Persia or Yemen? Leslie's article on origin of the Kaifeng Jews

 

Judeo-Persian Colophon, 1622

All conclusions about the origin of the Kaifeng Jewish community will be speculative because of no new evidence of their origin has arisen.  We have texts written in Judeo Persian, pointing toward a Persian or Bukharin origin for at least some of the community.  Recently, some preliminary DNA investigations of decedents of Kaifeng Jews show a Bukharin and Kurdish Jewish connection.  

Donald Leslie's article on the origin of the Kaifeng community, originally published in Irano-Judaica: Studies Relating to Jewish Contacts with Persian Culture Throughout the Ages, 1982.  Leslie provides an excellent summary of the complexity of the question of the origin of the Kaifeng community:

1. Multiple Migration Routes to China

Jews migrated to China via both overland and sea routes at various times. Archaeological finds in Afghanistan and Chinese coastal cities support both possibilities.  For me, it would make sense that the Kaifeng community core came from Bukhara, but received periodic infusions from other Jewish community, in smaller numbers.    

2. Possible Origins: Persia, Yemen, or Bukhara

Most scholars believe the Kaifeng Jews arrived during the Sung dynasty (960–1279), likely from Persia or Bukhara. Some evidence also allows for a Yemenite or Indian origin, especially if the sea route is considered. However, distinguishing between these origins based on current evidence is challenging.  For me, there is not a compelling case for large numbers of Kaifeng Jews coming from Yemen or India. Their scrolls and books bear many markers of a Yemenite origin, but this does not necessarily mean that the Kaifeng Jews came from Yemen.

3. Internal Cultural and Religious Evidence

The customs and religious practices of the Kaifeng Jews, such as their Torah scrolls and prayer books, show similarities to both Persian and Yemenite traditions. For example, their Torah scrolls follow sopheric rules found in Yemenite scrolls, but some features are also present in Persian manuscripts. The division of the Torah into 53 sections aligns with Persian and Yemenite practices.  For me, this shows evidence of books and scrolls arriving in Kaifeng, perhaps with small numbers of Jews.

4. Language and Liturgy as Clues

The community used spoken Persian and written Judaeo-Persian, which was common among foreign traders in the region. Their prayer books are remarkably close to the Yemenite liturgy (which follows Maimonides), but the use of Judaeo-Persian rubrics and linguistic analysis points more strongly to a Persian origin. Some linguistic features, such as pronunciation and spelling, suggest influences from both Persian and Yemenite traditions.

5. Scholarly Consensus and Remaining Uncertainties

The majority of evidence points to a Persian origin for the Kaifeng Jews, though some Hebrew manuscripts may have distinct (possibly Yemenite) provenance. The inscriptions suggest Indian influence, prayers suggest Yemenite connections, and language/pronunciation point to Persia or Bukhara.  For me, if we look at the example Jewish community of Cochin, theses kind of multiple influences make sense.  A summary of this article:

The Cochin Jewish community, though primarily Malayalam-speaking and of local origin, used a Sephardi (Spanish) liturgical rite, with influences from Yemenite and other Middle Eastern Jewish traditions

The Jews of Cochin were a medieval Jewish community, which had fully acclimatized to India in most ways (language, dress, food) but as Jewish visitors arrived, they brought books and influences to the community.  The base level of the Cochin community remained the same, but visitors and their books would impact the community.  The same was probably true of Kaifeng.  The original Jewish settlers from Kaifeng were from Bukhara; but as overland routes were closed or no longer used after 1400s, Jewish influences came from port cities, and were primarily Yemenite.  This may be the reason why the Kaifeng community survived after 1600 while other communities did not: the Jews of Ningbo, for instance, may have been male traders without many women.  They did not have the deep family ties of the Jews of Kaifeng.  But this is speculation, as we know almost nothing about the Jews of Ningbo, or any other communities.