UNM Israel Alliance

Israel National News – A unique gathering to improve Jewish and Bedouin ties was held Tuesday afternoon in the Negev city of Rahat, the only Bedouin municipality to hold city status.

The event began with informal talks among the participants and interviews with the press. First to address the gathering was Sheikh Salem Al-Huzeil, declaring the “Our State” Movement together with the religious-Zionist “Hit’habrut” (Joining Together) Movement.

Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch (Israel Our Home) then spoke, followed by Tzvi MiSinai, an expert on the Jewish ancestry of Arabs in Israel – a topic on which a short movie was then screened. MiSinai claims that the majority of the Arabs in Israel, including the Bedouin, are descendants of Jews. One place where MiSinai has apparently found very strong Jewish roots is in the Bedouin tribe known as the Sawarka, based in the Sinai and the Negev. Tribal leaders say their ancestors were forced to convert to Islam, yet they still retain many Jewish customs.

Rahat’s Education Department head Dr. Ali Al-Huzeil also addressed the gathering, speaking on Bedouin Tradition and Cooperation with the Zionist Movement.

Representatives of the nascent Sanhedrin organization, which seeks to revive the age-old tradition of a central Jewish Legal authority, were also present, and spoke on the Halachic aspects of those who claim to have Jewish ancestry, Noahides, and more.

In addition, a Bedouin IDF officer shared his experiences and spoke on the Bedouin tradition of self-sacrifice in the army. Salama Al-Turi discussed the issue in some depth, including the lack of Israeli appreciation and understanding of the Bedouin tradition of self-sacrifice in the army.

Jerusalem Post, Michael Freund
It is twilight in the Chinese city of Kaifeng, and as darkness descends upon the streets, a bustling night market comes to life.

Many of Kaifeng’s Jewish descendants have reconnected with Israel in recent years and some have even made aliya.

Locals gather, sampling an array of food items from dozens of carts and stands that line the boulevard, while others examine various forms of clothing and knickknacks being offered for sale.

Pork, it seems, is everywhere, as this staple of the Chinese diet is snapped up by hungry shoppers despite the pungency of its odor and the questionable standards of culinary hygiene that prevail. Vendors hawk it in a surprising number of shapes, sizes and even colors, and however off-putting it might be to a visitor from Israel, the dish’s popularity among the Chinese appears at first glance to be universal.

Well, almost, that is.

For Shi Lei, 31, who was born and raised in Kaifeng, his family’s tradition of refraining from eating pork stretches back generations. As a proud descendant of the Jewish community that once thrived here along the banks of the Yellow River, he is keenly aware of the customs and heritage that his forebears cherished.

“They kept certain kashrut practices,” he says in fluent English, adding, “My great-grandparents’ family, for example, didn’t eat pork out of respect for our ancestors, and they would also pluck out the sinews or tendons from the animals’ meat before eating it.”

Shi Lei is no longer taken aback by the surprise expressed by many Western Jews when they learn that their brethren lived and prospered in China, or even that their presence there stretches back a millennium, if not more.

“As a little boy, my parents and my grandparents informed me that I am of Jewish descent,” he recalls. “But because I was so young, I didn’t know what it really meant to me. As I grew up, I began to learn more about my background and the Jewish people, mostly through reading,” he says.

This is how he became intimately acquainted with the precious legacy that was carefully passed down from father to son over the generations in this faraway corner of Asia.

The first Jews are believed to have settled in Kaifeng, which was one of China’s imperial capitals, during the Song Dynasty or perhaps even earlier. Scholars believe they may have been merchants from Persia or Iraq who made their way eastward along the Silk Route. With the blessing of the Chinese emperor, the Jews established themselves in the city, where they found an environment of tolerance and acceptance, in sharp contrast to much of the rest of the Diaspora.

In 1163, Kaifeng’s Jews built a large and beautiful synagogue, which was subsequently renovated and rebuilt on numerous occasions throughout the centuries. At its peak, during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Kaifeng Jewish community may have numbered as many as 5,000 people.

Concerned, perhaps, about their community’s sense of collective memory, the Jews of Kaifeng decided to erect steles (stone monuments), on which they inscribed the history of their sojourn. Two of the steles, which altogether were erected in 1489, 1512, 1663 and 1669, now sit in the Kaifeng Municipal Museum, a lasting testimony to the Jewish life that once thrived there.

As Chinese scholar Xu Xin notes in his book The Jews of Kaifeng, China, the steles provide an interesting glimpse at medieval Jewish life in China, including the observance of important holidays such as Yom Kippur.

The 1489 stele, for example, says that on the Day of Atonement, Jews would “close their doors for a whole day, and give themselves up to the cultivation of purity, and cut themselves off entirely from food and drink, in order to nourish the higher nature.

“On that day,” the inscription continues, “the scholar interrupts his reading and study, the farmer suspends his work of plowing or reaping, the tradesman ceases to do business in the market and the traveler stops on his way.

“Desires are forgotten, attainments are put aside and all apply themselves to preserving the heart and nourishment of the mind, so that through direction there may be a restoration of goodness.” The second stele, from 1512, records that on Yom Kippur Kaifeng’s Jews “close their doors and meditate all day.”

By the 17th century, a number of Chinese Jews had attained high ranks in the Chinese civil service, but along with success came the blight of assimilation, which took an increasingly heavy toll on the community and its cohesion.

By the mid-1800s, the Chinese Jews’ knowledge and practice of Judaism had largely faded away. The last rabbi of the community died sometime in the first half of the 19th century, and the synagogue building was all but destroyed by a series of floods which struck the city in the 1840s and thereafter.

Against all odds, Kaifeng’s Jews struggled to preserve their Jewish identity, passing down whatever little they knew to their progeny.

In the 1920s, a Chinese scholar named Chen Yuan wrote a series of treatises on religion in China, including “A study of the Israelite religion in Kaifeng.” Yuan noted the decline the community had endured, but took pains to recall that the remaining descendants still tried as best they could to observe various customs and rituals, including that of Yom Kippur. “Although the Kaifeng Jews today no longer have a temple where they can observe this holy day,” Yuan wrote, “they still fast and mourn without fail on the 10th day of the month.” Nowadays, there are still several hundred people – perhaps a thousand at most – in this city of over 4.5 million who are descendants of the Jewish community.

All of these Jewish descendants belong to one of seven clans, each identifiable by its surname and family trees that stretch back for centuries.

Legend has it that when the Jews first arrived in Kaifeng, the Chinese emperor, unable to pronounce the Jews’ Hebrew-sounding names, bestowed his surname and the surnames of six of his ministers on them. These seven names – Zhao, Li, Ai, Zhang, Gao, Jin and Shi – were used by Kaifeng’s Jews throughout the centuries, and it is to the Shi clan that Shi Lei traces his own family roots.

Several years ago, Shi Lei traveled to Israel, where he spent time studying at Bar-Ilan University and the Machon Meir Yeshiva to further expand his Jewish horizons. After returning to Kaifeng, he went to work as a national tour guide, putting to good use his mastery of the English language and his knowledge of local lore.

In the home of his beloved late grandfather, Shi Lei opened a mini-museum dedicated to telling the story of Kaifeng Jewry, and in his spare time he now teaches Hebrew, Jewish history and culture to other members of the Kaifeng community.

In recent years, a handful of other Kaifeng Jewish descendants have come to Israel, thanks to Shavei Israel, the Jerusalem-based organization that works to strengthen the connection of Diaspora Jews to Israel. All have undergone a formal return to Judaism under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate and some have settled in Jerusalem.

“Although we have been living in Kaifeng for a thousand years, the Jewish community here hasn’t forgotten its Jewish identity,” Shi Lei said. “In a word, the Kaifeng Jewish community is today in the process of re-learning the Jewish customs and traditions that were once forgotten.

“There is a growing interest, especially among young Kaifeng Jews, to learn more about their Jewish heritage,” he said, attributing this development to the community’s increasing contact with the rest of the Jewish world.

Asked about the upcoming observance of Yom Kippur, Shi Lei grew solemn at the mention of the sacred day. “Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year and it is a day of atonement,” he said. “On this day, God will forgive us and purify us, and we will be cleansed from all our sins before Him.

“In Kaifeng on that day, we’ll stay together and discuss its meaning and significance,” he said, while noting that perhaps one day, “if the Kaifeng Synagogue will be rebuilt, then every Jew in Kaifeng will be able to become more aware of our people’s traditions.”

The writer serves as chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), which works to strengthen the connection between Israel and the Jewish people and descendants of Jews around the world.

by David Wilder
October 26, 2008
The Jewish Community of Hebron
P.O. Box 105, Kiryat Arba 90100 Israel
Tel: 972-2-9965333; Fax: 972-2-9965304

Last night at just after one o’clock my cell phone rang. When the phone rings at 1:00 in the morning, at least in my house, something is wrong. Orit Struck was on the other end, apologizing for waking me up and then informing me that hundreds, if not more troops, – police, soldiers, the riot squad, etc. were on their way to the Federman farm, located just off the road between Kiryat Arba proper and the Givat Harsina (Ramat Mamre) neighborhood, just about five minutes outside of Hebron. Their goal: to destroy the farm.

The homes on the Federman property have been there for over ten years. Noam and Elisheva have lived there for the past two years. Every once in a while the war drums start sounding, with rumors of an impending expulsion from the land, which the government says is ‘illegally settled.’ Most times, it’s just noise. Tonight it looked like the real thing.

I was out of the house within about ten minutes. But when I arrived at Ma’arat HaMachpela, on the only road to Kiryat Arba, I found it blocked by Border police and metal gates in the middle of the street. They motioned to me that the road was closed and that I should leave. I pulled out my press card, which in Israel is the closest thing to a magic wand, and presented it to the officer in charge. He took it and made a call on his walkie-talkie. A minute later he came back and returned the card. And told me to leave. “But I’m a journalist,” I claimed. He looked at me, said “I know, but you can’t go,” and walked away. I requested numerous times, as did others, a warrant declaring the area to be a ‘closed military zone.’ Sometimes they responded, ‘there’s a warrant, it will eventually get here,’ and other times, ‘there is no warrant.’ Others were told, ‘there’s a military operation going on – you have to stay here for your own good, so you won’t be in danger.’ Some were told, ‘there’s an armed terrorist in the Kasbah – we have soldiers looking for him. It’s dangerous for you to be here. Go home!’

The truth was that all roads leading to the Federman farm had been sealed off. The troops didn’t want the enemy to have any reserves assisting them.

At about 1:30 the two homes on the Federman farm were forcibly invaded.

Sinai Tur and his wife Rivka were told that they had seven minutes to get out. The Federman family didn’t have such luxury. The troops broke the home’s windows and climbed in through them. They quickly made their way to the children’s bedrooms where they shook awake the kids, dragged them from their beds, beating some of them, and forcefully expelling them from their home, still in pajamas. Some of the kids went via the door; others via through the window. Noam was immediately arrested, being suspected of planning to ‘blow the forces up with gas balloons.’ His daughter Isca, 16
1/2 years old, was also arrested for some unknown reason.

Once everyone was out, the bulldozer started plowing down the houses and other structures on the property. It didn’t take too much time, as the families were not allowed to remove any of their belongings. Down came the houses, on top of everything that was inside. By 3:30 or so, it was over.

The families were left homeless and propertyless. As Elisheva Federman put it: “they wouldn’t let me take my children’s books or belongings or mementos. Eighteen years of marriage, nine children – everything we had, gone.”

For no apparent reason, except pure hate. Hate for Jews living in Judea and Samaria; hate for Jews living in the Hebron – Kiryat Arba region; and an extra special hate for Noam and Elisheva Federman, who epitomize love for Eretz Yisrael.

The Israeli government, in particular Defense Minister Ehud Barak, (who is searching for political brownie points to assist him in the now upcoming election) and Generals Gaddi Shamni and Noam Tibon (who is an expert in destroying houses – he commanded the forces that destroyed the home of Livnat Uzeri, whose husband Nati had been, only months earlier, killed by terrorists in their home,) is intent on making life as difficult as possible for Jews in Yesha and in the Hebron region in particular.

Late this afternoon a large group of people began work to rebuild the Federman farm. A short time ago an appropriate response was issued by the ruling junta: A warrant was received informing that at ten o’clock tonight the entire area would be declared a ‘closed military zone,’ that cement blocks would be placed there surrounding the property, and security forces would remain there to insure that the area remained sterile (i.e. Judenrein).

Earlier today journalists interviewing me did not seem so interested in the destruction of the property or the expulsion of the families. Rather they seemed intent on asking/attacking me as a result of remarks made by people at the site of the devastation. Those comments ostensibly called for the death of IDF soldiers, and the ‘wiping out of their names,’ and that they should all ‘be like Gilad Shalit.’

There is a saying in Hebrew that a person should not be held responsible for his words when his loved ones are still lying dead in front of him. That is how I relate to the above-quoted remarks. The expulsion from Gush Katif and Northern Samaria are all still much to fresh and the fate of those expelled still hurting much too much. It is no secret that this administration has plans to implement further expulsions, be they in the Hebron area, or Binyamin and the Shomron. There is a feeling in the air – a sensation reminiscent of the Rabin-Peres days following signing of the cursed Oslo Accords, when ‘settlers’ were unofficially declared ‘enemies of the state’ and were so appropriately treated.

The IDF and other security forces are an integral element necessary for Israel’s survival. But they cannot and must not be taken advantage of to batter the very people they are supposed to protect and defend. I don’t believe that anyone has any plans to begin a civil war, but the comments, as extreme as they are, seem to represent the growing frustration level amongst many Israelis. I see them, not as an active threat, rather as the mercury on a thermometer climbing higher and higher, much too fast.

Perhaps those making decisions in the current government should realize that what they refuse to do to Arab terrorists and their families they are all too willing to do to their own Jewish citizens, who have not murdered anyone. And it seems, with an appetite. An appetite to destroy.

See:
Photos of the destruction
Video of the destruction
See an interview with 12 year old Oved Federman (in Hebrew)
Hear Elisheva Federman (in Hebrew)