by
a French Jew YAKaspe.
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
Minha in the hotel in Harbin
18

• Archeological evidence points to a Jewish
  presence in China as early as the 8th century,
  when Jewish merchants traveled the Silk Road from
  Persia and India. Many travelers, including Marco
  Polo in the 13th century, reported meeting Jews.
  During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a Ming
  emperor conferred seven surnames on the Jews,
  which still identify them today Ai, Lao, Jin,
  Li, Shi, Zhang and Zhao. Shi and Jin are the
  equivalent of common Jewish names in the west
  Stone and Gold.

http//www.jewish-holiday.com/kaifeng.html
19
Wikipedia

• The Kaifeng Jews are members of a small Jewish
  community that has existed in Kaifeng, in the
  Henan province of China, for hundreds of years.
• According to historical records, a Jewish
  community with a synagogue built in 1163 lived in
  Kaifeng from at least the Southern Song Dynasty
  until the late nineteenth century.

20

• The head Jew of Kaifeng gives the Rabbi a gift

21

22
The Head Jew of Kaifeng,giving Marion a b-day
gift. Mazal Tov !
23
(No Transcript)
24

• It is believed that the ancestors of the Kaifeng
  Jews came from Central Asia. The uninterrupted
  existence of this religious and ethnic group,
  living for over 700 years in socio-cultural
  surroundings strongly dominated by Confucian
  moral and ethical principles, is a unique
  phenomenon in Chinese and Jewish history.

Wikipedia
25
Moshe, the head Jew and his Chinese wife
26
Encyclopedia of Diaspora

• The leader of this group is called Moshe, name
  given to him by an uncle who told him to remember
  that he was Jewish.
• Moshe said The
• Jewish history and culture of Kaifeng is part of
  the history of the world s Jewish people.

27
Kaifeng Jewish descendant
28
Kaifeng Jewish descendants kitchen
29
In spite of a lack of formal religious practice,
Kaifeng Jews have a sense of ethnic identity.
Some list their children as "Youtai" (Jewish) on
government documents next to a spot where they
might have written "Han" (Ethnic Chinese), and
are happy to meet foreign visiting Jews.
Kaifeng descendants mezuzah
30

• Kaifeng
• Jewish
• descendant

31

• In his 1992 documentary series Legacy, historian
  Michael Wood walked down a small lane in Kaifeng
  that he said is known as the "alley of the sect
  who teach the Scriptures", that is, of the Jews.
  He mentioned that there are still Jews in Kaifeng
  today, but that they are reluctant to reveal
  themselves "in the current political climate."
  The documentary's companion book further states
  that one can still see a "mezuzah on the door
  frame, and the candelabrum in the living room."
• http//www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Kaifeng_Je
  ws

32
(No Transcript)
33
THE RABBI SUPERVISING THE LOADING OF THE TORAH HE
BROUGHT ALL THE WAY FROM THE STATES
We actually did make a little history, because
as far as we are aware, a torah which was
carried from the States by Rabbi Franklin, was
read on the Shabbat Service on Saturday
morning. He believed that this was the first
time a torah was read on Shabbat in Harbin in
50 or so years. To me that Saturday morning
service was the highlight of our tour( Charles).
34
Modern Kaifeng
35
Bar in Kaifeng
36
Modern hotel
37
(No Transcript)
38
(No Transcript)
39
Dec-08

• Photos
• Charles Berelowitz
• Music
• Mirel Reznik