China’s Kaifeng Jews date back 1,400 years and have an unlikely ambassador – a teenager from Hong Kong
- The dwindling community, which has only 100 practising members in Henan province, was established in AD600
- After learning of their existence online, an 18-year-old schoolboy with no Jewish heritage went on a voyage of discovery
The Jews of Kaifeng do not have a rabbi, or a synagogue. Their last religious leader died more than 150 years ago, and their last place of worship was destroyed by flood at around the same time.
To some in Kaifeng, Jews are “blue-capped Muslims”, the colour of their skull caps, if not their specific religious identity, acting as a distinguishing feature. To others, they are “the sect that plucks out the sinews” – a nod to the Jewish custom of removing the sciatic nerve from kosher meat.
And though they have their own modest museum, they are also far from the beaten tourist track. Visitors turn up no more than once every month or two.
In recent years, however, the Kaifeng Jews have found the most surprising of ambassadors determined to keep their history alive: a Hong Kong teenager studying at a British boarding school.
Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Zhang – who grew up near the University of Hong Kong, the son of bankers – has no Jewish ancestry. So what on Earth is he doing at the Limmud Festival, Europe’s largest Jewish educational event, in Birmingham, Britain, talking about his passion for the Jews of China?
