Israel is a nation under siege. The Jewish state can without difficulty be characterized as the pariah state among the world community. Jews likewise are demonized as an outcast folk. Attacks have come from all quarters and from all mentalities, from admirers of Gandhi to partisans of Hitler.
Rather than continuing to try to fend off the seemingly endless assault upon both society and realm, it has now become necessary for Jews and Israelis alike to take the offensive. One of the ways to do this is by cultivating foreign peoples rather than relying on the goodwill of governments. This can be done by launching a partnership program between Israel and diaspora Jewish organizations to educate non-Jews about Jewish life and culture. Among those non-Jewish peoples, the teeming masses of Asia stand out.
Asia in general (excluding Muslim states) is characterized for the most part by a non-Christian, “neutral-Semitic” point of view. There is little historical connection in most countries either with Jews as a people or with anti-Semitism as an ideology. Religion has never consisted of one dogmatic creed but has involved an open-ended exploration of the divine. Trade and commerce have always been respectable occupations, unlike in Europe with its romanticized cult of the earth. That being the case, the Orient is virgin soil which, if tended correctly, could yield a truly bounteous harvest. The best place to commence this crucial task would be with the major powers of China and Japan.
China has hosted a small Jewish community since at least the eighth century of the common era. Jews have never been persecuted in the “Middle Kingdom” and the original Jewish community has assimilated to the point of complete racial absorption by its Han Chinese hosts.
That Jews have historically been well received in China is attested by the thirteenth century Venetian explorer Marco Polo, who wrote that the Great Khan Kublai observed the festivals of Jews, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims alike:
“Upon being asked his motive for this conduct, he said: ‘There are four great Prophets who are reverenced and worshiped by the different classes of mankind. The Christians regard Jesus Christ as their divinity; the Saracens, Mahomet; the Jews, Moses; and the idolaters, Sakyamuni-Burkhan (Buddha) …. I do honor and show respect to all four, so that I may be sure of invoking whichever among them is in truth supreme in Heaven.’ – (Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo, New York, New American Library, 1961).
This pragmatic attitude stands in stark contrast with contemporaneous views in both Europe and the Islamic world.
These positive relations have continued into modern times, with Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the “father of modern China,” declaring his support for a Jewish homeland in a letter addressed to leaders of the Shanghai Jewish community in 1920. Merchants from the Middle East, refugees from Russian pogroms and emigrants from Nazi persecution have also found a welcome haven at various times in this eastern domain.
Dr. Feng Shan Ho, consul general in Vienna from 1938-1940, saved many Jews by issuing visas allowing them to escape the clutches of Hitler’s death machine. At the same time, individuals such as Morris “Two Gun” Cohen and Dr. Jakob Rosenfeld (a well-respected figure in China to this day for his medical work during the Chinese Civil War) won fame through their Chinese exploits.
The victory of communism in mainland China temporarily put a freeze on Sino-Judaic relations, but a gradual thaw has taken place since the official establishment of bilateral relations between Israel and China in 1992. A small but growing group of Chinese scholars and academics has evinced a strong interest in the Jewish presence in China and Jewish life in general. Individuals such as Dr. Pan Guang, head of the Shanghai Center of Jewish Studies, and Dr. Xu Xin, president of the China Judaic Studies Association and head of the Jewish Center at Nanjing (Nanking) University, among others, have dedicated themselves to furthering the knowledge of Jews and Judaism in their homeland.
Japan presents a somewhat different picture from China. Unlike its larger neighbor, the “Land of the Rising Sun” had no Jewish settlement until the late nineteenth century; the Jewish communities established in such cities as Yokohama and Nagasaki were viewed simply as part of the larger foreign collective. Most information available on Jewish topics was provided through translations of European works. Even today the bulk of Japanese have little real knowledge of Jews and Judaism.
Japanese attitudes toward Jews are thus based not on real encounters but only on half-digested information filtered through mostly Western sources. Israeli psychologist Dr. Rotem Kowner, in a series of studies made in the mid-1990’s, revealed the complexity of the Japanese perception concerning Jews. He found that while Jews were considered most similar to Japanese in terms of self image, Jews as individuals were viewed with distrust and suspicion.
This ambiguity is best revealed by Japan’s behavior during the Holocaust. While holding firm to the Axis connection, the Japanese government refused to countenance its allies’ maltreatment of European Jewry. Indeed, in December 1938 Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro explicitly stated that “… the adoption of an attitude of extreme exclusion in the same manner as Germany is simply incongruent with the spirit of racial equality that we have insisted upon for so many years.”
Similarly, Foreign Minister Matsuoka announced, “I am the man responsible for the alliance with Hitler, but nowhere have I promised that we would carry out his anti-Semitic policies in Japan. This is not simply my personal opinion, it is the opinion of Japan, and I have no compunction about announcing it to the world.”
Many Jews found refuge in Japan during the zenith of Nazi atrocities in Europe. The entire faculty and student body of the Yeshiva of Mir, for example, escaped first to Japan and then to Japanese-occupied Shanghai with the express approval of the ruling authority. The famous Consul General to Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara, disregarded his government’s disapproval and issued visas which saved the lives of thousands of Jews. (However, Ernest Heppner, in an article published in “The China Judaic Connection” in 1998, claimed that Sugihara’s actions were in no wise remarkable but rather reflected official government policy at the time. He further contends that the Consul may have been a double agent acting for both Japan and the Soviet Union.)
The post-war period has seen no change in Japanese ambivalence about Jews. Hard core anti-Semitism has been restricted to peripheral groups such as the apocalyptic cult Aum Shinrikyo and the tiny National Socialist Japanese Workers and Welfare Party, as well as to small anti-Zionist organizations such as The Japanese Red Army. At the same time, books and articles focusing on alleged Jewish cabals attempting to undermine Japan were relatively common in the ’80’s and ’90’s, though less so today.
Conversely, these negative views have been balanced by much positive activity. The Diary of Ann Frank has been required reading in Japanese schools for decades and was even produced as an animated feature (anime) in 1995. Indigenous Christian sects such as the Makuya and the Japanese Christian Friends of Israel have worked tirelessly to both defend the Jewish state and return Christianity to a more Hebraic, “non-church” spirit. Academics such as Dr. Tsuguya Sasaki, a scholar of Jewish languages, and Dr. Yoshiji Hirose, a founder of the Jewish Literary Society of Japan, are part of a small but growing academic assemblage devoted to kindling an interest in things Judaic.
What the above information reveals is that two important nations on the extreme periphery of Jewish history must now be brought more closely within its orbit. This can be done by taking advantage of the very real interest that exists in both China and Japan regarding Jews. By promoting direct knowledge of these topics to interested individuals, the veil of ignorance can be torn away and a true connection can be established, something that could be of inestimable value to both the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
The Israeli government, in tandem with influential diaspora organs such as Bnai Brith and the World Jewish Congress, might set up “Israeli-Jewish culture houses” which would explain such diverse subjects as Jewish history and religion, Zionism, the Middle East conflict, and anti – Semitism. Israel should be described as the fulfillment of Jewish aspirations, not defended because it is a democracy or gives its Arab citizens quality health care and the right to vote.
In addition, such centers should promote an annual Jewish culture week featuring film, music, dancing, and food. Events of this sort are a good way to inform many people in an informal fashion. Scholarships ought to be initiated that would enable promising students to pursue research on Jewish themes at the university level and academic programs need to be funded and existing ones elaborated.
Individuals who take the time to learn about a particular culture usually become more sympathetic to it or at least more understanding. In bypassing governments, with their hidden agendas and complicated political machinations, and going directly “to the people,” the seeds of future change may be sown.
In countries such as China and Japan, where there is no true anti-Semitic crust to peel away, the acquisition of knowledge by politicians, journalists, academics, and ordinary citizens could be the first step on opening the window that looks toward the bright light from the East.
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