1489 Stone:
After the destruction of the synagogue by a flood, these four Kaifeng Jews, Shih Pin, Li Jung, Kao Chien and Chang Hsuan "obtained" from Ningbo a Torah scroll, and a Jew of Ningpo, Chao Ying, brought it to the synagogue at Kaifeng. The wording here is curious: four Kaifeng Jews go to Ningbo, a considerable distance from Kaifeng, to obtain a Torah scroll, only to have a Ningpo Jew, bring it to Kaifeng. I don't understand the dynamic here! Did Kaifeng men return from Ningpo with Chao Ying of Ningbo? Did Chan Ying "respectfully" bring the Torah scroll on behalf of his community, and the honor of installing it in the synagogue is noted for him, and not for the four Kaifeng Jews?
Other translations of this section seem to imply that there were actually two Torah scrolls obtained from Ningpo:
During Tianxun period / Shipin, Lirong, Gaojian, and Zhangxuan / Obtained a copy of the Daojing of this religion in Ningpo. /Chaoying of Ningpo offered a copy of the scriptures / He presented and returned it to the temple in Bianliang.
The sense here is that the four Kaifeng Jews brought back a scroll from Ningpo, and Chao Ying from Ningpo, So, did the post 1489 synagogue have one or two scrolls from Ningpo? Did the Ningpo Jews have a Torah scroll to spare, or was there no longer a minyan in Ningpo anymore? We do know that in about 130 years, the Kaifeng Community is the only synagogue/Jewish community in China.
1512 Stone:
No one is entirely sure of the origin of this inscription. Is it commemorating, again, the 1489 reconstruction, or was the synagogue damaged enough to justify more rebuilding in the 23 years between the stones? Below shows the effort made by members of the Chin clan living away from Kaifeng to support the synagogue:
Chin Pu of Yangzhou placed a Torah scroll in the synagogue, and one would presume here that the scroll was in Yangzhou and used by a Jewish community there in services. We can ask the same question of the Yangzhou Scroll as we did the Ningpo Scroll. Did did Jewish community in Yangzhou have one to spare, or did they no longer have a minyan? We know for certain that this community will be gone in some 90 years. Why?
1663a Stone:
This stone tells us a new details about the Kaifeng Torah Scrolls:
There were two or three Torah scrolls according the 1489 and 1512 scrolls. One (or two) came from Ningpo, and one from Yangzhou. In 1461, Li Jung, Li Liang, Kao Chen and Kao Jui contributed funds to restore the synagogue, and then placed in "the middle of the Temple they deposited thirteen rolls of the Scriptures of the Way..."
This is the first we have heard of thirteen scrolls in the stone inscriptions. Gozani reported in the early 1700s that the community had thirteen scrolls, one original scroll that was fished out of the Yellow River Flood of 1642, and 12 others copied from this scroll. If 10 or 9 scrolls were put in the synagogue the stone's are silent about this.
This custom appears to originate from Devarim Rabbah (Deuteronomy Rabbah) 9:9
The roll that Moses places in the Ark acts much like the Moses Scroll in Kaifeng: it is the original scroll by which all other scrolls are judged. Why do the Kaifeng Jews have this legend, and why do they enact it? Did they enact it "late," that is, sometime after the 1512 inscription? Why is the creation or procurement of thirteen Torah scrolls in 1461 not noted in 1489 or 1512? If this is a late custom practiced by the Kaifeng Community, where it originate? How did the Kaifeng Community know this story? Did they have Devarim Rabbah (this seems unlikely), or did they know it orally among themselves (most likely) or from visiting, non-Chinese or Chinese Jews (less likely). I do not know of this custom anywhere else but Kaifeng. Did other Mizrahi Jewish groups create 13 Torah scrolls for liturgical use?
The 1663 stone tell us in some detail how the Scroll of Moses was constructed:
Kao Hsein, presumably a young man, who had a kung-shih degree, "on the order of his father (Kao) Tung-tou" went into the flooded synagogue and "recovered the Scriptures" and "went and returned several times" and by "clever designs was able to fetch out several Scriptures of the Way." We can imagine this young man, operating from a boat or the roof of the synagogue, pulling up water logged, and no doubt very heavy, Torah scrolls from the ruins of the synagogue.
Next, the waterlogged scrolls and codices are taken to prominent members of the community:
Here, two synagogue official, the Chief Rabbi Li Chen, and the Man-la, probably an assistant Rabbi, look at the scrolls and books and "collate and examine them." Then Chao Yingcheng, on leave for three years to mourn a parent, then "classified them and arranged them in order." I am not sure how similar or different these terms are: collate, examine, classify and arrange. Is there a different between with the Rabbi and Manla did with the books, and Chao Yingcheng?
Regardless, when this process was done, they had one complete Torah roll, from the several retrieved from the waters, was assembled and used for services. Then the inscription picks up the story of the scrolls again:
We are told in a general sense what we were told before: the 1489 synagogue had 13 Torahs rolls. We are told about the one Torah scroll salvaged from the rolls fished out of the flooded synagogue, and that this scroll (The Scroll of Moses) occupies a central place among the 12 other Torah scrolls which "were repaired gradually in sequence."
Then we are told that:
This is presumably the Kao Hsien who entered the flooded synagogue to retrieve the water logged scrolls. Here, it he and Chao Yingcheng are editing and verifying the scriptures. Before we were not told that Kao Hsien was involved, and here, the two rabbis are not mentioned. It is unclear what "repaired and patched" them means. Was this the making of the Scroll of Moses?
1663 Stone Reverse:
Here, we are once again told the story of the flooding:
We are told that Kao Hsien fished out 7 scrolls, and Li Cheng-chun, 3 more. So, then water damaged scrolls were taken out of the flood waters. They were sent to the north of the city, where refugees had gathered, including survivors of the Kaifeng Community:
The Chief Rabbi is not named here, but his roll is the same as above he removed "the blurred portions and cut away spoiled parts." And with no help, he completed the entire Scroll of Moses. But there is some confusion here. We are told the the Chang Chiao, the chief of the religion, the chief rabbi, prepared the Scroll of Moses. It was placed in the Ark and there is "highly venerated by members of the religion" But then the text says "[t]he roll on the left of the latter was that ancient Scripture which the chief of the religion, Li Chen, has formerly restored and repaired." Is not Li Chen the head rabbi written of on the opposite side of the stone? Isn't that roll the Scroll of Moses?
Then things get more complicated:
So, a second scroll was repaired by Li Chen-hsien. On the reverse side, we are told he helped to "collate and examine" the pieces of scroll, not create a scroll. We are then told that the "other ten scrolls were gradually arranged and restored."
If there are 13 scrolls, then three were made by piecing together damaged scrolls: the Scroll of Moses, a Scroll by the Chief Rabbi Li Chen, and one by the Manla Li Chen-hsien. The gives us as extra scrolls. As the other eleven are then listed:
This is a community affair. We are told about the members who both copied and supported those who copied Torah scrolls:
Ai Weiyi and family restored one roll
Chao Yunssu restored one roll
Chin Yinghsien and his family
Kao Tenkeui and family restored one roll
Chao Yingcheng restored one roll
Manla Shi Tzu-chun restored one roll
Li Hui and nephew restored one roll
Li Yu-hsiu restored one roll
Kao Tengko restored one roll
Manla Chang Wen-jui and family restored one roll
Manla Ai Ta-sheng, brothers, sons and nephews restored one roll
Ai Weiyi also rebuilt the synagogue kitchen, 1663a
Kao Tenkeui is also mentioned in the 1663a&b inscription, and is in the Memorial Book, 381, 910H
Chao Yingcheng is in the 1663a&b inscription, and in the Memorial Book, 199, 539F (as Moses) and various gazettes.
Li Hui is also in the Memorial Book, 44m (alive?)
Chang Wen-jui, mentioned several times in the Memorial Book, 671GM, 801S, 802S
The production of these ten scrolls was indeed a communal affair. The word restored is interesting. Presumably it does not mean that the ten scrolls were restored from water damaged scrolls, but that the ten scrolls that were formally at the synagogue had been resorted, that is, replaced with new copies. There is not enough water damage to the numbered scrolls to suggest that. Are the loose Genesis skins sold in the 1980s part of the skins removed from rolls fished from the Yellow River?
Comments
Post a Comment