The Hebrew Editorial Skills of the Kaifeng Jews

 

Much has been written about the Hebrew proficiency, or lack of it, of the Kaifeng Jews.  A blanket statement like Hebrew proficiency does not tell us much at all.  We know that in nearly all Hebrew communities, both historical and contemporary, competent or extraordinary knowledge of Hebrew is usually the in the hands of a few.  The real question to ask of the Kaifeng Community is where they able to perform Jewish duties in Hebrew with the books and knowledge level they possessed.  The answer is yes. 

In this book, the Square Scripture, Parashah Book (Exodus 1:1-6:1), a line was left out halfway through verse 18.  Instead of rewriting the page, the missing words were written in the margin, with a circle above the part where the insertion should be read:

Four Hebrew words are missing:

But five words are written, as the "ki" kaf is written twice.  There is a colophon at the end of this book, and it tells us who wrote this book:

Rabbi Akiba, son of Aaron, son of Ezra, was the scribe.  In this article of the Judeo-Persian colophons, Leslie finds Rabbi Akiba in the Memorial Book:

This would have been a book written before the Flood of 1642.  Most likely, it was written in the early 1600s.  There was enough Hebrew knowledge among the Kaifeng Hebrew elite to see and correct missing Hebrew words in the early 17th century.