12 Points East

JOIN THE SINO-JUDAIC INSTITUTE

The Sino-Judaic Institute is a non-denominational, non-profit, and non-political organization, founded on June 27, 1985, in Palo Alto, California, by an international group of scholars and lay Vol. 29 No. 1 A Publication of the Sino-Judaic Institute persons, to promote friendship and understanding between the Chinese and Jewish peoples and to March 2014 encourage and develop their cooperation in matters of mutual historical and cultural interest. Its objectives are: CONTROVERSIES FOR THE SAKE OF HEAVEN THE STATE OF THE “GHETTO” 2014: AN EXCHANGE OF VIEWS 1) The study of the ancient Jewish community of Kaifeng and assisting its descendents as appropriate. CONTRADICTING REVISIONIST HISTORY A RESPONSE 2) The study of Jewish life in Shanghai, Harbin, Tianjin and elsewhere in the 19th and 20th centuries. by Dr. Lotte Lustig Marcus by George Kalmar 3) The support of Jewish studies programs in China. I am an 86-year old, Austrian, Shanghailander refugee, who I was the producer for the video portion of the recent Shanghai published in your journal in March 2009. Ghetto Exhibit at the UCLA Hillel, and I find it necessary to 4) The study of cultural intersections between Chinese and Jews, for example adoptions, literature, reply to Dr. Marcus’s recent essay on the subject. diasporas, etc. Let me be simultaneously forthright and succinct: to my knowl- edge, there were only two—TWO—significant occasions be- All of us who have an appreciation of history will agree, I 5) The study of Sino-Israeli relations. tween 1938 and 1945 during which the Jewish refugee com- think, that there is no such thing as “historical truth.” Past munity in Shanghai and the local Chinese community whole- events are always recalled differently by every person. So it is 6) To cooperate with other groups whose interests lie in Sinitic and Judaic matters. heartedly embraced one another. with the events that surround the extraordinary survival of over 16,000 Jewish refugees in Shanghai during the Second World The first was July 17th, 1945 when the Americans erroneously War as recalled by Dr. Lotte Marcus in her recent essay. Her Membership in the Institute is open and we cordially invite you to join in supporting our endeavor. bombed the Hongkew ghetto where I was then working as an account of experiences during these years in Shanghai will be Our annual dues structure is as follows: 18-year old secretary at the Shanghai Jewish Hospital (formerly and have been contradicted by other Shanghailanders. the Ward Road Hospital, with Alfred Edel, the hospital admin- istrator, and Dr. T. Friedrichs, the head physician). As a result Most of what she reports of the political circumstances is fact. Benefactor ...... $1,000 of this American bombing mishap, 31 refugees were killed, The Chinese were not in control of Shanghai, and they did not Patron ...... 500 many more wounded, and numberless, uncounted Chinese liv- have the ability or the opportunity to welcome the refugees ing outside on the nearby crowded alleyways (as was custom- into their city, which was in many places reduced to rubble Corporate Patron ...... 500 ary in those days) were either killed or seriously hurt. It was just two years earlier by the Japanese. Nor could the Chinese Corporate Sponsor ...... 250 to 499 also the first time without any prior plans, meetings, be expected to welcome any more white people who had, for Corporate Member ...... 250 to 499 consultations, etc., that dead & injured Chinese AND Jewish the previous hundred years, ignored their nation’s sovereignty citizens were treated together in our medical facility, and we and taken advantage of them in so many ways. Sponsor ...... 100 tried to take very good care of them—coolies, drivers, children, Regular Member ...... 50 peddlers, beggars, bystanders—for which they seemed very grate- No, in practice, the Chinese government - if one can claim Libraries ...... 50 ful and happy to be in our hands. that there even was one in Shanghai at the time - did not save the Jews. If any “saving” was done it should be credited to the Academic ...... 30 The second occasion of intimate contact was on August 8th, Japanese, who could easily have murdered all the Jews in Shang- Senior Citizens ...... 25 1945, when I was on Chusan Road, hanging out with hai as they have done with millions of Chinese - but for a other teenagers and the announcement of Japan’s surrender came number of complex reasons they did not. The question whether Students ...... 25 through on short wave radio. Instantly, people began hollering the Chinese actually saved the Jews, or if the refugees were out the news in German, English, Russian and Chinese and, on even friends with the Chinese, is ultimately irrelevant. Dr. the streets, all of us began dancing and singing and embracing Marcus’ insistence that any suggestion of intimate relation- I wish to become a member of the Sino-Judaic Institute and receive Points East three times a year. Enclosed is together for hours; old, young, white, yellow, it didn’t matter. ships between the refugees and the Chinese is a “falsehood,” my check for $ . What mattered was that the long nightmare of the War was is inaccurate. After listening to almost 300 testimonies from PLEASE PRINT over and we could finally look forward to a future in which Shanghailanders, it is clear to me that many of the refugees we’d be finally able to take charge of our own destiny. (although they may not have shared these facts with their chil- dren at the time) did in fact have close and daily contact with Name: What I cited above were unique events; in the 71/2 years I spent the Chinese. There were Chinese gambling places, shops, whole- in Shanghai, except for these two exceptions we hardly ever sale business ventures, and a number of other venues where Address: cultivated private, or intimate, contacts with the locals at all; many Jews interacted with the locals. There were many Jews my family and friends never learned to speak anything but bro- who had close Chinese friends, and some who learned to speak Home Phone: Work Phone: ken Chinese (and the Chinese never learned to speak German). Shanghai dialect well. Neither my friends nor I ever had Chinese girlfriends or boy- Fax: E-Mail: friends; we never cooked Chinese food; we hardly ever ate To what extent this was general practice is also irrelevant. Mail to: The Sino-Judaic Institute, Prof. Steve Hochstadt, Dept. of History, Illinois College, (continued on page 3) (continued on page 4)6) 1101 West College Ave, Jacksonville IL 62650 2 Points East Points East 11 researched subject, his narrative becomes year-old Chinese Jew, Jin Jin, to Israel, where frequent synagogues and potentially have Points East Points East more and more interesting, the charac- he now lives. Haaretz has been following more than one child. A recent Chinese docu- Anson Laytner, Publisher TABLE OF CONTENTS FROM THE EDITOR ters more and more human, as he the conversion of several Chinese Jews in mentary on the ancient Jewish community  progresses to the Shanghai setting where Israel, including Yaakov Wong, who is study- in China interviewed families in Kaifeng with Points East is published by the Sino-Judaic they endure great hardship in their ing to become the first Chinese Rabbi in Jewish ties and concluded that Chinese Jews Featured Article: This issue’s title comes from the fa- Institute, a tax-exempt, non-profit organization. struggle to survive. Kalla, who is well over 200 years. And Israeli friends like to simply no longer exist. The opinions and views expressed by the Contradicting Revisionist mous saying in Pirkei Avot, the Say- known for his medical thrillers (he is an remind me that Eli Marom, who is a quarter contributors and editor are their own and do emergency room physician), centers this Chinese, was the first Chinese Jew to hold a Nor do Kaifeng Jews meet the criteria for History ...... 1 ings of the Sages, which says a contro- not necessarily express the viewpoints and top military post in Israel, as the head of the Israel’s Law of Return, in which at least one versy waged in the name of Heaven, positions of the Sino-Judaic Institute. work around a refugee hospital in his fast moving, well-timed plot. Israeli Navy from 2007 to 2011. Marom’s grandparent must be Jewish. So those that such as those between Hillel and brother, Moshe Marom, served as the first consider themselves to be “Chinese Jews” A Response ...... 1 Letters to the Editor and articles for Points East Shammai, will yield permanent value. representative to China for the IDF (Israel still have to complete a lengthy conversion may be sent to: The author reaches his full stride in the Defense Force). process in order to become an Israeli citi- second book. It is now 1943 and the Jews Preferred Form: zen. From the Editor ...... 2 How do I interpret “in the name of are under the control of hostile Japanese, As it turns out, scholars estimate that there e-mail:[email protected] including the threat of Nazi pressure to Heaven”? Anytime people gather to dis- are nearly 1,000 Chinese people of Jewish Even Yecholiya Jin, the Kaifeng Jew profiled or to: Rabbi Anson Laytner exterminate them. They have been descent alive today—most of whom origi- by Tablet, concedes that Kaifeng Jews did Articles: cuss what is good and true, be it Torah 1823 East Prospect St. herded into the Hong Kew ghetto, where nate from Kaifeng, an area of the Henan not abide by religious laws throughout Seattle, WA 98112-3307 A Disclaimer ...... 5 or something else, and when what is their difficult life borders on the impos- Province in Eastern Central China. Accord- much of their history. “It’s only in the last discussed is done with a minimum of Points East is published three times a year, in sible. Subplots develop; moral dilemmas ing to Irene Eber, a Professor of Asian Stud- 10 years that we began to pick up more of ies at The Hebrew University…”They were March, July and November. Deadlines for abound in the war-torn city. The color- our condition and understand the traditions. ego involvement—that is “in the name Han Chinese and also Jewish. This Jewish Another Response ...... 6 submitting material to be included in these ful Shanghai of Book I is now a grimy Before then, [critics] are right in that we didn’t of Heaven.” identity is again being affirmed today with issues are January 15th, May 15th and shadow of its former self. However, even really keep kosher or know Hebrew or in the darkest of moments in this family the help of Jews that travel to China and much of the beliefs— we only knew we were September 15th. guide them into a Jewish direction.” Common Current Misconceptions We kick off Volume 29 with two such and community saga of espionage and Jewish and we didn’t eat pork.” Though betrayal, glimmers of light shine through. Kaifeng citizens of Jewish descent are not about the Kaifeng Jewish controversies: one regarding Shanghai FINANCIAL REPORT AVAILABLE But whether or not the descendants of this recognized as Jewish by the Chinese gov- Community ...... 7 and the other Kaifeng. As you will read, The two books can be read independently ancient Jewish community…are actually SJI members interested in receiving a Jewish, is cause for controversy. ernment, Jin says that on a local level, mem- feelings run strong on these two sub- copy of the annual financial report should as Kalla neatly covers the back-story of bers of her family and other members of the Book I in the second volume. Both books jects. send a self-addressed envelope to: Steve Yiyi Chen, the Director of the Institute for communities are able to pray together and Kaifeng Jews: Controversial are good reads, and he also leaves the Hochstadt, Treasurer of the Sino-Judaic Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Peking Uni- meet regularly for Shabbat and holiday meals Institute, Illinois College, 1101 W Col- door open for a third installment. I await in Two Countries ...... 11 So I chose this title because, while it versity, is not convinced. “Regardless of how in Kaifeng. Her father even wears tzitzit. lege Ave., Jacksonville IL 62650. it with interest. you define Jewishness—either in conserva- is obvious to me that the controversies tive or liberal terms—I don’t think there are Regardless of their hazy history, once con- Book Nook ...... 10 within our numbers are being waged Excerpts from both books and additional any Jews currently living in Kaifeng,” he said. verted, Chinese Jews are considered Jewish Sino-Judaic Institute reviews can be found on Kalla’s web site “in the name of Heaven”, sometimes c/o Rabbi Arnie Belzer by the Israeli Rabbinate, and several have at http://danielkalla.com/ “Some claim that they are Jewish with his- it bears reminding one another that this 34 Washington Avenue been granted Israeli citizenship. 26-year-old Savannah, GA 31405 U.S.A. torical ties, but nothing has been preserved Yuguang Shi is one of a handful of Kaifeng is indeed the case. Our controversies, 4. The journal Sh’ma just published a other than the newly learned Jewishness Jews that arrived in Israel in 2009 with the SJI Officers special issue “China, Israel and Judaism,” following the opening of China in the late be they about the Jewish past in Shang- Arnie Belzer, President help of Shavei Israel, an organization that SJI MEMBERSHIP hai or the use of the past in the present, Dec 2013, volume 44/705. The entire 1980s and 1990s. The only tangible heri- assists “Hidden Jews” seeking to return to Vera Schwarcz, Vice-President tage they have is that since the 1980s— some Steve Hochstadt, Treasurer issue may be found at: http://shma.com/ the Jewish community. He is one of just over or about what to do in Kaifeng to as- of them are called the ‘blue kippas’ for ex- Ondi Lingenfelter, Secretary category/issues/china-israel-and-judaism/ a dozen Kaifeng Jews to convert in Israel Country Total ample, and are being mixed together with sist the struggling community there, are Anson Laytner, Immediate Past President after several years of studying. He became the Muslim community in terms of their di- worthwhile as long as we are discuss- an Israeli citizen earlier this year. United States 179 Managing Board Kaifeng Jews: etary restrictions. But other than that, there’s ing these topics sincerely, without seek- Denise Yeh Bresler, Joel Epstein, Bev Friend, China 19 Controversial in Two nothing that they observe.” ing merely to triumph over the other Seth Garz, Mary-Anne Graham, Ron Kaye, Dana “My identity as Jewish, from the time my Israel 16 Leventhal, Den Leventhal, David Marshall, Jim Countries grandmother told me about it when I was a person’s point of view, regardless of Countries Chen describes the current phenomenon Canada 14 Michaelson, Art Rosen, Eric Rothberg, Marvin excerpted from The Daily Beast, 3 Janu- of rediscovering a long-lost Jewish heritage child in China, was the start of everything in the merits involved. Tokayer, Tibi Weisz, Cynthia Zeiden my life today,” he said. “I feel Israel is spe- England 4 ary 2014 as a small but prominent trend among young International Advisory Board by Tiffanie Wen Kaifeng residents, born in the 1970s to cial. It is the place I should live because it is Australia 2 And while I’m in a rabbinic mode, per- Wendy Abraham, Jan Berris, Mark Cohen, Irene 1990s, who are attempting to reclaim a for- a Jewish country and I am above all Jew- Eber, Avrum Ehrlich, Fu Youde, Jonathan Germany 3 “Are you Jewish?” my Israeli boyfriend likes gotten culture. “But it consists of no more ish.” mit me to quote another story: For three Goldstein, Jerry Gotel, Judy Green, Len Hew, to ask me every time I do something like than a few dozen people,” he said. “I don’t Japan 2 years there was a dispute between the Tess Johnston, Donald Leslie, Michael Li, think they can safely claim that there is a Perhaps Shi and others like him have a rea- Maisie Meyer, Mark Michaelson, Sonja mumble oy va voy when I spill a bag of or- South Africa 2 Schools of Shammai and Hillel. Then anges outside of the grocery store. It’s a run- Jewish community there. There is not.” In- son to feel special. Being from Kaifeng and Muehlberger, Gustavo Perednik, Andrew Plaks, stead, Chen points to financial motivators Indonesia 1 a Heavenly Voice proclaimed: “These Pan Guang, Shi Lei, Yitzhak Shichor, Elyse ning joke, albeit not a very good one, since of ancient Jewish descent—whether or not behind those promoting the notion of Chi- Silverberg, Josh Stampfer, Shalom Wald, Xiao I’m ethnically Chinese. Beijing or Israel recognize him—still makes Switzerland 1 and these are the words of the living nese Jews, including academic, entrepre- Xian, Xu Xin, Zhang Qianhong, Albert Yee, him, at least statistically, one in a million. Taiwan 1 God!” And so it is with our disputes David Zweig But the premise of our joke—that the notion neurial and local governmental efforts to at- as well. May only good come from of a Chinese Jew is oxymoronic— is not tech- tract foreign tourists to Kaifeng and expand Tiffanie Wen is a freelance writer from San Past Presidents local revenues. them! Al Dien, Leo Gabow nically true. Lately, Chinese Jews have been Francisco who has written for the Times of coming out of the woodwork, and, because Israel, Newsweek, Cooler and more. She’s In Memoriam, z”l Officially, the Chinese government does not TOTAL: 257 of the obvious novelty factor, are getting a currently based in Tel Aviv, where she’s Marshall Denenberg, Leo Gabow, Phyllis Horal, recognize Judaism as a minority religion, a Anson Laytner decent amount of media attention. In No- writing a book on love in the Middle East. Teddy Kaufman, Rena Krasno, Michael Pollak, vember, Tablet covered the return of a 28- status that would allow Jewish citizens to Louis Schwartz 10 Points East Points Eastof light emitting from a holiday 3 menorah. I therefore became a witness selves who could have surely used the Contradictingto history Revisionist and live today to tell the tale help of “a kindly lady to put their arms BOOK NOOK 70History years later around them ”. In 1937, the future (continued from page 1) ....” Hongkew ghetto neighborhood had been New Books the book and $5 for postage] from Ken- stitute of the Indian Government], and in Chinese restaurants (which I do often already bombed and was left an enclave neth Robbins, 5055 Seminary Road, Suite Muslims & Jews in South Asia. Danny now in America). Nor did my family Nothing could be further from the essence of destroyed houses and of homeless 1. Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews: A 108, Alexandria, VA 22311. Ben Moshe and Kenneth Robbins will entertain—in the one-room space we of the actual experience I—and our circle Chinese. To the north, Chiang Kai Shek, be working on a volume about Jews in Collection of Biographical Reflec- had—Chinese acquaintances or friends on of friends—had upon arriving in Shang- a Chinese warlord (and later China’s and A time-line summarizes the contributions Bollywood and Robbins is also planning tions, by Maisie Meyer a social basis. Our relationship to the hai all those decades ago. It is truly a Taiwan’s President), and his army in of Western and Indian Jews to the In- an exhibition on Jews in India for the native population, in other words, was kind of desecration—or travesty—of our Manchuria, was consolidating his forces dian Subcontinent. The Mother, a great Rubin Museum of Art. Hamilton Books has just published Maisie almost 100 % confined to service work- (both Chinese and Jewish) situation, as and forming his Kuomintang national mystic and leader of the Aurobindo Meyer’s Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews: A well as a denigration of the Catch-22 situ- government, hoping eventually to “lib- Collection of Biographical Reflections, ashram, was a French artist with a Turk- 3. ers: laundry men, hot-water carriers, The Far Side of the Sky ation both Chinese and Jews found them- erate” Shanghai. But the Americans beat ish Jewish background. Maurice Frydman ing Sun, Falling ShadowShadow, amahs who took care of children, rick- a compilation of twenty-six biographi- the Sky and shaw carriers, removal of human waste selves in after 1938 and indeed through him to it—and so did the Communists cal accounts from the entire spectrum of (Bharatananda), an important associate Kalla of Nisargadatta Maharaj and other gurus, reviewed by Dr. Beverly Friend Ris- carriers or the reverse. My father sold all the post Pearl Harbor decades. in 1949. Meanwhile, the Japanese were the Shanghai Baghdadi community, from by Daniel philatelic stamps to Chinese collectors; “raping” Nanking. Thousands of destitute the strictly observant to the wholly secu- tried to create a Gandhian democracy in Aundh. Muhammad Asad (Leopold I am continually surprised by how little my mother sewed American Indian suits To begin with, we refugees did not ex- Chinese refugees were pouring into lar, as well as the moneyed, middle-class for children to a Chinese toyshop. All pect to be and, indeed, under the cir- Shanghai—with no “friendly” neighbors and poor men and women who made the Weiss) was an important Islamic politi- the general public — even those well these relations were functional and su- cumstances, were never, in fact, greeted there to greet them either. It is hard to port of Shanghai their home. cal thinker and government official in informed about the Holocaust — know Pakistan. Jews provided the Portuguese, about the history of the Jewish refugees perficially “friendly”—carried out most formally or informally by any Chinese imagine the stench we smelled or the representatives in Shanghai! But we were poverty we saw crowding the streets This groundbreaking book provides the who persecuted them, with language in Shanghai during WWII. Now, two new of the time in pigeon English—”friendly” opportunity for genuine self-expression skills and access to trading networks. Jean- historical novels will enlighten new au- as in polite or correct. Nor do I recall not simple “tourists” either. Quite by when we arrived; from the crammed sam- Baptiste Ventura became commander of diences as well as add to the libraries of that I was ever asked by any Chinese per- accident, it happened that, when I was pans rotting on the Whang Po River to to members of the community who have 1/2 so far not been heard, and amongst them, the Sikh armies. In 1921, Lord Reading the cognoscenti. son about what had brought us to Shang- 11 years old my parents and I were the beggars (often with those who have since passed away. The and Edwin Montagu were the two high- hai. among the lucky 4,000 or so Viennese amputations) roaming the dark lanes, to narrative offers perspectives of personali- est British officials governing India. Author Daniel Kalla aims to bring this Jews rescued by Dr. Ho Feng Shen, who newborn babies abandoned on the side- ties whose lives were shaped by crucial Garcia da Orta was a founder of tropical often-neglected piece of history to light. Simply put: we thought of ourselves as happened to be the Chinese Consul walks, to anonymous corpses left some- historical events, and fresh insights into medical botany in the sixteenth century. He succeeds, while ensuring that readers an added sliver of “whites” among the General in Vienna at the time… times for days on the pavement—it was the day-to-day lives of this remarkable Waldemar Haffkine, who created anti- will be “struck time and time again by 100,000 or so foreign residents—Ameri- a dark spectacle to behold! community who lived through the ma- cholera and plague vaccines, undertook the dignity, bravery, and sense of com- cans, British, German, French, or invol- When our ship, the Conte Biancamano, large-scale vaccination programs in In- munity among the indigenous Chinese jor crossroads of China’s history. Using untarily uprooted white Russians—all finally docked in Shanghai: there were We, the Jewish immigrants, were forced dia. Louis Kahn created the iconic Na- and the transplanted German Jews — two previously unseen diaries and archival from different economic and professional no official Chinese at dockside asking for by the circumstances we found to live tional Parliament House in Bangladesh. oppressed peoples who lived side by side material, the editor has written five bi- our passports or our visas, or inspecting parallel lives, not just with regard to the The buildings of Moshe Safdie, Joseph with remarkable tolerance and mutual levels, surviving (or thriving) in different ographies, unveiling new perspectives ways, in the turbulent sea of 4,000,000 our belongings. Trucks sent by local Jew- poverty we couldn’t avoid seeing but and details of the lives of Sir Victor A. Stein, and Stanley Tigerman are very respect, in an age of neither.” well known in India and Bangladesh. Chinese surrounding us on every side. ish groups arrived to lug our luggage in with regard the inflation that ravaged the Sassoon and the family of Sir Elly batches to newly improvised shelters in local currency. Nor could we have sur- Kadoorie. “The Far Side of the Sky” (463 pages) and The editors have commissioned original “Rising Sun, Falling Shadow” (352 For this reason—among several others—I Hongkew. In those years, of course, vived on the infinitesimal salaries paid articles from eminent historians (Guy pages), are sequential novels based on feel compelled to take vigorous excep- 1938/39, no official Chinese authority to the Coolies with whom we could not The diverse narrative approaches of these tion to the misleading implications dis- existed to perform ceremonial exercises. compete. Many of the books written by biographical accounts piece together an Attewell, Ainslie Embree, Shihan de Silva the lives and experiences of Jewish refu- seminated by Prof. Pan Guang, Dean of The city itself was, in fact, not “governed” Shanghailanders contain detailed images integrated collection, warts and all, of Jayasuriya, Omar Khalidi, John McLeod, gees to Shanghai during World War II. Center of Jewish Studies Shanghai, and by the Chinese themselves, but by a loose of our appalling living conditions—our this mercantile community, document- Marina Sorokina), architects (Moshe (Both are available from Amazon in hard consortium of British, French, Japanese lack of hygiene and plumbing, or the fun- ing their varied experiences in coping with Safdie, Stanley Tigerman, and Terry cover, paperback and kindle editions). elaborated by Prof. Xu Xin of Nanking municipalities (with Chinese police in gus infections, cholera and typhoid epi- the vicissitudes and challenges of life in Horowitz), members of Indian royal fami- University in your journal, commemo- twentieth century China. Never-before- lies (Arvind Singh Mewar, Kocha Varma) While the main characters – Dr. Franz rating the 70th anniversary of the estab- attendance). And within a year or so, af- demics, liver flukes (both my mother and seen photographs illustrate the lives and and the most famous living Indian Jew Adler, a secular Austrian Jew, his young lishment of the Hongkew ghetto, in which ter thousands of Jewish immigrants had I suffered the latter two diseases), and times of these individuals and the mag- (Lt. General J.F.R. Jacob). Their articles daughter Hannah, and Soon Yi “Sunny” Prof. Xu Xin has glossed over the actual landed, and while Jewish local organi- differing intestinal maladies, or the gnaw- nificent city of Shanghai. written by a distinguished international Mah, a Eurasian nurse – are fictional, their circumstances of our presence in Shang- zations kept writing worried letters for ing hunger of malnutrition that weakened group of scholars are combined with a lives and stories blossom in a finely re- hai, by offering, in a “limited edition”, a help to the United States State Depart- us. Nearly half of our numbers—approxi- 2. Western Jews in India: From very large number of illustrations rang- searched depiction of wartime events. series of “Shanghai Memory Silver and ment, these municipalities, consulting mately 8,000 Jewish refugees—became ing from paintings, photographs, maps, Many of the minor characters, including the Fifteenth Century to the Gold Medals” (as if they were some sort among themselves, decided to require dependent almost entirely on primitive medals, stamps, and documents to pho- Nazi and Japanese officials, are actual Present, edited by Kenneth X. of premium in a popular quiz show), each “landing money” in the future—three soup kitchens and on crammed ware- tographic essays on painters and archi- historical figures. Robbins and Marvin Tokayer bearing such accompanying (though fla- hundred pounds per immigrant—a house rooms (often shared with fifty other Robbins and Marvin Tokayer tects. grantly wrong in tone and texture) fictive forbidding amount that would have pre- people) and so survived. The first novel opens – as do so many (the refugee) got lost, wandering through Manohar Books has just published storyby our lines Chinese as “we neighbors were warmly greeted vented most of us from setting foot on VolumeArt Project” 2 “Jews and the Indian National Holocaust depictions – with the rain swept narrow streets, with my ”Western Jews in India: From the Fif- ” and “when I land. In other words, the window of Nor could we even envision the fabled teenth Century to the Present, the first of is now with the Niyogi Books Kristallnacht. It is Nov. 9, 1938 in dog and panda toy, a kind Chinese lady and should be out soon. Three other vol- Vienna, and Kalla provides essential openness quickly closed. With the spread wealth among the upper strata of Chi- eight volumes edited by the authors on befriended me by holding an umbrella of the war in the Pacific in 1941, Shang- nese, or of the expatriate British, Ameri- Jews in India. It is the first book describ- umes are well along: Holocaust refugees, background to set the stage for all that over my head to protect me from the rainhai, its harbors, its airports, its roads, can, French and Germans. In a word: the ing the roles of Western Jews in South the military history of the Bene Israel [co- follows, skillfully moving between Eu- and wind. The warmth of her gesture in edited with Nissim Moses, Tony Pamm, rope and Asia as his characters prepare became completely cut off from the out- last vestiges of colonialism itself were Asian political affairs, medicine, paint- this dark moment was like the bright rays ing, architecture and religion. The book and Rana & Adil Chhina of the histori- to flee Austria for a (hopefully) more ac- side world. slowly strangling the great city itself (as is available for a check of $90 [$85 for cal research unit of United Services In- cepting homeland. Warming to his well- exemplified, I remember by a race course The fact is that it is the Chinese them- sign in the British Concession that read: 4 Points East Points East 9 “Chinese and dogs not allowed”. accomplish this, though, she had to get of the Holocaust, not the narratives we ences, including genetic as well as cul- Can Judaism only survive by Jews being are they? There is no such culture as Ju- special permission from the occupying form after the Holocaust. To receive a tural aspects of assimilation in relation forced to continue being Jewish? I should daism in general; Judaism is a religion, The twin scourges of Poverty and Dis- Japanese authorities (which miraculously copy, email Dr. Marcus at to the Jewishness of the Chinese Jews, think the Jewish community that chooses not an ethnicity, and there are many Jew- ease—not just for the Jews but for the enough she somehow managed to get!). [email protected]] see Paper 2012: 5-16.) to be Jewish is the most robust. Is Juda- ish ethnicities. Official Minority status Chinese as well—reigned in the Shang- Indeed, it was through her efforts alone ism so frail, so displeasing a religion, that in the main is reserved for those of non- hai I knew, so that the oppressed Jews that 8,000 refugees in the Heime were A Response Conclusion and Implications one would leave it if one could? The Chi- Han ethnicity on the geographical fringes could not help the oppressed Chinese or prevented from starving. In short, she (continued from page 1) In the Nov. 2013 issue of Points East nese Jews remained observant Jews with- of China, who have had for millennia vice versa. Struggling for survival con- became an inexorable force endlessly (28/3: 6-7), there is a description of a out any persecution for over eight centu- distinctly different languages and cultures sumed everybody’s energies, rendering striving for improvements on our behalf. What does matter is that so many group trip to Jewish sites in China that ries because they wanted to be Jewish, – it is not a matter of religion. It is the the outside world as non-existent. It was, If anyone deserves to be commemorated Shanghailanders stick to their story that ends with an oft expressed understand- not because they were forced to do so equivalent in North America of being reg- in fact, the real basis for the synthetic by a medal of gratitude, or exalted in the Chinese saved them, or that they were ing of the Chinese Jews that is histori- through discrimination. istered as Native American, with certain “apartheid” which seems to have per- song, it is Laura Margolis, whose work saved because of China. We must ask sisted between the Chinese and us from and life stand in eloquent rebuke to the cally incorrect on two major points lead- economic prerogatives but also with ourselves why. To a great extent it must the very beginning. public relations sentimentalities now ing not only to a profound misunder- The Kaifeng synagogue community con- many disadvantages. Some American be because the survival of so many Jews being discussed. standing of the Kaifeng Jews but of Ju- tinued as long as any synagogue commu- tourists, out of ignorance of Chinese and gathered in any one place during the Prof. Xu Xin mentions the fact that, when daism in general: “...the Jews of the nity in Europe. They were highly success- Jewish history and culture, are leading Holocaust years was a miracle - and it we were declared “stateless” by the in- When Prof. Xu Xin, in a talk given at world have survived for so long precisely ful because they had the same opportuni- the remnants of the Kaifeng Jewish com- was a miracle that happened in China. vading Japanese, it filled us with UCLA this year, exalts the modern Chi- because they have been persecuted, ties as any Chinese, which was hardly the munity to potential disaster. (The prob- (Some religious survivors even suggest that “dismay.” Dismay? How weak and nese scholars’ admiration for the Jewish which has kept them as a distinct com- case for the Jews in Europe, save for a lems being created with the Chinese gov- it was God’s hand that saved the Jews in listlessly inadequate is this word to de- religion, he avoids the fact that Shanghai’s munity. In China, because they were relatively short time after Napoleon. The ernment due to this and other unsound China - if so, then we must ask: why did scribe what we truly went through! To Ohel Rachel synagogue was only opened never persecuted, they eventually inter- near complete demise of the Judaism of advice from foreigners is a topic in it- God pick China?) Had these 18,000 Jews be “stateless”, after all, is to be legally one or two years ago. He may well be married and were assimilated. There is the Kaifeng Jews from the mid-19th cen- self.) escaped to the Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, non- existent; it means to be excluded fleeing from the darker, terribly difficult, or my native Slovakia, Dr. Marcus would a lesson here for Jews in Western coun- tury, after flourishing for nearly a millen- and often ruthless years of struggle in Khazaria from protection from any quarter; ren- not be with us to tell her story. The Chi- tries – the very freedom that we now nium, was due to a convergence of fac- References in legal as China since World War II…which, in dering us twice vulnerable, nese may not have actively strived to save enjoy may pose a risk to the survival of tors which effected all Chinese, none of Brook, Kevin Alan. 2006. The Jews of well as human terms. Not only had we spite of improvements, continue to this nd the Jews, but neither did they try to mur- our communities.” (Following this logic, which is intermarriage or assimilation: . 2 ed. Rowman & Littlefield lost our homeland, we now lost our le- day. When our Jewish story in Shanghai der them, as did the Europeans. One may Judaism in Israel will disappear because counter-productive government policies Publishers.New History gal identity before the world in general. is feted by exhibitions, by paper and suggest that they could not have killed Jews are not persecuted there.) These two regarding the seaports in the sixteenth Hansen, Valerie. 2012. The Silk Road: A And the individual Japanese military, photo collections, or by Chinese Holo- the Jews even if they wanted to since they historical errors discussed above, that the century inadvertently cutting off the Chi- . Oxford University Press. who were the official “guards” of our caust studies and classes, we are given Chinese Jews, 1000-1850. did not have the power to do so, but there Kaifeng Jews only lately intermarried nese Jews from Judaism elsewhere; re- Paper, Jordan. 2012. The Theology of the ghetto, ranged from civil to brutal, from an endlessly repetitive, sentimentally is historical evidence to suggest that they and lately assimilated, are not causal and peated massive flooding to which Kaifeng Wilfrid Laurier courteous bows to beatings to random ritualized, wishful thinking, and well- would not have done so. There is no time neither led to the demise of their Juda- is prone destroying the synagogue; and the University Press. incarcerations for bureaucratic offenses. rehearsed “never-Again” chorale which the Jewish People here to expound about the Chinese atti- ism. mid-nineteenth century Taiping civil war Sand, Shlomo. 2009. The Invention of More than a “kindly Chinese lady hold- contributes to exude a kind of invisible tude towards foreigners, or more specifi- which twice devastated Kaifeng, leading . Trans. by Yael Lotan. ing an umbrella” was needed in the un- plume of “Holocaust Fatigue” not borne cally toward Jews, but suffice it to say predictable ghetto situation that hung over out by the events. History and truth are The only religious difference between the to massive depopulation and destitution, Verso. that the Kaifeng Jews, the Iraqi Shanghai us for 21/2 years, even though it must be not served when they are offered as sug- Kaifeng Jews and Jews living in Chris- from which it has economically and de- Shaland, Irene. 2013. “The Dao of Being Jews, the Harbin Jews and the Jews in acknowledged that both the Chinese and arcoated, or trivialized with coins and tian and Muslim contexts – given their mographically never recovered to this day. Jewish: Lessons from China.” Points East China today have much happier stories ourselves crowded into Hongkew—if we turned into fairy tales. Mizrahi practices were the same as those 28/2: 6-10. to tell than Jews almost anywhere else China: History, Culture and Religion. survived hunger and disease—endured. living in Persia (present-day Iran and Iraq) If a lesson is to be learned by American Xu Xin. 2003. The Jews of Kaifeng, on this planet. The Jews of Harbin, The young, post Holocaust generation, – is their theology. The Jews in post- Jews from the experience of the Chinese Shenyang and Dalian in the early part of But, strangely enough, there was a sem- which, by the passage of time, is inher- Medieval Europe, perhaps beginning af- Jews, it is not about intermarriage, which Ktav Publishing. the 20th century were tolerated by the Japa- blance of assistance and protection pro- iting ongoing replicas of the Jewish Ho- ter the First Crusade and especially after is occurring at an increasing rate – now nese, but the Chinese and the Chinese vided: we were ”befriended” primarily locaust around the world, deserve bet- the Holocaust, developed a theology over 50% according to surveys, but to courts stood with them - even during the Introduce a friend to SJI by ”native” Jewish sources—local ter. It requires of every Holocaust teacher, centering on a punitive deity who chas- welcome the spouses and encourage them times of sadistic assaults on the Jewish by giving a free copy of Jewish philanthropists with names like of every exhibit, to spell out in detail, community by the virulently anti-Semitic tised His Chosen People en mass for to convert. For if the pattern of ostraciz- Points East. Sassoon, Abrams and Kadoorie, and origi- the kind of tough moral courage—the kind White Russians who lived there. A Jew- transgressing religious injunctions. The ing continues, as occurs in many syna- Simply send an email to nal exiles from Russia during the Revo- written about and exemplified by author ish presence and its toleration go back Chinese Jews, living in a benign envi- gogue communities, even of those with lution, which had replaced Tsarist cru- Primo Levy, or Dr. Ho Feng Shen or Ms. [email protected] many years in China; and Jewish contri- ronment, had no fear but only love of converted spouses, then Judaism in North elty with Soviet Gulags, and most cru- Laura Margolis—to inspire in students an and a sample will be sent. bution to modern Chinese history is also God, understood as a non-anthropomor- America will eventually disappear. As for cially by the work of a single, formidable, ongoing vigilance in daily life and an persistent, and brilliantly shrewd social significant, with many individuals such phic deity without such human traits as assimilation, how many American Jews active participation in political structural Readers: Visit our improved worker named Laura Margolis, who had as Two-Gun Cohen, Jacob Rosenfeld, jealousy and anger, similar to the un- are willing to give up their Americanized change, to model courage and risk so as been dispatched to Shanghai in 1942 by Israel Epstein, and Sydney Shapiro re- derstanding of Saadia Gaon, names, their citizenship, speaking English, and greatly expanded website: to honor our communities’ horrific the American Jewish Joint Distribution membered as heroes of the Chinese Re- Maimonides and most Jewish mystics. etc.? www.sino-judaic.org. losses. It may be better to be silent than Committee. At great risk to her own public. to feverishly embrace platitudes and well-being and welfare, and amidst spo- Some may think that not to suffer as Jews As a corollary, American Jewish tourists falsehoods. SJI Members: Email radic and unceasing squabbling by vari- Those of us who are concerned about the is suffering; I happen to think that that and temporary residents should cease to [email protected] to receive ous contending refugee groups (which she past and the future of Jewish/Chinese is an appalling contradiction. As an encourage the few remaining Jews in found a way to pacify somehow), Ms. [A letter exchange dated 1996 is avail- the user name and password relations want to believe in the very great American Jew, I was persecuted in vari- Kaifeng to apply for Minority status and Margolis was able to raise urgently able from the author around the moral needed to access the “members probability that an old Chinese woman ous ways for being Jewish throughout give up their designation as Han (Chi- needed immediate American funds. To questions about how to live in the grip did indeed hold an umbrella over a little the 40s, 50s, and 60s, but not since then. nese). For if they are not Han, then what only” section. 8 Points East Points East 5 seaport synagogue communities that the Chinese, just as those Jews who became ism Jewish girl, because such things did hap- had lost millions of civilian lives - an circumstances they have shared and man- Jews in Kaifeng were able to keep in touch Roman citizens had the rights of Roman Judaism has special practices regarding pen, and because this image represents estimated 20 million in the entire WWII. aged to overcome together. with Judaism around the world for many citizens. Would American Jews prefer to memorializing departed parents, includ- the miraculous sheltering of thousands Chiang Kai Shek was not a “war lord,” as centuries. They only became isolated have special passports identifying them ing the lighting of a candle. In China, of Jews among the Chinese historically, Dr. Marcus suggests, but the leader of the It is an experience that is important to re- when the government moved the popu- as Jews rather than Americans? Should Judaism added aspects normative to Chi- and during WWII, when the rest of the Nationalist Chinese government recog- member and one that can bring our two lation away from the coasts in the late American Jews give up their American nese culture. None were forbidden in world ignored our suffering, or was busy nized by most of the countries in the peoples closer in the years to come. Surely, Ming period and forbade deep-water identification because having such iden- Judaism. In the home, the burning of building machinery for our speedy exter- League of Nations including the United Dr. Marcus can overlook a few embellish- ments by those who write this history from trade. tification is discrimination? incense was added to the lighting of mination. 18,000 Jewish lives were saved States. He never had any substantial forces in China - this is a fact. No Chinese vigi- in Manchuria. That area was under Japa- their hearts rather than the book. candles. There were two wings to the lantes, or paramilitary organizations, or nese control and occupation since 1931. Male Jews began to marry Chinese In the 15th century the Chinese emperor synagogue for similar practices towards hate groups, or even individuals made it Chiang Kai Shek’s forces were concen- A Disclaimer women in the 17th century or later lead- demanded to be worshiped in the syna- the Patriarchs, Moses and Ezra. It hap- their goal to hurt or murder this defense- trated in central China and were first fully by Danny Spungen ing to a rapid decline gogue pens that there is considerable common- less, desperate refugee community - this engaged in the battle for Shanghai in Jewish merchants spread first around the The emperor was not worshiped in China. ality between Chinese and Jewish prac- also is a fact. Is it any wonder then that 1937. (For an excellent account of Chi- Professor Xu Xin and Dr. Pan Guang had Mediterranean even before the Diaspora Indeed, it was the opposite. The emperor tices regarding memorializing the family so many of us wish to credit the Chinese nese activity in WWII see Rana Mitter’s nothing to do with the design, produc- (70 C.E.), and slowly spread throughout and his consort made offerings to Sky, dead. For example, in modern synagogues people for the “happy ending” to this “Forgotten Ally,” Houghton Mifflin tion or distribution of the numismatic the world, especially by sea. When mer- Earth and other cosmic and natural spir- and modern Chinese temples there are story? Harcourt, 2013.) It was in fact the Com- pieces. The idea of the numismatic chants were putting down roots in new its on behalf of the Chinese people. The little light bulbs by names of the departed munist forces under Mao Zedong that put commemoratives was the idea of one of areas, it was the males that did the dan- emperor supported the building of the that are turned on for the day of remem- I have just returned from Slovakia where up a fight in North China in the later years the Directors of the Shanghai Mint at a gerous traveling, rather than families. synagogue. As its patron, his name was bering particular deceased. most members of my father’s family, up to 1945. By the time the Jewish refu- lunch I attended back on December 7th, Those Jewish males that sought to estab- on a placard above the Ark, but above including my grandparents, were mur- gees arrived in Shanghai, the Nationalist 2010 (Pearl Harbor Day ironically). The lish themselves in new areas took local that was the all-important sh’ma state- Assimilation and the survival of Judaism dered or deported during the war by their government has moved to Chungking and following day I was introduced to one of wives, who converted to Judaism, and ment. This is no different than the plac- The omnipresent fear of modern Judaism own neighbors. After the war, in the 50s, it was preoccupied with the task of re- the Shanghai Mint designers. To make began new communities (see Sand 2009). ing of an American flag in an American is “assimilation.” Entering “Jewish as- the same people who killed hundreds of pelling growing Japanese aggression. It this happen, I became the sole financer This pattern undoubtedly was the case synagogue by the Ark. similation” in Google led to 2,430,000 thousands of Jews continued to persecute had no presence in Shanghai. of the project and sponsored by Shang- with regard to the establishment of the hits (26 December 2013). The most com- and kill Jews under the new “Commu- hai Finance University. After the de- Kaifeng community. We know that the Those who studied other subjects besides mon criticism of Chinese Judaism is that nist” regimes. Today, in the very same Neither Professor Xu Xin nor any other sign by one of the most famous design- women converted. Thus wives were taken Talmud-Torah ceased to be Jewish assimilation took place leading to its dis- town where my family was shot to death, scholar will claim that this Chinese gov- ers in China [was made], we asked Prof. beginning at least in the 11th century, and This is an oft repeated statement, but one appearance. But the opposite is the case: there are weekly Neo-Nazi demonstra- ernment was responsible for saving the Xu and Dr. Pan (among many others) for their support of the text for the com- this hardly led to a decline but the oppo- that makes no sense whatsoever. It pos- assimilation took place early and led to tions and anti-Semitism is alive and well. Jews. What they and I want to stress, is memorative box and the “scroll” that site. The Kaifeng synagogue community its that only those who studied for the the creation of Chinese Judaism and its I am ashamed to admit that I would not that we can, and we must, use the com- dare walk on Slovak streets with a kippa mon Shanghai survival experience as an accompany the medals. was one of the most successful in the rabbinate, that is, exclusively Talmud- continuation over many centuries. There on my head, nor would I want to do so important symbol of the lasting positive history of Judaism — Chinese Jews be- Torah, were Jews and those who also stud- is no such phenomenon as unassimilated in France or Hungary and certainly not relationship between our two communi- This was/is the first time in history that came high officials — building an urban ied for the civil service examinations or Judaism. Ashkenazi Judaism, the domi- in any Arab country. In China I would ties; and a more universal example of “any” Jewish theme has been produced synagogue that was one of the largest in medicine ceased to be observant Jews. nant Jewish ethnicity, is an amalgam of not give it a second thought. This mat- human coexistence, resiliency and self- “in” an official Chinese Mint. This was the world and lasting for nearly seven The equivalent is to state that any Jew Germanic, Slavic, Turkic (see Brook ters. sufficiency under the threat of annihila- a complicated process with many restric- centuries, almost as long as the longest today who goes to a university rather than 2006: 197-207) and Semitic elements: tion. If there ever has been a tale that tions but “I” believe an important step continual use synagogue in Europe. a yeshiva ceases to be Jewish, and that the language is Yiddish not Hebrew or To a great extent it is this sentimentality stands tall in the history of Jewish sur- in China for so many reasons (which I there are no observant Jewish physicians, Aramaic, the clothing is northeastern that drives so many Shanghailanders and vival, surely this is it. hope to convey to you at a later time). Taking a Chinese name and wearing Chi- lawyers or scientists. If that were the case, European (some ultra-orthodox sects con- other Jews to want to express our thanks nese clothing led to the end of Chinese there would have been no need for a large sider the apparel of 18th century Polish and solidarity with the Chinese. The sur- Some fabrications, inaccuracies and ex- …I personally take 100% responsibility Judaism synagogue, and Judaism would never rent collectors to be holy garb) and Turkic vival of the refugees in Shanghai was just aggerations are a common thread in all for the final product and I think anyone If taking a name in a non-Hebrew lan- have become established in China or (silk caftans and fur trimmed hats), and another chapter in a long history of tol- national myths. But in all of them there that wants to “revise history” on the nu- guage, while keeping one’s Hebrew name anywhere else. the food is Polish and Ukrainian. (Many erance and mutual admiration by our two is an element of truth. The truth in the mismatic points should first gather all for ritual purposes, and wearing local so-called Jewish dishes are actually north- communities; and it is not uncommon Shanghailanders’ story is that they sur- the information possible and in this case, clothing leads to the end of Judaism, then To provide a single example that exclu- ern Chinese fare – the Mongol armies in these “cultural love affairs” to exag- vived because of China and because of they would include “me,” given I am the according to the same logic, the Jews of sively studying Talmud-Torah is not es- that reached central Europe had not only gerate or embellish a little - and why not? their Chinese neighbors, who bought their one responsible for the project, events, Poland and the Ukraine should not have sential in order to be Jewish, one only Chinese military engineers but also north- goods, rented them apartments, supplied content, and use (partially) as an educa- had histories lasting centuries, and Ameri- has to think of RaMBaM (Maimonides). ern Chinese cooks). Why would speak- China does indeed want to propagandize their food, cleaned their toilets, took care tional tool. can Judaism should no longer exist. Born in Cordoba (Andalusia), he studied ing Chinese, as well as Judeo-Persian, their role in the Shanghai refugee story. of their children, became their friends, classical Greek philosophy and Muslim while continuing to use Hebrew in ritu- Like other governments, they too are look- and shared the fear and misery that comes One final note on this point: Our Foun- dation (www.spungenfoundation.org) The Chinese government discriminates theology, as well as medicine, at the great als, wearing Chinese clothing and eating ing for a way to show benevolence and from persecution and displacement. had nothing to do with the actual pro- against Chinese Jews by considering them university in Fez (present-day Morocco) kosher Chinese cuisine necessitate one get some credit. (It is hypocritical for any When organizations such as UCLA, or the American to criticize China for trying to Spungen Foundation, celebrate Shanghai duction, sale or promotion of the numis- Chinese and was physician to Muslim rulers in ceasing to be Jewish? Is this attitude due create some good spin, or for its short- refugees like Dr. Marcus, they do so to matic commemoratives. The Foundation The right to have Chinese names was Egypt. Although he was a medical doc- to unconsciously subscribing to the long- comings, when our own backyard is lit- commemorate their will and strength to only supported the educational events given to the Chinese Jews by the impe- tor, he was one of the most influential lasting animosity towards China in tered with political propaganda...) It is create a life for themselves in a Chinese that gathered the survivors/refugees and rial government as an honor for meritori- theologians in Jewish history. America resulting from China not fall- also worth mentioning here that, by city among the Chinese people. Like two guest speakers. The Foundation did not ous service. Slowly becoming Han (the ing under the domination of American 1939, the Chinese had suffered yet an- soldiers who have fought in battle to- contribute to the cost of production or major ethnic group) meant that the Jews Chinese Jewish mode of honoring par- Protestant missionaries? (For an extended other series of devastating and humiliat- gether side by side, the Jews and the Chi- profit from any sale of the numismatic were accorded the same treatment as all ents and patriarchs is contrary to Juda- discussion of this topic with many refer- ing military defeats and, like the Jews, nese have a bond simply because of the pieces. 6 Points East Points East 7

I think after a short time you will be sat- Recently a book by Gao Bei, a historian explicitly notes Jewish refugees, is a tri- nese did force all refugees into the Des- discusses ten major misconceptions but The Silk Road has been heavily romanti- isfied with the entire process that took at the College of Charleston, argued that umph. Not a triumph of historical accu- ignated Area in 1943. This was not a not the outright lies told by popular “Jew- cized in the West out of proportion to Sanctuary: Chinese and Japanese Policy place and you will rest easier knowing the Chinese government made significant racy – again the image of a Chinese ghetto, although that became the com- ish” guides in Kaifeng in order to be able its importance. The overland trade route there are many people who want the his- effortstoward to European help the Jewish refugees Refugees (Shanghai during woman sheltering the Jewish girl repre- mon word used by refugees and since to discuss Chinese Judaism past and was only viable during those times that tory of the Ghetto properly documented World War II sents a romanticized view of the contact then. There is no comparison between present with some clarity. the oases along the route were protected and not exploited for the wrong reasons. –but a political triumph, moving the Shanghai and Warsaw or Lodz or any of by Chinese or Mongolian armies, con- Just as important, with efforts like those ). In a review, I criticized Chinese government another step towards the ghettos that we think of when we Confusion between Jews in China and trol that usually lasted but one to a few of Prof. Xu Xin at Nanjing University, this book because I believe she exagger- full and open acknowledgment of Jew- hear that word. As Lotte wrote, the Japa- Chinese Jews centuries. This occurred but several times: there is real growth in Jewish Studies pro- ated the efforts of the Nationalist gov- ish history in China. That process has nese could be threatening; but they also Imagine that a Jewish merchant from during the Han and Tang dynasties, and grams rising up all over China, which ernment and diminished the help offered made great strides, but there is still more could be helpful. They were not “in thrall London moves to New York for a year to during the Mongol and Manchu empires. generates more opportunities for educa- by the Japanese government. to be hoped for. For example, the Kaifeng to the Germans”; they developed their carry on his business. He would not be Even then, very few merchants traveled tion at all levels. Municipal Museum holds some unique own Jewish policy, which involved kill- an American Jew but a British Jew in the entire route from Persia or India; The point is to examine the types and artifacts of the former Jewish community ing nobody. While the refugees worried America. Should that person decide to rather, traders brought goods to sell at a amount of contacts between Jews and there, but they are not open to the pub- that they would be killed, in fact the Japa- remain in the U.S. and eventually takes trading oasis. There the goods were pur- Another Response Chinese, which were mostly private and lic. The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Mu- nese never had any intention of doing out U.S. citizenship, then that person chased by another trader to be sold at an by Prof. Steve Hochstadt individual, rather than to claim there were seum charges admission at a level which that. would become an American Jew. Simi- oasis further along. Thus, the trade goods none of significance. is too high for most Chinese tourists. larly, over the course of history, there usually were moved in stages rather than We have had a very useful exchange of They were not saints, but when they are have been a number of instances of Jews in a single one or two year direct trip. messages prompted by Lotte Marcus Lotte also is critical of the efforts of Chi- I don’t think that participating in and try- compared to every other nation during in China who remained culturally dis- (Far an in-depth history of the Silk Road, about the relationship between Jews and nese today to remember and commemo- ing to influence Chinese memory of the World War II, they look pretty good. tinct from those who became Chinese see Hansen 2012.) Chinese in Shanghai. This is a subject rate the survival of refugees in Shanghai. refugees in any way “allows the Chinese Think about the American incarceration Jews. which greatly interests me and about It is important to distinguish between to paper over their tragedies”. The and dispossession of our own citizens of The sea route was a different matter. which I have talked to many people, in- scholars and government. Scholars like “Judeophilia” that Lotte mentions is real. Japanese heritage, and Japanese treatment We can assume that Jewish merchants Maritime trade took place between cluding many former refugees. Xu Xin are genuinely interested in the It certainly has its useful side for the of these foreign refugees compares well. traveled to China during the Han period, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley cit- Jewish experience in China. He was pio- Chinese government, but that does not and we have firm evidence – documents ies (present-day Pakistan) as early as five Lotte’s original message demonstrates neer in the flourishing of Jewish Studies make it any less real. Much more research needs to be done in Hebrew and Judeo-Persian found in thousand years ago. Slowly the route how much refugees’ personal experiences in Chinese universities since the 1990s, about the real daily connections between oases on the edge of China and books by moved down the coast of India to Sri influence their understanding of the which is evidence of a widespread and Criticizing these efforts and the slow but refugees and both Chinese and Japanese. Arab historians of the time – that they Lanka and eastward, eventually reaching whole experience in Shanghai. She wrote: sincere interest of Chinese scholars and sure progress of Jewish Studies in China In both cases, there are points of friend- did so during the Tang. All of these are China. By the Tang period, most trade “to my knowledge, there were only two students in Jewish history, even beyond is not especially useful. It is true that the ship and conflict. In both cases, various Jews in China. Considering more recent goods moved between Persia or India and significant occasions during which the the Jewish experience in China. history of Communist China is filled people will try to use these contacts to history, in the mid-19th century, Jewish China by sea in Arab, Jewish and Chi- Jewish Refugee community and the lo- with terrible events of human tragedy. promote agendas that have nothing to do merchants took up residence in Shang- nese vessels. At the time that Jewish cal Chinese community whole-heartedly The official government attitude is more But the Jewish experience was not one with history. But that is always the way. hai when it became the major port of merchants moved to Kaifeng, the Silk embraced one another”: the July 1945 self-interested. As Manli Ho says, gov- of them, and researching it and remem- entry for European merchants after the Road had been defunct for over a cen- bombing and the celebration of the end ernment spokesmen want to use the sur- bering it is worthwhile. Opium Wars. In the late 19th century, a tury. The Jewish merchants were invited of the war. Those were unique public vival of Jews in Shanghai, and the longer Common Current number of Jews fled pogroms in Russia to the then capital by the imperial gov- events. history of Chinese acceptance of Jewish To do that we need the first-hand ac- Misconceptions about the to northern Manchuria, and later some ernment. An invitation could only go to immigrants (Kaifeng, Harbin, etc.) to pro- counts of refugees like Lotte and the work Jews were able to escape the Nazis by a specific recipient, not to an unknown She also writes that “we hardly ever cul- mote China as a place of tolerance. The of historians to create from those accounts Kaifeng Jewish Community fleeing to Shanghai. recipient in an undetermined place. tivated private contacts with the locals”. lack of anti-Semitism in China does de- reliable narratives. Not everything that by Dr. Jordan Paper Hence, the invitation for a group of Jew- That might have been the most common serve to be celebrated in a world where refugees believe is true. For example, Lotte From at least the late Tang period, and ish merchants to move to Kaifeng could situation for refugees, but it was not the this was rare, but the government, aided writes that Sassoon, Abrams and the A number of excellent studies of Chi- especially during the Song, Jewish mer- only have been sent to a synagogue com- only one. I have spoken to many former by some scholars, has exaggerated the Kadoories were exiles from Russia, when nese Judaism have been produced over chants began to take up permanent resi- munity in one of the major seaports. The refugees who worked alongside Chinese, number of refugees in Shanghai and the they originated in Baghdad. She puts the the last century, but the last dozen years dence in the port cities along with the Jews who moved to Kaifeng probably who ate Chinese food and participated welcome they received from the local number of Austrians rescued by Feng have also witnessed the publication of far more numerous Arab traders. These came from either Ningpo or Yangzhou in Chinese culture, who befriended Chi- population. This is worthy of criticism. Shan Ho at 4,000, which is much too popularized works and the development merchants formed synagogue communi- and comfortably traveled by canal barge nese, who went to Chinese homes and The exhibit of the Shanghai Jewish Refu- high. Her number of “8,000 refugees in of a Jewish tourism industry. Some of ties that continued for centuries. They and river craft to Kaifeng via the Grand family celebrations, who learned Chi- gees Museum (a notable institution), that the Heime” is several times too large, these popularized publications are writ- adapted to the Chinese way of life and Canal and the Yellow River. nese. It will never be possible to mea- has been traveling around the US (NY, and Laura Margolis, while an indispens- ten by Chinese scholars who are not stu- became Chinese Jews; that is, they be- sure how many refugees interacted with Chicago, LA), did a fine job of summa- able help to them, did not save them dents of Chinese history or religion per came Chinese who are Jewish. The Juda- The Kaifeng Synagogue was the first and Chinese more than Lotte and her family rizing the refugee experience and detail- alone. se (for example, Xu 2003) and by jour- ism they brought with them was Mizrahi largest or only synagogue community in did, but it certainly was a considerable ing many contacts that refugees had with nalists and tourists (for example, Shaland not Ashkenazi Judaism, which had yet China number. The image that Lotte uses of an Chinese. The overall impression left by George Kalmar noted the important role 2013) who pass on what they picked up to come into existence at the time they There were seven or more synagogue com- “apartheid” between Jews and Chinese the exhibit certainly pushed the “friend- of the Japanese in allowing the refugees during their travels. These works often left Basra or ports in Yemen for China. munities in China before the 17th cen- is not appropriate. ship” between the two peoples to ex- into Shanghai in the first place. Without deliberately skew the history to meet tury, at least six being in the seaports. tremes, but there was nothing false in Japanese willingness to allow refugees contemporary concerns of Western Juda- The Kaifeng Jews came to China via the The seaport synagogues were earlier since It is certainly true that there was very little the exhibit. The fault lay in an overly from Europe to enter Shanghai and settle ism or represent the typical anti-Chinese Silk Road the Jews who settled in Kaifeng would official contact between the Chinese gov- romanticized version of this contact. in the Japanese controlled portions of sentiments found in the United States. A Jewish synagogue community devel- have come from at least one of them, ernment in Chungking and the refugees, Shanghai in 1939, the Western business- Thus, there has developed a common oped in Kaifeng around the 11th century, and the ones in the major seaports must but even this was more than zero. Some We come to the coin that Danny Spungen men who controlled the Shanghai Mu- understanding in the West about Chinese building their first major synagogue in have been larger, at least in numbers, refugees, notably some doctors, went created. Danny’s success in getting a nicipal Council would have stopped Judaism that contains serious errors and the 12th. It is commonly assumed that given the much larger number of Jews inland and joined the Chinese army. Chinese mint to make this coin, which immigration at the end of 1938. The Japa- perverted understandings. The following they came overland via the Silk Road. residing in the seaports. It is through the