World Jewish News

The Jewish community in China spread along international trade routes, peaking between the 10th and 12th centuries, the country&

Take the fascinating example of Jews in China. Jews first settled near the Yellow River almost a millennium ago. Like today's America, China of old was wealthy, traded widely, treated foreigners well, and dominated half the world culturally, economically, and politically.
The Jewish community in China spread along international trade routes, peaking between the 10th and 12th centuries, the country's greatest epoch. Many lived in Kaifeng, China's capital, the source of the Silk Road and the most dynamic metropolis in the world.
For generations, this small Jewish community prospered. Jews became senior government officials, physicians, and army officers. The community built a synagogue in the 12th century and maintained its distinctiveness.
But starting in the 14th century, Chinese Jews became more and more Chinese and less and less Jewish. Ambitious parents stressed Chinese classical learning at the expense of Jewish studies. Fewer read Hebrew, attended synagogue, or observed rituals. Many intermarried.
Chinese custom crept into slipping Jewish practice. The Kaifeng Jews emphasized the similarities between Judaism and Confucianism, even burning incense in honor of their ancestors. As in America, an open and tolerant society disarmed them, leading to integration instead of separation.
OVER TIME, they identified less with their heritage and more with their neighbors. Many moved away or joined other religions. The community eventually dwindled in numbers and sold off the remnants of its synagogue.
By the 20th century, Kaifeng had no one looking Jewish or observing Judaism in any form. The community's descendents were little different from other Chinese. "They were Jews no longer, either in a religious sense or even as a community," complained Anglican bishop William Charles White, who lived in Kaifeng from 1910 to 1933.
The history of the Kaifeng Jews is a window into the American Jewish future. While some in Kaifeng still remember their ancestry and claim to be Jewish, they are no more Jewish than millions of Europeans who may have some vague Jewish lineage.
Growing assimilation makes it hard to define who is Jewish. As generations pass, fewer keep traditional rituals and attitudes, while the number of people with only partial Jewish ancestry grows. The dividing line between Jews and others blur. Within a few generations it becomes impossible to discern.
How do you count who is Jewish? Should you measure who observes traditional Jewish halacha, who participates in community events, or who adheres to a set of values and customs? The choice will always be controversial because it strikes at the heart of religion and identity.
The Jewish community has separated into a strongly affiliated core and a weakly affiliated periphery. There's almost an even split between the two, with assimilators growing while traditionalists shrink.
Core Jews are older, concentrated in the northeast, and affiliated with a community organization. They have visited Israel and maintain many of their ancestors' traditions. The rising enrollment of Jewish day schools suggests that the younger part of this group is increasing its numbers. However, core total numbers continue to decline, showing that the growing younger group is not yet offsetting a decreasing older segment.
The assimilated Jews, in contrast, have fewer ties to Israel and its historical experience. They are more likely to live in the south and west, intermarry, and be secular or profess faith in another religion. They have far fewer ties to Jewish institutions, less Jewish education, and their values resemble those of American urbanites.
This group's trajectory is following the Kaifeng precedent, though at a much faster rate. Kaifeng took centuries to disappear; America's assimilated Jews will vanish in generations.
The Kaifeng experience suggests that the periphery will increasingly be Jewish in name only, and that the total number of Jews maintaining a distinctive identity will shrink further than is contemplated by many. An American Jewish community of as few as one million within our children's lifetime is a grim possibility.
The writer lived in Shanghai for seven years and currently runs a consulting company for companies doing business in China.

Источник: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1085208931559