I have refined the Kaifeng Jewish Project. It will no longer have a large focus, but will hone in on two areas related to their Torah scrolls. This will take place in two parts
- Evidence of knowledge of Hebrew of the Kaifeng Jewish scribes based on editing and manipulation of their texts. I am looking for examples of engagement with their texts to understand how they sought to improve their works. I think their knowledge of Hebrew has been discounted by other scholars.
- Origins
of their Torah scrolls, as the community lost their entire their entire
stock of books at least twice, and perhaps more. What is the origin
of the seventeenth century Kaifeng Torah scrolls? What do features of the
Kaifeng scrolls tell us about the ancestors of their Torah copies?
The last large scale scholarly work done on the Kaifeng Scrolls was published in 1975. Michael Pollak's The Torah scrolls of the Chinese Jews : the history, significance, and present whereabouts of the Sifrei Torah of the defunct Jewish community of Kaifeng was only meant to be an introductory work on the scrolls. I hope my work will move our knowledge of the Kaifeng scrolls and their scribes forward after over fifty years.
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