Are the Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions the Chinese Geniza/Dead Sea Scrolls?
Prof. David Katz wondered whether the Chinese Jews possessed the only authentic copy of the Old Testament that predate the Rabbinic/Talmudic period:
: "...Benjamin Kennicott (I7I8-83), the celebrated biblical scholar at Oxford, knew from his research that no complete copy of the Old Testament had been discovered that dated before the late medieval period.... What was needed was a much earlier text, preferably one which had been untainted by the interference of Talmudic Jews. The Lost Ten Tribes would certainly have such a copy, but failing their discovery, one source was already known which might supply their deficiency - the Jews of China."
The Chinese Jews and the Problem of Biblical Authority in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth- Century England " (The English Historical Review, Vol. 105, No. 417 (Oct., 1990), pp. 893-919 Published by: Oxford University Press] :
In 1489, and then in 1512 and again in 1663, the Jews of Kaifeng engraved the story of the Kaifeng temple in stone. Researchers often questioned the reason for inscribing these inscriptions, because they contained very little, if any, historical content that would enlighten outsiders to the history of the community. But apparently history was not on the mind of the composers. By the time the inscriptions were engraved, the Kaifeng Jews were isolated for so long that they believed that they were the last surviving Jews under heaven. Therefore, learned members of the community composed the inscriptions to serve a guide to future generations of how to be Israelite. They described the rituals that the Cohaninm performed in the First Temple period (10-7th century BCE) then they reminded the offspring of the various customs, such as not eating pork and some of the laws of kashruth. But, what I found surprising was the reproduction in its entirely of the Eighteen Benedictions in Chinese. Even more puzzling was the lack of mention of the Shema. Only after I juxtaposed the inscriptions with Jewish historical context, I realized that the Kaifeng Jews predated the Shema, a prayer that was adopted during the Mishnaic period (100 BCE- 200 CE). They did not know the Shema, but they knew the Hebrew words of the Priestly Blessing (Birchat Hacohanim) the text of which they reproduced in the inscription in Chinese. Birchat Hacohanim was a prayer commonly recited at the end of the service during the time of the First Temple.
Indeed the Chinese inscriptions captured the pre-talmudic text of the Hebrew Bible and it was "untainted by the interference of Talmudic Israelites. In that respect The Kaifeng Inscriptions are as important to Jewish history as the Geniza/Dead Sea Scrolls
A few words on the composition of the Chinese stela. They were written for future generations of Chinese Jews in the verancular Chinese of the Ming Dynasty (1379- 1644). The text ran without breaks or punctuation, typical of similar inscriptions at the time, but these inscriptions were extremely difficult to understand. They "root" wording was in biblical Hebrew, translated into Chinese and transmitted orally from generations to generations. The Chinese scholar Chen Yuan punctuated the inscriptions in the 1920’s but missed the Hebrew origin the text and prayers. Based on Chen's arrangement, Bishop Charles White of the Canadian Mission in China translated and annotated the text, he also failed to identify the various Hebrew references. In 2006 I published a new English translation of the four stelae in native Chinese rhythm and measures and annotated in both Chinese and Hebrew context. It accentuated the wording of pre-talmudic Hebrew Torah.
In addition, the inscriptions included quotes from famous Song Dynasty (960-1279) scholars, poets and officials that attested to their Chinese and Judaic erudition.
A few words on the composition of the Chinese stela. They were written for future generations of Chinese Jews in the verancular Chinese of the Ming Dynasty (1379- 1644). The text ran without breaks or punctuation, typical of similar inscriptions at the time, but these inscriptions were extremely difficult to understand. They "root" wording was in biblical Hebrew, translated into Chinese and transmitted orally from generations to generations. The Chinese scholar Chen Yuan punctuated the inscriptions in the 1920’s but missed the Hebrew origin the text and prayers. Based on Chen's arrangement, Bishop Charles White of the Canadian Mission in China translated and annotated the text, he also failed to identify the various Hebrew references. In 2006 I published a new English translation of the four stelae in native Chinese rhythm and measures and annotated in both Chinese and Hebrew context. It accentuated the wording of pre-talmudic Hebrew Torah.
In addition, the inscriptions included quotes from famous Song Dynasty (960-1279) scholars, poets and officials that attested to their Chinese and Judaic erudition.
For a full translation and annotation in both Chinese and Hebrew context see: The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions (2006) (available on Amazon)
