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Among the Jewish Descendants of Kaifeng

Judaism, Wntr, 2000 by Irwin M. Berg

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My wife and I visited Kaifeng in October 1998 with Dr. Wendy Abraham who speaks Chinese. In any visit of short duration-especially where communication is difficult-opinions and impressions are formed based upon the people one meets. These opinions and impressions have a high possibility of error. If a Jewish descendant of Kaifeng came to the United States and were to visit a Reform Synagogue in Omaha or a Chasidic Synagogue in Brooklyn, his opinions and impressions of Jews in the United States would likely be far off the mark.

In Kaifeng, I had the opportunity to meet members of several families of Jewish descent and to visit several points of Jewish interest.

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Shi Lei is a twenty year old college student who understands English. He regrets that he never had the opportunity to ask his grandfather, Shi Zhongyu (who died in 1994), about his memories of Jewish customs. He is largely uninformed, not only about the Jewish religion and history, but also about the history of his ancestors. All of this he deeply regrets, and he would like to learn more. He is an only child.

Shi Lei's father is a manager of a government-owned business. Shi Lei's father and grandfather (Shi Zhongyu) both married Han-Chinese women. His father's sister (Shi Ping) is also married to a Han-Chinese. She is a tax collector, and has one child, a son. In China, unless one is a member of a recognized minority, only one child is permitted.

Zhang Xingwang is a high school teacher and a martial arts expert. He has a business-card which reads "Moshe Xingwang Zhang, Jewish Diaspora." "Moshe" has a beard and wore a hat. He expressed a desire that his son study Hebrew in Israel.

Zhao Pingyu, who was a factory worker for the municipal government, died several years ago. Members of his family still live on 21 Nan Jiao Jing Hutong or 21 South Teaching Torah (or Scripture) Lane. In the days when the Kaifeng synagogue stood, the Jews lived on this street or nearby. Today Zhao's family are the last Jewish descendants living on Nan Jiao Jing Hutong. On their doorpost is a mezuzah which was given to them by Rabbi Arnold Belzer of Savannah, Georgia, during the 1980s.

Prior to the great flood of 1849, the Jews had a common burial ground. Sometime after that date, each family began to bury their dead in a separate family plot. The Jin family has a plot with many graves outside of Kaifeng near a village called Cai Zhuang Cun. The plot is in an untended patch of trees and brush surrounded by miles of flat, farm land. A stela recites that at one time the family lived in Ningxia-one of four cities where Jews were known to have settled prior to their discovery by the West. The stela was erected in 1989. Today, the Kaifeng descendants cremate their dead since the right to inter is accorded only to certain recognized minorities.

Several families are aware of the Jewish custom of abstaining from pork. The Shi family now eats pork except during meals which commemorate their ancestors. They know that their ancestors did not eat pork; and so, out of respect for their ancestors, they do not eat pork during these special meals. [10]

Among the Jewish Descendants of Kaifeng

Judaism, Wntr, 2000 by Irwin M. Berg

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