http://www.aish.com/jw/s/48937262.html
...Historical references and archaeological findings have proven that the Persian Jews first arrive in China in the eighth century; and since the long, arduous journey made family life difficult, the solution was to establish a permanent base in China. The location of choice was Kaifeng – China’s capital from 927BCE to 1127CE.
A stone tablet dating back to the 1489 Kaifeng synagogue – which is now in the city museum – in inscribed with the following: “According to the commandment of their god, the Jews came from Tian-Sho (Chinese for both “India” and “every state to the west of China”) with woven materials from the west in their hands, meant as a gift for the emperor.”
The last emperor, according to the tablet, said “welcome to our country; dwell here and keep the customs of your ancestors”.
The emperor’s warm welcome provided them with automatic Chinese citizenship, not a trifle feat at a time the Jewish communities in Europe and the Muslim countries were suffering persecution. It is believed that one of the reasons for this show of tolerance was that the Chinese of the time did not have a “religion” in the sense of any of the three monotheistic faiths: The common practices of faith based on the teachings of Chinese philosopher Confucius, were an array of ethical and behavioral codes more than the belief of religious ordinances commanded by a higher power.
Kaifeng’s Jews found it easy to adhere to Confucianism since it doesn’t require the recognition of a new Messiah or prophet and there was no need to give up on the rules of keeping kosher or observing the holidays...
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Thank you for posting. This is interesting.
i’ve read other stories, of Israel gathering it’s “lost sheep”. but this is the best yet.
this part is so sad and haunting. to know they had the true about the one true God, and couldn’t read it...
“Cut off from the rest of the nation of Israel for hundreds of years, now bereft of an understanding of Hebrew, the remnant in Kaifeng set up a Torah scroll in the public square and offered a reward for any traveler who could interpret their Scriptures, but no passersby were able to take advantage of the offer.
One Kaifeng Israelite wrote this to a friend… “with tears in our eyes and with offerings of incenses do we implore that our religion may again flourish. We sought everywhere, but could find none who understood the letter of the Great Country (i.e. Hebrew), which causes us deep sorrow.” “
Seriously fascinating.
Thanks for this.
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Thanks, as always. Great informational post.
Blessing !shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
Wonderful! Thank you for posting this.
Fascinating.
“Seven young Kaifeng men applied for residency in Israel under the Law of Return in 2008 and arrived a year later— fulfilling, after ostensibly three thousand years, a promise of God:
“Surely these shall come from afar; Look! Those from the north and the west, And these from the land of Sinim.” Isaiah 49:12 “
Wow.
Thanks!
Worth repeating:
“God keeps his promises. Predictably. Historically. Verifiably. Every time.
And sometimes we get to watch it happen.”
I had to look it up Kaifeng is in Henan Province, south of Beijing.
This scripture, I believe, is a picture of Abraham's seed being dispersed, or mingled throughout the whole world as the leaven (Abraham's seed) is mingled in the meal (the world).
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Luk 13:20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
Luk 13:21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
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It goes all the way back to the Old Testament which actually has much to say about the subject. In this verse The LORD tells Jacob that his seed shall be as the dust of the earth and in the same text explains that it shall be spread abroad in all directions as the dust of the whole earth. Dust by it's nature spread abroad everywhere. And in the next verse The LORD promises to keep them where ever they go and bring them back to the land of Israel. As the Chinese Hebrews many Hebrews have lost their identities and even they themselves do not know that they are of Hebrew heritage, the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the promised people of The LORD.
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Gen 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Gen 28:15 And, behold, I [am] with thee, and will keep thee in all [places] whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done [that] which I have spoken to thee of.