The World of Midrash

OrTorah: Re: Are Japanese familiar to the people of Israel?

2008-08-15T06:46:00.001-07:00

Israelites Came To Ancient Japan

Chapter 4
Various Other Similarities Between Ancient Israel and Ancient Japan

Atonement

In Japan they have a traditional thought of atonement similar to the one of ancient Israel.
In Old Shintoism, there is a ceremony of atonement called Ooharai, which is a ritual to expel all the sins and impurity of the nation.
In the ceremony of Ooharai, the emperor comes there wearing a white linen clothes, which means a shabby figure. After the ritual, the clothes are placed on a small boat and let flow the river. People look at it flowing and vanishing from their sight, when a prayer is chanted that the Imperial Family of Japan came from heaven (Takama-no-hara or Takama-ga-hara) and started to reign the country of abundant nature, the archipelago of Japan, but there are many sins raise up among the nation and we have to dispose them, however these sins are strong and it is hard to dispose, so we have to have specific days for atonement and the emperor do a ritual of atonement and purification for the nation. That is why the emperor performs a ritual of letting his white linen clothes bear all the sins of the nation and letting them flow the river to abandon.
And among the citizens, priests of shrines give all the people's sins to white papers which are cut in the shape of a man and let them flow the river. Ancient Japanese people thought that they could not come into a new year without the atonement of their sins. Ooharai atonement is held twice a year on June 30 and December 31 every year at shrines and the Imperial House of Japan.The Jews have actually two New Year's Days in their Jewish calendar: One is the first day of the seventh month, and another the first day of the first month (the former is based on the creation of the world, and the latter on the Exodus).
The thought of Ooharai is similar to the thought of the Hebrew Scriptures. This Japanese custom resembles the Israeli custom of the scapegoat, which was a ritual held by the high priest of Israel at the temple of Jerusalem. The high priest prayed laying his hands on the head of the goat, let the goat bear all the sins of the people of Israel, took the goat to a solitary land, and looked at the goat vanish beyond the horizon, when the people were gratefull for that their sins were took away with the scapegoat to a land which cannot be seen and that God would not also look at their sins anymore. This ceremony was held every year (Leviticus chapter 16).
In Japan they also have a custom called Nagashi-bina, which is an atonement ceremony to let dolls with sins attached flow the river. Basically the concept of Japanese Ooharai and Nagashi-bina seem to be similar to the concept of Jewish scapegoat.
Furthermore, one Japanese Shintoist points out that the kinds of sin mentioned in the prayer of Ooharai atonement are very similar to the kinds of sin mentioned in the book of Leviticus. In the prayer of Ooharai, the kinds of sin mentioned are, "injuring a living person, injuring a dead body, leprosy, hunchback, fornication with mother, rape of one's own child, rape of mother and child, fornication with animal, magic, etc.."
These are very similar to the kinds of sin mentioned in Leviticus, which forbids the sins of injuring other person's body or one's own body (19:28), and profaning the dead body. The persons with leprosy (13:10-11), hunchback (21:20), or other deformity could not serve at the temple of God (21:17-23). Rape or fornication with mother, with one's own daughter, or with animal are of course forbidden (18:6-23). So is the sin of magic (Deuteronomy 18:11). Thus, the sins mentioned in the prayer of Japanese Ooharai are very similar to the ones mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Custom of Kanka and Jewish Passover

Jews have traditional custom called Passover. This originates from the Book of Exodus in the Bible, and reminds that more than 3000 years ago, the Israelites, who had been slaves in Egypt, went out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. There was an incident called Passover at the night just before they went out from Egypt. When occurred a disaster of death upon the first son of every house in Egypt, the disaster passed over all the houses of the Israelites.
The Israelites killed lamb under the commandment of God and put the blood to their gates. They soaked a bunch of hyssop with the blood and applied it to the gates. The houses with the blood were passed over by the angel of death. The Israelites grilled and ate the lamb at the night.
The similar custom is seen in the area of Ryuukyuu, Japan. As mentioned earlier, Juuji Nakada said that in Ryuukyuu, there was a custom to drive all bad things away by killing cattle and putting the blood to the gates of houses. This custom is called Kanka. Nakada thought that the reason why they used not sheep but cattle in Kanka custom was that there were no sheep in Japan.
I called and asked the school board of Okinawa about this custom. The answer was that they have in fact the custom called Kanka or Shimakusarashi (meaning driving away). They kill cattle, soak the blood with plant as Japanese pampas grass or leaves of mulberry, and apply the blood to their gates, four corners of their houses, and the entrance of the village not to let bad things come in. They grilled and ate the cattle on the day.
This reminds us of the custom of Passover in ancient Israel. And I hear that the Japanese word Kanka means passover.
We can see the Kanka custom even today, but today in many towns the cattle is replaced by pig. I asked "Why, pig?" The answer was that in the past, they were prohibited to kill cattle, so they changed to pig (There is an article in Okinawa Daihyakka Jiten (Okinawa encyclopedia) published by Okinawa Times).
Kanka custom is held mainly in the second month and eighth month in the Japanese old lunar calendar (2-3 times a year). The second month in the Japanese lunar calendar corresponds with Spring - March or April in the solar calendar, and it is interesting that this is about the same season as Jewish Passover feast. According to the Bible, the lamb for the Passover was killed on the 14th day of Nisan (Abib) in the Jewish calendar, and this corresponds with March or April in the solar calendar.

Putting off Shoes and Washing Feet

The Japanese emperor performs the Daijou-sai (the big harvest feast) after his accession to the throne, when he changes his clothes to white ones and come forward to god with his feet naked. There he receives oracle of god and becomes true emperor and leader of the nation.
This is similar to a thought in the Bible. When Moses came forward to God, he put off his shoes and became barefoot (Exodus 3:5). So did Joshua (Joshua 5:15). There they received oracle of God and became true leaders of the nation.
When the Japanese come into their house, they put off their shoes, too. The Western and the Chinese come into their house with their shoes on, but the Japanese do not. According to Zen'ichiro Oyabe, until the beginning of Meiji-era (about 100 years ago), there was a custom in Japan to prepare a washtub with water or hot water for a person who walked outside to wash his/her feet before entering the house. Oyabe says that this is a traditional custom peculiar to Japan and not the one they learned from other Asian countries.
The ancient Israelites had the custom of washing their feet; there are several descriptions about washing feet in the Bible (Judges 19:21, etc.). Washing feet before entering a house was a daily custom of the ancient Israelites.

Horses Dedicated to the Sun

In Japanese Shinto religion, the sun goddess Amaterasu is worshiped as the ancestor deity of the Imperial House of Japan and as the supreme deity for the nation of Japan. Ise grand shrine is built for Amaterasu.
If you look at the inside of Ise grand shrine, near the entrance you will find horses dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. These horses are not just ordinary ones but are the horses which the Imperial House of Japan dedicated to the sun goddess. The horses are to be put beautiful clothes on, brought to a holy place of the shrine three times a month and bow their heads to the sun goddess.

Horse dedicated to the sun goddess at Ise grand shrine

This is a tradition since ancient times in Japan, and also in Israel, for the Bible records that King Josiah, of the southern kingdom of Judah, removed the "horses" that the kings of Judah had "dedicated to the sun" "at the entrance to the house of the Lord", and he also burned "the chariots of the sun with fire" (2 Kings 23:11). This horse dedication is mentioned only once in the Bible, and it is amazing that this ceremony also existed in Israel.
King Josiah, who reigned 639-608 B.C.E., did a religious reformation and removed the custom to dedicate horses to the sun. Until that time, such a pagan custom had been performed throughout generations by kings. This was after the Ten Tribes of Israel were exiled to Assyria. It seems that this custom to dedicate horses to the sun had also been performed in the northern kingdom of Israel, because pagan customs in the southern kingdom were almost without exceptions performed also in the northern kingdom. The custom of dedicating the horses to the sun in Ise grand shrine might originate from this.
And in many other shrines in Japan, you will find a place where many plates of wood are hung, on which painted are horses. Words of people's prayer are also written on them and these plates are called Ema in Japanese meaning horse painting. A priest of a shrine taught me that in old days people dedicated a living horse but later it became difficult to keep and was substituted by the custom to dedicate the plates of horse painting.
Dedicating of horses was very common in Mesopotamia and this could show a connection to Israel or its neighbors.

Celebration of Adulthood

In Judaism, when a boy becomes 13 years old, people have a ceremony called Bar Mitzvah for his attainment of adulthood. He receives much blessing from parents and relatives, and at the same time starts to owe a responsibility as an adult and religious duties. This ceremony is a great joy for both the parents and him.
Bar Mitzvah is relatively a modern ceremony. The Bible does not mention about this. The source is the Talmud (established in 3-6 century C.E.) which states a boy of 13 is responsible to observe the commandments.
But it is interesing that also in Japan there has been a custom of celebration of adulthood when 13 years old since old days. In Japan, when a boy becomes 13 years old, there was a custom (called Juusan-mairi) to attend a shrine or a temple with his parents, brothers and sisters. It was a general custom to celebrate his attainment of adulthood when he becomes around 13 years old. In this ceremony (called Genpuku-shiki), the boy comes in wearing an adult clothes and be blessed as an adult. Sometimes the name for his childhood is abolished and a new name for his adulthood is given to him.
In an old Japanese book of life stories written in the 12th century C.E., Soga-monogatari, it is written, "the brother was celebrated his attainment of adulthood when he was 13 years old in the 10th month, became an adult, was given his stepfather's name partly, and got called Sukenari Soga-juurou." And Genta, a boy of the pedigree of Genji clan, was celebrated his attainment of adulthood when 13 years old and got a new name of Yoshiie Hachiman-tarou.

Similarity Between Japanese Mythology and Religion of Baal

Japanese Shinto religion is polytheistic (belief in many gods), while the religion of the Bible is monotheistic. You may think that there is a definite difference between the two. But different from the modern Judaism, religion in which the ancient Israelites believed was not always monotheistic.
They should have believed in one true God but sometimes they adored idol-gods and became polytheistic. The ancient Israelites believed not only in one true God Yahweh, but also Baal, Ashtaroth, Molech and other pagan idol-gods. This was true especially among the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
Shinto scholars say that a Shinto god Susanou (Susanou-no-mikoto) in the Japanese mythology resembles Baal in several aspects, and a goddess Amaterasu (Amaterasu-oomikami) resembles Ashtaroth.
While in the Japanese mythology, the god which appeared first is named Ameno-minaka-nusino-kami, who is the master god living in the center of the universe, ruling the heaven and the earth. He is invisible, has no shape, no dying, individual, and the most central god of all. This god somewhat resembles the God of the Bible. In fact, a Shintoist Ikarimaru Watanabe (1837-1915), who is a desciple of a great Shinto philosopher Atsutane Hirata, thought that this god equals Yahweh, the God of the Bible.
In the Japanese mythology, after the first Shinto god Ameno-minaka-nusino-kami, gods were born one after another and one of them were Amaterasu and Susanou. The ancient pagan religion of Baal, which the Israelites often inclined to, resembled this. In the religion of Baal, for the master god El, first invented was his "wife" Ashtaroth (Asherah) , and then the myth became that a son Baal was born to them. Later people worshiped Baal who is a god of richness, and Ashtaroth who is a goddess of productiveness and pleasure rather than worshipping the master god El.
Thus the scheme that gods were born to the master god is the same as the scheme of the Shinto mythology. It is possible to think that the Japanese mythology includes a remnant of the ancient religion of Baal.
Archaeologists state that the religions of Babylon and Egypt had originally believed in one god called "the god of sky," who seemed to have a connection to the Biblical "God of heaven." Later, their religions degraded to the polytheism. I think that we can safely say the same thing happened to the Shinto religion. I suppose that the ancient Shinto religion had the belief in God Yahweh, but later degenerated into polytheism. I believe that the Japanese people should come back to believe in one true God whom the Bible teaches.
A Christian friend of mine, Mr. Tsujii, told me the following incident. A friend of Mr. Tsujii's, who was a passionate Shinto believer, came to him. The Shinto believer had read the Torah and said excitingly:
"I read the Torah. I was very surprised to learn about the religious ceremonies of ancient Israel. They are the same as Shinto's. The festivals, the Temple, the value of cleanness, all of those are the same as Shinto's!"
Then, Mr. Tsujii said to him:
"Yes, that is what I have also noticed. If you have discovered it, why don't you believe in God whom the Bible teaches? I believe that is the way to establish and recover the true Shinto religion in which you believe."
Hearing this, the Shinto believer was too surprised to say anything else for a while. Mr. Tsujii's words echo my own belief. I pray that all Japanese people may return to the belief in God of the Bible, because He is also the Father of the Japanese nation.

The Renewal of Taika

In ancient Japan there was an awful conflict concerning the reign of Japan between the Shintoists and Buddhists; so called the conflict between Mononobe clan (Shintoists) and Soga clan (Buddhists). Once the Buddhists had the power to reign but later in the time of the Renewal of Taika (645 C.E.), the Shintoists recovered the power to reign. In the Renewal of Taika we find appearance and disappearance of the relation with ancient Israel because it was the time of recover of the Shintoists.
For instance, the declaration of the start of a new age of the Renewal of Taika by the new government was in the beginning of the 7th month. The Japanese ancient chronicles, Nihon-syoki, records that on the second day of the 7th month they set a new princess and it seems that the first day of the 7th month was actually the beginning of the Taika era. The first day of the 7th month is the New Year's Day for the Jews. They celebrate it (the first day of Tishri) as the New Year's Day but it is the Sabbath, so they cannot work except for religious things. It was the first day of the 7th month that the priest Ezra let people listen to the Torah and started his religious reformation among them in the 5th century B.C.E. (Nehemiah 8:2). But except for this kind of religious events, the official events must be from the second of the 7th month.
And Nihon-shoki records that the new government sent messengers "on the 14th day of the 7th month" to offer their traditional religious offerings for Shinto gods. This is the day, in the Jewish custom, to prepare for God the religious offerings for a Jewish big feast, the Feast of Booths. This coincidence is amazing.
This is not everything. In the Renewal of Taika, a new law started for distributing lands to people. This law, which continued until about 900 C.E., was that the government were to redistribute lands to citizens every 6 years. The model for this was a Chinese law but in the Chinese law the redistribution was when a farmer became 60 years old or when he died, and was not every 6 years. Then, why did the Japanese government redistributed the lands every 6 years?
In ancient Israel, there was a law to use lands 6 years and during the 7th year the lands had a rest (Leviticus 25:3-4). This was to avoid continual farming and weakening of the lands and it seems that this Hebrew law became a model for the law of redistributing at the Renewal of Taika. Someone guesses that the Japanese might used the 7th year for the redistribution of the lands.
And in this redistributing, the size of the land was determined according to the number of people of the family. This was the same in ancient Israel, where the size of the land of inheritance was determined according to the size of the number of people of the tribe (Numbers 26:54).

The Imperial Edict of the Renewal of Taika Resembled the Laws of Moses

Besides, among the laws which started at the Renewal of Taika there are many which make us feel an association with the laws of the Torah. For instance, in the Laws of Men and Women of the Renewal of Taika, it is written that:
"Give the child who was born between a male slave and a female slave to the mother, female slave."
This was the same in ancient Israel. The master gave the child who was born between a male slave and a female slave to the mother, female slave, and the male slave had to go out alone (Exodus 21:4). And in the page of the Messenger at the Renewal of Taika, it is written:
"Collect double from the one who got unjustly."
This means to collect double of the amount of money from the one if he got something which is not his by lying that it is his unjustly. This is the same as a law of the Torah, for the Torah says that penalty for stealing is to pay double (Exodus 22:9).
In the page of the Abolition of Old Customs at the Renewal of Taika, it is written:
"Abolish the custom that a living person cuts his hair or spears his thigh for the dead."
Among many nations are the custom that a living person injures himself for the dead. In Taiwan, they have a festival in which people injure themselves and shed blood. It was true also in Japan but the Renewal of Taika forbad it. This was the same as a law of the Torah, for the Torah says that one shall not make "any cuttings in his flesh for the dead", nor "tattoo" any marks on him (Leviticus 19:28).
Jews are forbidden by the Bible to cut the body and to tatoo. Shinto priests do not tatoo nor cut the body. Also in the laws of the Torah it was forbidden that a priest or a citizen shaved the hair of the head (Leviticus 21:5, 19:27). Buddhist monks shave their heads, but Shinto priests do not.
It is interesting to note that in the same page of the Abolition of Old Customs, it is written about justice:
"Even if there are three definite witnesses, all should state facts and then bring the case to the officer. Do not sue recklessly."
Here why does it say "three definite witnesses"? It seems that in this background is a thought that there should be at least two or three witnesses, but even if in the case there are three witnesses they should not sue recklessly; they should state detailed facts before suing. This is associated with a law of Moses, for the Bible says that one witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of "two or three witnesses" the matter shall be established (Deuteronomy 19:15).
This is because the word of one witness could be a lie to entrap the suspect.
Also in the page of Abolition of Old Customs, it is written:
"Until now there has been a trend that, for instance, during a man entrusts a horse to a person, the horse dies accidentally because of the person's fault, the man requires too much compensation from him."
And the law of the Renewal of Taika forbad this kind of requirement for compensation. This is the same spirit as mentioned in a law of Moses, for the Bible says that if a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies, is hurt, or driven away, no one seeing it, then an oath of the Lord shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbor's goods; and the owner of it shall accept that, and "he shall not make it good" (Exodus 22:10-11).
Thus the laws promulgated at the Renewal of Taika are very similar to the laws of Moses.

The Study By Eiji Kawamorita

Dr. Eiji Kawamorita, who was a Christian pastor at a Japanese church in San Francisco, paid attention to Japanese traditional folk songs. He published several books about his study on folk songs and insisted that many of the words in Japanese traditional folk songs especially words of musical accompaniment are Hebrew.
I have a letter of his hand writing, which shows how he was eager with this issue.
For instance, what is the meaning of "Yah-ren so-ran" said in a Japanese traditional So-ran folk song? What is "Yosah-koi" said in Yosahkoi folk song? What is the meaning of "Nanyado yara" said in a folk song in Tohoku area, Japan? If we read them as Japanese, they have no meaning. But Kawamorita insisted that if we read them as Hebrew, they would be very meaningful.
Sometimes we find farfetched interpretation in his explanation, but it is not easy to deny his insistence that many Hebrew words are included in Japanese traditional folk songs. To study this, scholars who are familiar with Hebrew, ancient Hebrew, Aramaic and Japanese need to do a precise study. I am pleased to learn that students are now studying seriously the relationship of Hebrew words in Japanese.
The problem is that pronunciation of the folksongs has changed during these several thousand years and we do not know if today's pronunciation was the same in ancient times. So When a Jew listens to Japanese traditional folksongs, it is usually hard for him to recognize it as Hebrew. However the theory of Kawamorita is interesting.
It is noteworthy that Kawamorita says that in the Japanese folksongs the holy name of God (Yahweh) is used many times. One of the differences between the Jews of the southern kingdom of Judah and the Ten Tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel is that the Jews of the southern kingdom started to read God's holy name as the Lord (in Hebrew "adonai") after the Babylonian exile (in the 6th century B.C.E.). This was not to pronounce God's holy name unrespectfully; they recited His name only in the temple, but since the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E., they actually quit pronouncing His name. While the people of the Ten Tribes continued pronouncing His name. So, if it is true that God's holy name is used and pronounced many times in the Japanese folksongs, it would be possible to know that it was due to the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

Did the Ancient Japanese Speak Hebrew?

Not only it seems that there was Torah in ancient Japan, but also there are some reasons to think that there were people who spoke Hebrew in ancient Japan.
As "Hi, fu, mi..." mentioned earlier, in Kojiki, Nihon-shoki and other ancient documents, we find many words similar to Hebrew in both meaning and pronunciation.
For instance, the first Japanese emperor Jinmu gave leaders of area the title "Agata-nushi"; "Agata" means area and "nushi" means leader. Also in Hebrew "agudah" means group and "nasi" means leader (In modern Hebrew it is nasi-agudah).
In Japanese an emperor is called with a title "mikado", which sounds like Hebrew words "migadol" meaning the noble. Every Japanese emperor is called with a title "mikoto", which sounds close to a Hebrew word "malhut" meaning kingdom or king. Every Japanese emperor is also called with a title "sumera-mikoto", which has no specific meaning as a Japanese word, but if we interpret it as a Hebrew phrase "shomron malhuto", it means Samaria his kingdom or king of Samaria. The ancient name for a Japanese Shinto priest is "negi", while a Hebrew word "nagid" means leader.
The ancient Japanese name for a tomb of emperor or empress is "misasagi", while a Hebrew word "mut sagar" means to close the dead.
A researcher interpreted the Hebrew word for Canaan (ancient word for the land of Israel) as a combination of "qanah nah" which means field of reed, while the ancient Japanese called their country "Ashihara" which means field of reed in Japanese.
In the Japanese ancient books Kojiki and Nihon-shoki, we find many other words which remind us of Israel. The ancient name for an area in Nara prefecture is "Iware" which reminds me of a Hebrew word "Ivri" meaning Hebrew. The ancient name of a land in Nara prefecture "Asuka" resembles a Hebrew word "ha-sukkah" which means the tabernacle. In Asuka was built the ancient house of emperor. A Japanese scholar says that "a" is a prefix and "suka" means tabernacle or dwelling. Also in Hebrew "ha" is a prefix which means the, and "sukkah" means tabernacle or booth.

Similarity Between the Stories of the Bible and the Old Japanese Documents

We find several similarities between the stories of the Bible and the stories of the old Japanese documents. For instance, there is a similarity between Israeli King David (the second king of Israel) and Japanese Emperor Sujin (the 10th emperor, 148-30 B.C.E.).
The Bible mentions that in the reign of King David, there was a famine for three years (2 Samuel 21:1) and in the following pestilence about seventy thousand people died (24:15). While according to Nihon-shoki, in the reign of Emperor Sujin there was a pestilence for three years and about half of the people died. Both kings felt responsible for these terrible sights, and required punishment from God. David asked it through a prophet and Sujin asked through divining.
Kojiki also records that Emperor Sujin did his fight in the land of "Idomi", while the Bible records that King David did his fight in the land of "Edom" (2 Samuel 8:14). Here we find not only the similarity of pronunciations but also the similarity of stories.
David's son was King Solomon, who built the first temple for the heavenly God. While Sujin's son, Emperor Suinin, built the first Shinto shrine named Ise grand shrine. There are also some other similarities between the two kings.
Another interesting similarity exists between the King Saul (the first king of Israel), and Japanese Emperor Chuuai (the 14th emperor).
The Bible records that King Saul was "a handsome man... and taller than any of the people" (1 Samuel 9:2). While Nihon-shoki records that Emperor Chuuai was "a handsome man and about three meters tall." Both men were very tall and handsome.
King Saul came from the tribe of Benjamin. In the land of Benjamin there is a famous town called "Anathoth". While according to Kojiki, Emperor Chuuai reigned the country at "Anato", which sounds close to Anathoth. King Saul fought Moab, whose another name was Chemosh, in Hebrew "kemosh". This sounds close to "Kumaso" tribe which Emperor Chuuai fought. Saul died early because he committed a sin of disobeying the word of God, while it is written that Emperor Chuuai also died early because he disobeyed the word of god.
In addition, concerning the similarity between tribal names in the Bible and Japanese mythology, one of the tribes which ancient Japanese Yamato tribe fought is called the tribe of "Emisi" or "Ebusu", which sounds close to the tribe name of Jebusites, in Hebrew "yebus" (Joshua 15:63).

Similarity Between Japanese and Hebrew

Joseph Eidelberg points out that there are many Japanese words which are very similar to Hebrew in both meaning and pronunciation.
A Japanese word "anata" which means you is also said "anta", and in the dialect of Kyushu is said "atah". In Hebrew this is also "atah" or "anta". "Aruku" in Japanese meaning to walk is in Hebrew "halak."
Japanese "hakaru" means to measure and Hebrew "haqar" means to investigate or measure. Japanese "horobu" means to perish and Hebrew "horeb" means to become ruined or perish. Japanese "teru" means to shine and Hebrew "teurah" means illumination.
Japanese "meguru" means to circle and "magaru" means to turn, while Hebrew "magal" means circle. Japanese "toru" meaning to take is "tol" in Hebrew. Japanese "kamau" means to mind or care and Hebrew "kamal" means to sympathize.
Japanese "damaru" which means to become silent is "damam" in Hebrew. Japanese "hashiru" means to run and Hebrew "hush" means to hurry. Japanese "nemuru" means to sleep and Hebrew "num" means to doze.
Japanese "ito" which means thread is "hut" in Hebrew. The stick with white papers of zigzag pattern put on its upper part which the Shinto priest waves is called "nusa" in Japanese, while a Hebrew word "nes" means flag. Japanese "ude" means arm and Hebrew "yad" means hand. Japanese "kata" which means shoulder is "qatheph" in Hebrew. Japanese "owari" which means end or finish is "aharith" in Hebrew.
Japanese "kyou" which means today is "qayom" in Hebrew. Japanese "tsurai" means painful and Hebrew "tzarah" means trouble or misfortune. Japanese "karui" which means light in weight is "qal" in Hebrew. Hebrew "qor" means coldness and reminds of a Japanese word "kooru" which means freeze or "koori" which means ice.
Japanese "samurau" means to serve or guard (for the noble) and Hebrew "shamar" means to guard (Genesis 2:15). In Japanese, from "samurau" came a word "samurai" which means Japanese ancient warrior or guard. Also in Hebrew, if we attach a Hebrew suffix "ai" meaning profession to "shamar", it would be "shamarai" which sounds close to the Japanese guard "samurai". [This is the same case as "banai" which is a Hebrew word for builder and is a combination of "banah" (to build) and "ai" (suffix meaning profession) . Modern Hebrew does not have the word "Shamurai" but it fully satisfies the grammar of Hebrew.]

Hebrew in Japanese

Researchers point out many other similarities between Japanese and Hebrew. A researcher points out more than 500 similarities of words. Among them, there may be several examples of similarity only by chance, even in those I listed here, but can we think all of these are by chance? There could be, by mere chance between two languages, several words which resemble each other in pronunciation and meaning, but when there are many words similar between the two, we may have to think that there is etymologic relationship between the two. Japanese includes many words which seem to have Hebrew origin.
A person mentions about the Sea of Galilee in Israel and the Sea of Biwa near Japan, which is the largest lake in Japan. Biwa is the name of a musical instrument, lute or violin in Japanese. While in Israel, there is a lake called the Sea of Galilee which is almost the same in size and shape as the Sea of Biwa. In the time of the Ten Tribes of Israel the Sea of Galilee was called the Sea of Kinneret which is connected to a Hebrew word "kinor" meaning lute or violin. So, if we translate the Sea of Kinneret into Japanese, it would be the Sea of Biwa (Biwa-ko).
There are some other popular etymologies, although not scientific studies of linguistics. Nevertheless, many Jews say when they come to Japan, it is a pleasant experience for them to find familiar names in Japan.

The Japanese Who Used Hebrew

I have read an article written in English on a Jewish newspaper published in 1913 before. The article was that, when a Jew came to Kobe, Japan, he went in a curio shop and was looking at the price of a vase. He found Hebrew letters on the label of the bottom of the vase.
The Jews use Hebrew letters as numbers, too. For instance, the first Hebrew letter aleph is 1, the second letter bet is 2, and so on. All other alphabets also correspond to numbers. The Jew asked, "What are these letters?" The master of the store said, "These are marks for a salesperson to know the price. " The Jews asked, "Then, how much is this vase?" The master answered, "5 dollars." "But why do you say 5 dollars, because it is written that this is 32 cents", said the Jew. The master was surprised and said, "How did you know that?" "It is written so in Hebrew here. Every Jew can read it", said the Jew.
But the master looked that he did not understand what Hebrew was nor the Jews nor Israel nor Judaism. He just told that these letters were the numbers which had been passed from generation to generation, from father to son since very old days. The Jew asked him, "Do you have any other things which have been passed from your ancestors?" The master showed him some conical bells of silver, whick the Jew identified as the ones to be placed on top of the Torah Scrolls.

The Kagome Crest at Ise Grand Shrine

While, you can see the same design as the Shield of David (Star of David), the symbol of the Jews, in various places in Japan.
In Mie prefecture, Japan, is located Ise grand shrine which was built for the Imperial House of Japan, and a symbol which looks very much like the Shield of David is carved on all the lamps along the approaches to the shrine.

The Japanese call it Kagome crest, which means basket reticulation in Japanese. This was named because the crest looks like the reticulation of Japanese traditinal bamboo basket.
The lamps at Ise grand shrine were built and offered from the donators to the shrine after the World War 2. The Kagome crest is also carved at a monument of Manai shrine, the former (original) Ise grand shrine located in Kyoto. This monument is also offered to the shrine.

In Japan, people have been using crests which look like the Shield of David since very old days. For instance, Asa-no-ha crest, which also resembles the Shield of David, has been used widely as symbles for clothes since about Kamakura-era (the 12-14th century C.E.). And Kagome crest was used by Komiya clan and Magaribuchi clan, etc., who are descendants of emperor Seiwa (the 9th century C.E.).
We can also see the symbols which resemble the Shield of David as regalias of several cities of Japan. The city regalias of Nishi-no-miya city (Hyogo prefecture), Oomuta city (Fukuoka), Otaru city (Hokkaido), Wakkanai city (Hokkaido), and Fukuchiyama city (Kyoto) are all in the shape of 6 edged star, and resemble the Shield of David very much.
But did they really originated from Jewish Shield of David? Or, did they only happen to resemble?
You can recall the badge of American sheriff to be the same design as the Jewish Shield of David, but it does not mean that he is a Jew. The same thing could be said concerning the crests in Japan. The design of six pointed star was used widely in various countries from old days because of its geometrical beauty.
In Israel, this symbol is discovered as a design without national sygnificance in old remains; for instance, Shield of David is discovered in a synagogue in Capernaum, Israel, built in about second century C.E.. But it was only a design and was not unique to the Jews. Even among other nations than the Jews, this design It was since the 17th century C.E. when this design started to be used generally as the formal symbol for the Jews.
So, it is difficult to judge whether or not the Japanese design of six pointed star originated from the Jewish Shield of David.

Gion Festival

In 794 C.E., the government of Japan moved from Nara to Kyoto. Just after the move of the government to the City of Heian, a festival called Gion festival (Gion-matsuri) began to be performed in Kyoto.
Even today the Japanese perform Gion festivals in various places of Japan on July 17 or around that time. The center of the festivals is Gion festival of Yasaka shrine in Kyoto. The central event of Gion festival of Kyoto has been performed always on July 17, or the 17th day of the 7th month, since old days.
The important part of the festival is during 8 days from July 17, and they also have important events on July 1 and 10. The 17th day of the 7th month mysteriously matches the day when Noah's ark drifted ashore mountains of Ararat; the Bible records, "the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat" (Genesis 8:4).
Since then, ancient Israelites might have had a thanksgiving feast on this day every year, although there is no Biblical record. Since Moses, it was replaced by the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) which is performed on the 1st day, 10th day and during 8 days from the 15th day of the 7th month. Nevertheless, the Israelites knew well of the 17th day of the 7th month to be the day when Noah's ark rested, because it is written in the Bible.
Gion festival in Kyoto began in the wish that no pestilence might occur among people. This resembles the circumstances that when the temple of Jerusalem was established by King Solomon, he had a festival in the wish that no pestilence might occur among people. Solomon had the festival during 8 days (including the last day of solemn assembly) since the 15th day of the 7th month (2 Chronicles 7:8-10). There is a difference of two days between Solomon's festival and Gion festival but both were performed during 8 days in almost same time of the year and in the same wish.
A Scottish businessman, N. McLeod, came to Japan in Meiji era and saw Gion festival in Kyoto. He wrote that various things in Gion festival reminded him of Jewish festivals.
At Gion festival, carpets, which were imported from Persia and India via the Silk Road in the 16th century, are used as the decoration for the festival cars even today. And Japanese historians say that even in the times before it, and since very early times, many naturalized foreigners lived in Kyoto, which was indeed a big international city of the world. Not a few Jews, who came via the Silk Road, seem to have participated or enjoyed looking at the Gion festival.
Gion festival always starts with a voice of "En yalah yah". Even when we ask a Japanese person, "What does it mean?" he only says, "I don't know." But to Jews this may sound like a Hebrew expression "eni ahalel yah" meaning "I praise Yahweh."

Sabato-yori and the Sabbath

In old days of Japan, there had been a remarkable custom called "Sabato-yori" in Nagasaki.
"Sabato-yori" means "gathering of Sabato" and is a gathering which the Christians gather together on every Saturday to pray, eat, and talk together.
In Japan there was a long period of strong persecution against Christians in Edo era and also in the beginning of Meiji era. The custom of gathering of Sabato had been kept continuously among the Christians who survived the persecution. They gathered on every Saturday, as well as Sunday which is the day for their mass.
About one hundred years ago in Meiji era, Christians who survived were continuing this custom, and even old Catholic believers in Uragami area of Nagasaki today have this memory (there is an article about it in December 1963 issue of monthly magazine "Taiyo"). According to them, this custom had been widely seen in Japan before. It seems that the origin is very old.
It may have some connection with the custom of the Sabbath which Prof. Yoshiro Saeki mentioned was seen among the Eta people in Nagasaki. I also recall that a Jewish traveler, S. Levi from Tel Aviv in Israel reported in 1930' on an Israeli news paper, Ha Aretz, that he saw in Japan the custom of the Sabbath in a group.
The same custom of the Sabbath was seen among the Christians in Nagasaki. In Hebrew the Sabbath is pronounced "shabbath" and "Sabato" may be a slight corruption of it. The issue is why they Christians have the custom of the Sabbath. Catholic believers usually have no such a custom and this is a Jewish custom. Nevertheless, how did they Christians begin to have the custom of the Sabbath?

The Existence of Emperor

To think about the relation between Japan the Ten Tribes of Israel, it is important to consider of the existence of Japanese emperor. The Japanese emperor is not just a king, but he is also a high priest. He is a priestly king. The emperor is in a deep relation with Shinto and sits on the central position of Shinto.
During the chapter 1-4, we saw about the Ten Tribes of Israel in Afghanistan, India, Kashmir, Myanmar, and China, but they did not have such a priestly king as the Japanese emperor. How did Japan begin to have such emperor system of single family line from generation to generation? . A researcher thought that it was due to that the royal line of Israelites came to Japan.
The ancient king of Israel was not just a king but also a priestly king. Although there was a person called a high priest as well as him, but the king of Israel often participated in religious affairs. He was not just a political king, but he often played a central role of religious rituals. The king of Israel was, in a sense, similar to the emperor of Japan.
After King Solomon died, in ancient Israel the royal line was divided into two; one is took over by the southern kingdom of Judah, and another by the northern kingdom of Israel. In the southern kingdom, the royal line reigned the country but lost its power after the Babylonian exile. Then, how was it in the northern kingdom?
The first king of the northern kingdom was Jeroboam who was from the tribe of Ephraim, and the last king of the northern kingdom just before the Assyrian exile was Hoshea. According to the Bible, all the kings of the northern kingdom disobeyed the teachings of God, but among them Hoshea was a better one, for the Bible records that he did evil but not as the kings of Israel who were before him (2 Kings 17:2). Hoshea and his staff members were exiled to Assyria in 722 B.C.E..
The royal line of the northern kingdom of Israel was originally born in the rebellion against the royal line of Judah. So it was very possible that after the exile they thought to go to a distant land, rather than to go back to Israel, and planned to make a country there and redo what they could not do.
While, when did the Japanese emperor start to exist? It is generally said that it was 660 B.C.E when the first Japanese emperor Jinmu ascended the throne. The Imperial House of Japan had already existed even before Hata clan first came to Japan. Is the Imperial House of Japan in the lineage of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, especially of its royal line?

The Formal Name for Emperor Jinmu

Concerning this, interesting is the similarity between Ninigi and Jacob, between Yamasachi-hiko and Joseph, and between Ugaya-hukiaezu and Ephraim as mentioned earlier (chapter 8). This is a remarkable similarity in mythology between the Imperial House of Japan and the royal line of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
It is also interesting to note that the formal name for the Japanese first Emperor Jinmu is called in Kojiki or in Nihon-shoki:
"Kamu-yamato-iware-biko-sumera-mikoto"
Kanji letters are adopted in Kojiki and Nihon-shoki to this, but this pronunciation had existed even before Kanji letters were imported from China. So the Kanji letters have no connection with the meaning.
This "kamu-yamato-...." has no satisfactory meaning if we interpret it as Japanese, but Joseph Eidelberg interpreted it as Hebrew. If we think of slight corruption and interpret it as Hebrew, it would be:
"The founder of the Hebrew nation of Yahweh, the noble (first born) of Samaria his kingdom."
This is not necessarily to mean that Jinmu himself was really the founder of the Hebrew nation, but rather, it may mean that the memory of the royal line of the Hebrew nation coming to Japan was included in the legend of the Japanese first Emperor Jinmu. Did the royal line of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel came to Japan? It is a grand mystery.

The Imperial Library Burnt Down

In Japan in 645 C.E., there was a very regrettable thing that the Imperial library, which had kept very important old documents and books, was all burnt down.
There was a fight between the pro-Shinto and the pro-Buddhism and as the result, the pro-Buddhism, Soga clan, set fire to the library, and all the important records and books in it were burnt down.
The oldest book existing now among all the Japanese books is Kojiki, but even this Kojiki was written in 712 C.E. which was 67 years after the burnt down of the Imperial library. That is, before Kojiki there had existed many ancient books, records, and documents in Japan. In that library there was a mountain of books older than Kojiki. They were all burnt and lost. That is why the Japanese do not have any reliable history before 8th century C.E..
Someone guesses that in the burnt library there was also the Torah Scroll. We cannot deny the possibility if we think, as we saw above, it seems that the laws of the Renewal of Taika had a help from the knowledge of the teachings of the Torah.
If the ancient Japanese had the Torah, it must have been no doubt kept in the Imperial library, which was unfortunately burnt down. There must have been many other important materials concerning the origin of the Japanese in the library. The genealogy from their anscestors might also be there. When the library was burnt down, the Japanese lost their past.
In the 7th century B.C.E. in the southern kingdom of Judah, a Torah Scroll was accidentally found in the temple when an officer was searching gold in the temple (2 Chronicles 34:15). King Josiah at that time let a priest read the Torah, when the king wailed and tore his clothes, for he clearly understood that the people in the country were not obeying the teachings of God.
We can know from this that the ancient people did not read the Torah usually; the Torah Scroll was often kept in an important place and no one looked at it. If the Torah Scroll was in Japan, I wish it were found before it was burnt.
But even if the Japanese lost their past, we do not need to say that now there is no way to know the past or origin of the Japanese. I hear that the insides of many of the tombs of the Japanese emperors are not yet researched or exhibited. When they are researched, I believe we can know more about the roots of the Japanese. The insides of tombs of Egyptian kings are well researched and exhibited. If the tombs of the Japanese emperors are researched scholarly, it may be possible that the Japanese take their past back.
Even the day may come when a definite evidence would be found in a tomb. Someone guesses the Israeli Menorah would be found. Other person guesses the emblems of the Lost Tribes of Israel would be found. Would such a day come?

Arinori Mori Who Saw the Holy Mirror

Lastly, let us look at the people around the mirror of Yata (Yata-no-kagami) which is the holy treasure of Shinto and one of the three holy treasures of the Imperial House of Japan.
Arinori Mori (1847-1889) was the Minister of Education, Culture and Science of Japan in the Meiji-era. He insisted he saw that on the mirror of Yata in Ise grand shrine was written in Hebrew "eheyeh asher eheyeh" which is God's name written in Exodus 3:14 of the Bible and means "I AM THAT I AM."
The mirror of Yata is the treasure which has been handed down in the Imperial House of Japan since very ancient times. The real one is kept at Ise grand shrine and a replica at Kashiko-dokoro in the Imperial Palace. General people cannot look at it because it is regarded very holy. But we know the approximate size, for in an old record is written the size of the case which has caliber of 49 centimeters. So, the mirror of Yata is imagined to be about that size.
But the mirror of Yata is said that even the emperor is not permitted to see. So must be the priests of Ise grand shrine. Nevertheless, how could he look at it? We do not know the details. But anyway the rumor that "I AM THAT I AM" is written in Hebrew on the mirror of Yata spread at once among people.
Another rumor is that just after Japan was defeated at the World War 2, a general of GHQ forced and looked at the mirror of Yata. One more is that Prof. Sakon from Aoyama-gakuin University looked at the replica of the mirror in the Imperial Palace and confirmed it.
In 1952, a group for friendship between the Japanese and the Jews was organized under the leadership of a former navy colonel, Koreshige Inuzuka. This was to study the relation between Japan and Israel and to aim at the friendship between the two. The meeting of the group on January 25, 1953, was held at the house of a Jew, Michael Kogan, in Tokyo, and in the meeting was also Highness Mikasa, a member of the Imperial family. The topic of the Hebrew words on the mirror of Yata was raised in the meeting and Mikasa told that he would check the truth.
But it was a start of the latter sensation, for a chief of the branch office of Tokyo Evening News was at the meeting and published an article about it on the next day's newspaper titled "Mikasa Will Check the Hebrew Words on the Holy Mirror!" This article became a topic among people in those days and spread even abroad.

Yuutarou Yano Who Copied the Pattern of the Mirror of Yata

However, the truth concerning the Hebrew words on the mirror of Yata did not become clear.
Soon, one more person who insisted saw the mirror of Yata appeared. He was Yuutarou Yano who was an elite officer and a passionate Shintoist. He thought that the key to know the truth about the emperor of Japan exists in the mirror of Yata. Yano asked a priest at Ise-jingu again and again if he could look at the mirror sincerely. He says that the priest moved by Yano's passion, secretly permitted him to look at the mirror, and Yano carefully copied the pattern of the back of the mirror.

This copy has been maintained for years in a Shinto group named Shinsei-Ryujinkai which is run by Yano's daughter. It had been held in secret by the group. But later they say that there was "god's revelation" to show the copy to the world.
Even I could get a xeroxed copy of the pattern because a friend of mine brought it to me. I saw the letters on it which looked ancient and mysterious, especially the letters inside the central circle looked somewhat Hebrew, for instance, which means Light of Yahweh.
While, Yano himself did not think of these letters Hebrew, but thought that these were a kind of ancient Japanese characters called Jindai-moji. But there is a contradiction in his interpretation to think of these as Jindai-moji, because same letters appear in several places and he interpreted them as different letters. And I have never seen any Jindai-moji written horizontally.
Then, can we read them as Hebrew? Some resemble Hebrew but others do not. How about Aramaic, especially ancient Aramaic in Assyria? If someone knows well, please let me know.
We do not know for sure also if this copy is really the pattern of the mirror of Yata. After all, the secret of the mirror of Yata remains as a mystery. We need a photo of the mirror to elucidate the mystery but it would be impossible as far as people think this is taboo.
Anyway, the country called Japan is filled with interesting topics concerning the relation with ancient Israel.

From the Study of Blood Types and DNA.

Professor Tanemoto Furuhata, who is the authority on forensic medicine at Tokyo University wrote in his book that surprisingly, the blood types of the Japanese and the Jews are very similar. I also heard that a professor at Paris University had discovered that the "Y"

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OrTorah: Re: Are Japanese familiar to the people of Israel?

2008-08-15T06:31:00.001-07:00

Israelites Came To Ancient Japan

Chapter 3
Did the Lost Tribes of Israel Come To Ancient Japan?

(The infomation of this Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 is mainly from what I learned from Rabbi Marvin Tokayer's book published in Japan, plus my study.)

The Land of Far End

There is a book called the Forth Book of Ezra, which was written in the end of the first century C.E.. Although this is not the Bible but just one of the ancient Hebrew documents, an interesting thing is written:
"They are the Ten Tribes which were off into exile in the time of King Hosea, whom Shalmaneser king of Assyria took prisoner. He deported them beyond the River and they were taken away into a strange country. But then they resolved to leave the country populated by Gentiles and go to a distant land never yet inhabited by man, and there at last to be obedient to their laws, which in their own country they had failed to keep. As they passed through the narrow passages of the Euphrates, the Most High performed miracles for them, stopping up the channels of the river until they had crossed over. Their journey through that region, which is called ARZARETH, was long, and took a year and a half. They have lived there ever since, until this final age. Now they are on their way back, and once more the Most High will stop the channels of the river to let them cross." (13:39-47)
This article was mentioned in the form of a vision and we cannot immediately think that this is a historical fact. But it is possible to think that there was some fact which became the background for this article. There might be the news or oral tradition that the Ten Tribe of Israel started their journey to the east and settled to a land of a year and a half distance away.
Where is ARZARETH which the Ten Tribes are said to have gone to? We cannot find the same name in the world by looking at the map.
Dr. Schiller Szinessy suggests that this is nothing else but the Hebrew words "eretz ahereth" (ARZ AHRTh) which means the other land. Otherwise, if we interpret this as the Hebrew words "eretz aherith" (ARZ AHRITh), they mean the end of land, or most far away land. Not a few people thought that Japan might be the land.

Japan Which Kaempfer Saw

Engelbert Kaempfer was a German medical doctor who stayed at Dejima, Nagasaki Japan during 1690-1693 C.E.. He came to Japan after he traveled and saw various countries of the world. He was an erudite man and published a book about Japan after he went back to Europe.
In the book Kaempher states that the Japanese language, customs and religion are much different from the ones of the Chinese or the Koreans, and that the main race of the Japanese are not derived from the Chinese or Koreans but rather a tribe from the area of Babylon came to Japan and became the main race of the Japanese. He wrote:
"The Japanese must be of a tribe who immigrated directly from the area of Babylon."
The area of Babylon is the Middle East where there was the Assyrian Empire which the Ten Tribes of Israel were exiled to. Kaempher also states:
"The appearance of the Japanese is so different according to regions in Japan that we can clearly distinguish. This proves that the Japanese are formed through the process that several tribes were added to a basic nation. The most noble, old lineage family and "daimyo", feudal lords, and high officials are generally intelligent, elegant in appearance than others, full of dignity, having higher nose and somewhat look European. The people in the region of Satsuma, Oosumi, and Hyuga are middle in the height, but strong and manly in language and ability...."
And he states that there are differences in appearance and nature according to the peoples of various parts of Japan. He also states:
"As for the roots of the Japanese and their origin, it seems that we should admit the Japanese are independent from others and did not derived from the Chinese."

Rabbi Tokayer's Experience

Rabbi Marvin Tokayer tells a story about what he saw in Japan. He lived in Tokyo, and on the first Sunday in Japan he visited Meiji-jingu, a grand shrine of Shinto which is the religion unique to Japan. There he saw a Shinto priest wearing a white robe, putting a unique cap, and on the corners of his robe were fringes which were cords of 20 - 30 centimeters long.
The Shinto priest was waving a branch of Sakaki tree to right and to left and upward and downward. He was purifying a baby of one month old who was brought to him by the parents but never carried by the mother. When seeing this scene, he says he thought:
"Did I come to my home land?"
Because all of these he saw were the customs of ancient Israel. The way of waving the branch by the Shinto priest resembled Jewish custom. And in ancient days of Israel, the mother was considered impure, after birth, and would not carry the baby for the ceremony in the temple. Today, Jews no longer observe this ritual, but how fascinated he was to see everyone except the mother holding the baby. He said, "Cute." to the family and asked why the mother was not carrying the baby, and his wife and he were stunned into silence, when told that the mother was still impure, just as the Bible.
He asked a Shinto priest, "Why do you put on fringes on your robe?" The priest answered, "This is just a tradition from ancient times." But this is originally the custom of Israel. There is a description about the fringes in the Bible (Deuteronomy 22:12).
Fringes were actually a trademark that he was an Israelite. Today, Jews wear prayer shawl called Tallit which is a large white cloth with fringes (called Tzitzit) on the corners. These are the same as the ones of the Japanese Shinto priest.

The Three Holy Objects in Israel and Japan

Like the ancient Israelites had three holy objects, the Japanese have three holy objests, which are a mirror (called Yata-no-kagami), a bead (Yasaka-no-magatama), and a sword (Kusanagi-no-tsurugi). These have been believed very holy as the tokens of authority of the emperors and as the holy Yorishiro since very ancient times. Today these three are kept separately in different places.
There are several differences between the holy objects of ancient Israel and the ones of Japan, but are common in having three things and thinking them holy. Though in fact the three holy objects of Israel were lost in the time of Babylonian Empire, so it was impossible to have the same objects in Japan.
An orthodox Shinto believer, a Japanese scholar and a professor of Kyuusyuu Imperial University, Dr. Chikao Fujisawa, believed that the three holy objects of Japan originated from the three holy objects of ancient Israel. And there are not a few Shinto scholars who think the same. Some suggest a parallelism between the mirror and the tablets, the bead and the manna, the sword and the rod.
Some point out that mirrors were also used in the temple of King Solomon (1 Kings 7:28). Others point out that the shape of the Japanese bead is the same as a Hebrew letter yod which is also the first letter of the holy name Yahweh.

Offerings

To Shinto shrine people bring rice, Mochi (Japanese Matzah), Japanese liquor (Sake), cereals, vegetables, fruits, confectioneries, salt, water, fish (sea bream, etc.), and bird (pheasant meat, etc.) as their offerings to god and place them in the Holy Place of the Shrine. These must be the best ones, and the fire for cooking them must be a holy one lit by flint or heat of rubbing.
The offerings are displayed beautifully on a table of wood and the priest prays to god in front of it. After the ceremony the priest and participants are to eat the offerings. In that, modern Shintoists find significance that man eats with god or dines with god.
In the Holy Place of the Israeli tabernacle or temple, there was also a table of wood on which the bread made of cereals of the land, liquor (wine), and incense were offered (Exodus 25:29-30). These offerings to God had to be the best ones. The priest prayed to God and after the ceremony the offerings, which had been offered to God, were eaten by the priest and his family (Numbers 18:11). And in the Bible there is an article that Moses and the leaders of Israel "ate and drank" in front of God on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24:11).
The Bible does not mention the concept of "dining with God" though, later, Jews in Talmudic times find significance of dining with God.
With a few exceptions, meat of four legged animals is generally not offered in Shinto religion. The most common offerings are firstfruits, salt, fish as bonito, Mochi (Japanese Matzah), rice, liquor (Sake), seaweeds, etc. Usually most of them are Kosher, or permitted foods in the Jewish diatary laws. But in modern Shinto, shellfish is sometimes offerred (Abalone is offered at Ise grand shrine). This is non-Kosher and the Jews not only never eat it, but also never offer to God. How was it in the start of Japanese Shinto?
In the Holy Place of the Israeli tabernacle or temple, there were also lamps which were never extinguished (Exodus 27:20-21), since they were holy fire. There is also an eternal light burning in every synagogue to this very day. In the same way, in the Holy Place of Japanese shrine, there is holy fire as lamps lit by divine means. Placing fire as lamps and the table with offerings on it in the Holy Place of the Shinto shrine resemble the Holy Place of ancient Israeli tabernacle. Thus the functions of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies of the Japanese shrine are very similar to the ones of ancient Israel.
It is noteworthy that the liquor is indispensable for both Israeli and Japanese shrines. Like the liquor was offered in the Israeli temple, the liquor is offered in the Japanese shrine. The Bible says that the drink offering shall be of "wine, one-fourth of a hin" (Leviticus 23:13). "A hin" is about 6 liters, and I hear that its one-fourth is about the quantity of the liquor which is offered in grand shrines of Shinto.

Surprise of Chief Rabbi of Israel

Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, who used to live in Japan, tells a story about when the chief rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Goren, once visited Japan.
Chief rabbi Goren was very curious and fascinated with Japan and enjoyed his stay very much. He said that he wanted to learn the essence of Japanese Shinto religion, and he attended for a while a lecture at Kokugakuin University which is a Shinto university in Tokyo.
At the lecture, the chief rabbi asked the lecturer a question about how to guard Shinto grand shrine, that is, where the guards stand, how they patrol, in what turn they patrol the places, and how to shift the guards. Hearing the answer, Rabbi Goren was very surprised and said, "Unbelievable." Turning his face pale, he said to Rabbi Tokayer who was young in those days, "Do you understand the importance of what the Shinto lecturer said?" Then he added, "Read the Mishnah, and you will know why I was so surprised to hear it."
The Mishnah, the teachings of ancient Jewish scholars, has an explanation on how the ancient temple of Jerusalem had been guarded. As a matter of fact, Shinto's way of guarding, patrolling, and shifting guards at shrine are just the same as the one which had been done at the ancient temple of Jerusalem. The temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 C.E. and not yet rebuilt. How cound the way of guarding at Japanese Shinto shrine be the same as the one at the temple of ancient Israel? Chief rabbi's word "Unbelievable" is a natural response.

Uncovered Dancing of David

In old Shinto shrines men often wear white robes to carry the Omikoshi ark, while in other shrines men wear short and colored garments with headbands and carry the Omikoshi very cheerfully shouting "Wasshoi, Wasshoi". Around them people in the same wear are dancing and sometimes we find half naked ones. This reminds us of the scene of the dancing of David.
David undressed the usual gorgeous robe for king, clothed in a simple white linen robe and danced before the ark of God. His wife Michal saw him and despised him in her heart. Later she said an irony to David, "How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants!" (2 Samuel 6:20)
David did not become totally naked but he who usually wore gorgeous robe danced wearing a simple white robe, which looked almost uncovered or half naked to the eyes of Michal. She would feel the same if she looked at the Japanese people dancing.

Using Water and Salt for Sanctification

In Japanese Shinto they have a custom to use water or salt for sanctification.
Most of the Japanese shrines are built near clean river, pond, lake, or the sea. This is to do sanctification there. In Shinto, water is to purify man. In ancient Israel they had this custom, for the Bible says that before priest serves at holy events or at the temple, he has to "wash his clothes" and "bathe in water" (Numbers 19:7).
So, it was also an ideal in ancient Israel that they have clean water near a worship place. Japanese Shinto priests also wash their clothes and bathe in water before they serve at the shrine. Buddhist priests generally do not have this custom.
In the Shinto religion they also use salt for purification. Japanese Sumo wreslers sow the Sumo ring with salt several times before they fight. The Western people wonder why they sow salt, but the Jews get the meaning immediately that it is to purify the ring. In Japan, salt is used to purify the holy place of shrine, or to purify Omikoshi.
And when you go to a Japanese-style restaurant, you will sometimes find some salt put near the entrance. The Western people wonder why, but the Jews get the meaning immediately that this is for purification. Even today, the Jews have a tradition of welcoming a new neighbor or distinguished guest with salt. If a world leader were to visit Jerusalem, the chief rabbi would welcome him at the entrance to the city with Hallah (Jewish bread) and salt.
Jews start each meal by salting bread, this makes every meal table an altar. Meat is "Koshered" by putting salt on the meat to remove all the blood.
In Japan they offer salt every time they perform a religious offering. So is the offering at Japanese feasts. Salt is not offered in Buddhism. Offering salt is again the same custom used by the Israelites, for it is written in the Bible that one has to offer salt with all his offerings (Leviticus 2:13).
In Judaism, salt is very essential. Talmud (the wisdom of Judaism) confirms that all sacrifices must have salt. Salt is preservative. While, honey and leaven were prohibited with sacrifices since they symbolize fermentation, decay and decomposition, the opposite of salt. There is the words "the everlasting covenant of salt" in the Bible (Numbers 18:19). Salt has meaning of anti-decay and permanence, and symbolizes the everlasting holy covenant of God. The Temple of Jerusalem had a special salt chamber, and Joshephus, a Jewish historian in the first century C.E., records a Greek king making a donation of 375 baskets of salt to the temple.
According to Zen'ichiro Oyabe, Japanese people before Meiji-era had the custom to put some salt into baby's bath. The ancient people of Israel washed a new born baby with water after rubbing the baby softly with salt; there is a description about "rubbing baby with salt" in the Bible (Ezekiel 16:4). Salt has cleansing and hygienic power and newborn babies were rubbed with salt.
Thus, there was the common custom of sanctification in both ancient Israel and Japan, and for this sanctification water and salt were used in both countries.

Uncleanness of the Dead

In Japan, salt in a pouch is distributed to participants of a funeral. After the funeral, when the participants come back and enter their houses, they have to be sprinkled on themselves with the salt for purification. Ancient Israelites who touched a dead body or went to a funeral also had to be purified in a specific way; the Bible says that a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the persons who were at funeral , or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave (Numbers 19:18). Thus in Israel the person who touched the dead had to be purified himself.
Even today, you find water outside a Jewish cemetery and outside the home, so people who are returning from a cemetery or funeral can wash their hands before entering the house. Before one goes to a funeral, one prepares water outside the home, so you can wash before reentering your home. Also in Japanese mythology, it is written that deity Izanagi went to the world of the dead (called Yomi in Japanese) to take his dead wife back, and when he came back from Yomi, he bathed in water of a river and purified himself from the impurity of the dead. In addition this Yomi, Japanese Shinto's world of the dead, is very much like Sheol which is the world of the dead mentioned in the Bible.
The very important feature of Japanese Shinto is that it has the concept of uncleanness or impurity of the dead. A house which has the dead, or a person who went to a funeral is said to have touched the uncleanness. The Western people do not have this concept. This uncleanness is not material but religious or ritual. This Shinto concept is the same as was in ancient Israel, for the Bible says that the one who touches the dead body of anyone shall be "unclean seven days" (Numbers 19:11).
In Shinto religion, a person with his/her family dead or relative dead is regarded unclean for a certain period. In the period, the person cannot come to a shrine, which was also a custom of ancient Israel.
Buddhist funeral is held inside temple, but Shinto funeral is held always outside shrine not to bring impurity into it. And the Shinto priest who participated the funeral does not bring things he used at the funeral into the shrine. Even when he has to bring in, he purifies them and then brings. He has to purify himself, too. Also in ancient Israel, funeral is never held at the temple.
The Bible records that the Israelites wept and mourned for "30 days" at the death of Moses and at the death of Aaron (Deuteronomy 34:8, Numbers 20:29). While a Japanese ancient Shinto book called Engishiki, which was written in 10th century C.E., set a period of 30 days for the uncleanness that a person cannot participate holy events, and set a period of 7 days for uncleanness of death of a fetus of within three months and death of a person lacking a part of the body. Thus, the Shinto concept of uncleanness of the dead resembles the custom of ancient Israel.

Salt to Offensive Person

In old days, the Japanese had a custom to sow offensive person with salt. When watching Japanese TV drama of Samurai times, we sometimes see the scene of sowing offensive person with salt.
This can be understood by Jews, since the Bible has an article that an Israelite, Abimelech, caputured and destroyed an enemy city and "sowed it with salt" (Judges 9:45). Salt is also a symbol of barren, death, and curse.
In Israel, there is a lake named Dead Sea, which is called in Hebrew Salt Sea (Yam Ha-melech) since it has very high density of salt (5 times as the ocean). No fish. The surroundings are also covered with salt or rock salt. This place is also the ruin of ancient cities called Sodom and Gomorah.

Bathing

The Westerns use soap inside bathtub and enter the tub with their bodies still unclean. But Jews never do this. They wash their bodies and make themselves clean and then enter ritual bath. Every Jewish community has a Mikveh, ritual bath. Jews follow ritual of washing before entering the Mikveh. Everyone from the Western is surprised to see the washing before bath.
But this is the same as the Japanese custom of bathing.
When you get to a public bath in Japan, there you will see that Japanese people wash their bodies and make themselves clean before they enter the bathtub. This is the same in their homes. European and American people do not have this custom except for Jews.
The Japanese like cleanness very much. Many of them have a bath everyday, make their clothes clean, and wash their hands very often. This is a tradition from ancient times
In the 14th century of Europe, there was a big fatality of plaque called Black Death and many people died, although only a few Jews died. So, the people of Europe douted the Jews and spreaded the groundless rumor that the fatality was due to that the Jews sowed with poison. But the fact was that the Jews liked cleanness very much, made their cloths and houses always clean, have a bath, and washed their hands very often. While most of the people except for Jews in Europe had never experienced bathing even once in their whole lives. The reason why perfume was developed in Europe was the smell of their bodies.
But the Jews washed hands after going to restroom, after going outside, and before every meal. That was why they rarely became sick. The Japanese have had this same custom since ancient times.

Pillars of Stone

It is also interesting to note that as the Japanese say "one man, two men, three men..." when counting the number of men, ancient Japanese people said when counting the number of gods "one pillar of god, two pillars of gods, three pillars of gods..." This way of counting gods is understandable to the Jews, because the ancient Israelites set up pillars of stone for their worshipping, and the pillars were associated with gods.
In many places of Japan even today, there are religious pillars of stone. For instance, in Kazuno city, Akita prefecture, there is a big long natural stone standing at the center of the surrounding stones. The pillar-like natural stone which is placed in the back of Kashima shrine, Ibaraki prefecture, is also regarded as a holy stone.

Pillar of stone in Kazuno city, Japan (left), and pillars of stone in the land of Israel (right)

The way of setting up these pillars of stone is almost the same as the pillars of stone discovered in Israel. This was a custom which the ancient Israelites had. Jacob, the ancestor of the Israelites, set up "a pillar of stone" to worship God and "poured a drink offering on it" (Genesis 35:14).
As Jacob poured a drink offering on the pillar of stone, Shinto priest pours a drink offering (Sake) on the pillar of stone. Moses also set up "12 pillars of stone" near the altar according to the 12 tribes of Israel (Exodus 24:4). Thus, the pillars of stone were an element of worshiping God Yahweh.
But in the latter days when idolworship came into Israel, people inclined to use the pillars of stone as an element of their idolworship. So, later, prophets of Israel blamed the pillars of stone and rejected them. The Bible says concerning when the people of the southern kingdom of Judah degraded to idolworship that they built for themselves "high places" and "sacred pillars" (pillars of stone, 1 Kings 14:23). The pillars of stone were used as pagan sacred pillars. Many of these are discovered in Israel and look similar to the Japanese pillars of stone.
In Japan, not only the pillars of stone, there are many shrines with big holy natural stones or rocks. These stones are thought to be objects where the spirit of god comes down and sits. They are connected to worship.
This kind of stone was also seen in ancient Israel. The Bible records that the first Israeli king Saul rolled a great stone and made it an altar (1 Samuel 7:33). He brought a big natural stone and made it a worship place. He used natural stone because it was forbidden to use hewn stone for an altar. The Bible says that when one makes an altar of stone for God, he "shall not build it of hewn stones." (Exodus 20:25)
Also in Japanese Shinto, the stone for worshiping is always natural stone.

Altar of Earth

While, insead of stone, earth is sometimes used for religious worship. Nihon-shoki records that the first Japanese emperor Jinmu took earth from Mt. Ameno-kagu-yama, made many bricks from it and made an altar for worshiping gods. It seems that ancient Israelites also made altar from earth, for the Bible says, "An altar of earth you shall make for me (God)" (Exodus 20:24)
Altar could also be made of earth. In case of the altar made of earth, it meant that it was made of bricks. The history of brick is very old; in the Near East many bricks were already used even in the time of the Tower of Babel, about 4000 and several hundred years ago (Genesis 11:3).
It seems that the Israelites sometimes made bricks from earth and made altar of bricks. But compared with stone, brick is weak and easily decomposed by time, so archaeologists have not yet found altar of bricks in Israel, but found in other Near East countries.

Bronze Serpent

When the Israelites were wandering the desert after their exodus from Egypt, they met a flock of serpents and many people were bit and died. The poison were very strong like a fire. To save the people, Moses made "a bronze statue of serpent" according to the commandment of God and set it on a pole so that the people could look at it, and when one who had been bitten by serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived (Numbers 21:9).
After this incident ended, this bronze serpent had been in the safekeeping among the Israelites. The exsistence of this statue was never bad as long as the faith of the Israelites were sound. But when the Israelites degraded later, they began to worship the bronze serpent as their idol rather than to worship true God. As a result Hezekiah, a king of the southern kingdom of Judah in the 8th century B.C.E., broke the stature to stop the idolworship. The Bible records that he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the Israelites "burned incense to it" (2 Kings 18:4).
It was before this when the Ten Tribes of Israel were exiled to Assyria (722 B.C.E.). So it seems that the Ten Tribes had the custom of worshiping the bronze serpent when exiled.
At a Shinto shrine on Mt. Inomure, Ooita prefecture, until about 40 years ago, there had been a unique feast for begging rainfall, in which they firstly make a foundation by constructing 6 trunks of tree into the shape of the Shield of David, then on it they pile up a lot of branches and make it a tower, and on top of it they put a vertical pole with a slough of snake twining round it. People burn the branches and the tower and pray for rainfall. They burn incense to the snake expecting a supernatural power from it.

Pole with a slough of snake in fire on Mt. Inomure

I saw the scene on a video and this reminds us of the custom of ancient Israel to worship the bronze serpent. Besides, gods which are worshiped in Japanese Shinto shrines are sometimes snakes. This might have some connection to ancient Israel.

Remnant of Celebration of Circumcision?

If the ancient Israelites came to Japan, do the Japanese have the custom of circumcision? Although I have heard a rumor that circumcision is performed among the Imperial family of Japan, I have not been able to confirm yet whether or not there was the custom of circumcision in Japan.
Today we cannot see the custom of circumcision among Japanese citizens, but they have a traditional Japanese custom called O-shichi-ya which means 7th night. On the 7th night from the day a baby was born, the Japanese parents have a celebration to introduce the baby to relatives and friends and let them know the name of the baby.
The 7th night is, according to the Jewish way of counting days, 8th day from the day the baby was born, for from the sunset the next day starts in the Jewish calendar. Is this a remnant of the Jewish custom of circumcision on the 8th day? The Israelites gathered together on the 8th day from the day a (male) baby was born, and the parents introduced the baby to relatives and friends, circumcised him, introduced his name and rejoiced his birth together (In case of a female, it was done on the first Sabbath). This is the same in modern Judaism. For the seven days, the baby has no name. This is the same custom as the Japanese.

Customs of the First Month

The Japanese traditionally celebrate a new year magnificently. They also do Obon feast on July 15 or August 15 every year as a national event. They have a saying, "It is as if Obon and a new year came together" which means very very busy. These two events are the most magnificent ones throughout a year in Japan.
Looking at the new year first, on January 1 many Japanese people begin to gather together at shrines even before dawn. And on January 1 they sit a happy circle with family and eat Mochi (Japanese Matzah). They eat Mochi for 7 days and on the 7th day they eat porridge with 7 kinds of bitter herbs.
Today, the Japanese use the solar calendar; the New Year's Day is January 1 and the day of eating porridge with 7 herbs is January 7. But historically the Japanese used the lunar calendar, when the New Year's day was the 15th of the first month because on that day was the first full moon. It is a remnant of this that today January 15 is called Small New Year's Day (Koshougatsu in Japanese). This day was also called "New Year's Day of Mochi". New Year's celebration was a feast of Mochi. And the night of January 14 is called New Year's Eve of the 14th Day. In the time of the lunar calendar, the 15th day of the first month was a national holiday.
According to Zen'ichiro Oyabe, the Japanese before the 12th century C.E. had eaten porridge with 7 bitter herbs on the 15th day of the first month, and on the following days they performed events to pray for good harvest of the new year. This is similar to the custom in ancient Israel. They celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread throughout the "7 days" "from the 15th day of the first month", when they ate the unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:6).
The unleavened bread, which is "matzah" in Hebrew, is a very thin bread prepared by kneading and baking without using yeast or leaven. The way of preparing Japanese Mochi is similar to this except for using rice instead of flour. Israeli "matzah" and Japanese Mochi are very similar each other in pronunciation as well as in meaning, recipe and purpose.
And the Israelites ate with "bitter herbs" on the 15th day of the first month (Exodus 12:8). Thus, just as the ancient Japanese ate with 7 bitter herbs on the 15th of the first month, the Israelites ate with bitter herbs on the 15th of the first month.
In the Jewish calendar, the 15th day of the first month, that is the first day of the feast, is full moon and the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:7). On the next day of this Sabbath, the Israelites offered firstfruits and prayed for a good harvest of the year (Leviticus 23:11).
The Japanese clean their houses thoroughly before the coming of New Year's Day. When the Jews look at it, they think, "This is the same custom as ours!" for they also had to clean their houses thoroughly before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for the Bible says, "you shall remove leaven from your houses" (Exodus 12:15). So they had to purge all the houses and remove leaven from them. Passover among the Jews in India is called Holiday of Cleaning the House and they remove all leaven and clean the house.

Obon Feast

Next, let us look at the Obon feast. In Japan they have an event called Obon on July 15 or August 15. In the time they used the lunar calendar it was held on the 15th day of the 7th month.
Today Obon is regarded as one of the events of Buddhism, but since the time long before Buddhism was imported to Japan, there had been a feast called Tama-matsuri which was the original of Obon. When Buddhism was imported to Japan, this Tama-matsuri was took in the events of Buddhism and became Obon. In ancient Israel on the 15th day of the 7th month was a big feast called the Feast of Booths (harvest feast, Leviticus 23:39).
Today the Japanese use the solar calendar and in many cases they now hold the Obon feast on the 15th day of the 8th month. Strangely this was the day when the harvest feast was held in the northern kingdom of Israel of the Ten Tribes. The Bible records that Jeroboam, the king of the northern kingdom, ordained a feast "on the 15th day of the 8th month" like the feast which was in the southern kingdom of Judah (1 Kings 12:32).
It was an Israeli tradition since ancient times to have the harvest feast on the 15th day of the 7th month, but King Jeroboam rejected this tradition and ordained a new day for the harvest feast on the 15th day of the 8th month.
In Israel, the Feast of Unleavened Bread (New Year) and the Feast of Booths (harvest feast) on the 15th day of the 7th month (or 8th month) were the most magnificent events throughout a year. Similar to this, the Japanese have been performing magnificent feasts at the same times as these. In Japan today, the 15th day of the 8th month is also the memorial day of the end of the last war.

Dancing at Obon

There is an interesting point in the Obon feast. The Japanese dance at the feast and this is not a dance of Buddhism but a traditional dance called Utagaki which has existed since ancient times.
The Utagaki dance has been held since the time before the 5th century C.E. and became very popular in the 8th century. Men and women gathered for dance and they sang, danced, met with a view to marriage and promised to marry. Their way to dance was that men and women joined alternately to a circle of dancing, danced in the rhythm of song by a singer, and when the number of people increased, they made the dancing circle double or threefold.
The ancient Israelites also had this kind of custom. They had a time of dancing during the harvest feast from the 15th day of the 7th month (8th month in the northern kingdom), and single men and women looked forward the time of dancing and meeting to come.
I heard that in Japan there used to be a custom of plunder marriage during the Obon feast. In Oita, Kyusyu Japan, there was a custom that during many people are fanatical in dancing, men took women they like and brought to forest. The same custom was among the ancient Israelites.
The Bible records that there was an incedent that all of the women of Benjamin tribe of Israel were killed, when the elders of Israel talked each other how they can let Benjamin tribe continue to exist. "There is a yearly feast in Shiloh (a city in the northern kingdom of Israel)", the elders said, and instructed the men of Benjamin, "Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh". The men did so. They "took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught" (Judges 21:16-23). Israel in those days was in such a period of confusion.

Full Moon On the 15th Day

In Japan there is also a custom called Juugo-ya, which means 15th night, on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Japanese old lunar calendar. This is during September-October in today's solar calendar. This corresponds to the 15th day of the 7th month (Tishri) in the Jewish calendar, which is the day of the Feast of Booths. When the Japanese are celebrating Juugo-ya, the Jews are celebrating the Feast of Booths.
On this day, the Japanese often build a booth, gather together there with family, put Japanese pampas grass to a vase, offer harvest of the season like dumpling, taro, pear, etc., and enjoy the beauty of the full moon in Autumn. In Israel, on the 15th day of the 8th month in the northern kingdom of Israel, or on the 15th day of the 7th month in the southern kingdom of Judah, they built a booth, gathered together there with family, offered harvest of the season, rejoiced the harvest looking the beauty of the full moon in Autumn (Leviticus 23:39-42).

Offering Harvest

In Japan they have an elegant custom to offer firstfruits of harvest to god. They offer the firstfruits of cereals and fruits or a part of what they first get from their production.
Kanname-sai is a feast in October at Ise grand shrine to offer firstfruits to god. The ancient Israelites also had the custom of offering first fruits, for the Bible says that the first of the firstfruits of the land shall be brought to the temple (Exodus 34:26).
It is interesting to note that in Ise grand shrine in the time of Kanname-sai feast, the clothes, tables, and tools which are used in the service are all renewed. They do this in the sense of coming into a new year. In Judaism also, the month of the harvest feast (Tishri, September-October) is the time of a new year.
About a month after the Kanname-sai feast of Ise grand shrine, a feast called Niiname-sai is held at the Imperial House of Japan. Although the name is different, this is also the feast of offering a part of harvest.
Niiname-sai feast is held as follows; the feast begins at 6 p.m. and ends at around 1 a.m.. It is held at night. The emperor offers the harvest to god and after that, he eats them in front of god. By this ceremony the emperor is given from god the role as the leader of the nation. In ancient Israel, the leaders of Israel - Moses, Aaron, 70 elders, etc. - also ate in front of God (Exodus 24:11).
And the Niiname-sai feast which the emperor performs for the first time after he ascended to the throne is especially called Daijou-sai feast which is a larger Niiname-sai feast, when special booths are built for offering harvest. In the Daijou-sai feast of today's emperor Akihito, there were also simple but large booths built, and after the ceremony they broke the booths and burned them.

Booth built for Daijou-sai feast in 1687

Daijou-sai feast is also held at night. Akihito's Daijou-si was held from 6:30 p.m. to the next morning. The emperor offered the harvest and ate in front of god. In ancient Israel and also today, the Jewish Feast of Booths begins at sunset. The Israelites came into the booths, decorated with harvest products, ate in front of God and rejoiced together.

Wedding

I find several similarities between the Japanese Shinto way of wedding and the Jewish way of wedding.
In Shinto wedding, the bridegroom and bride drink from the same cup of liquor (Japanese Sake). In the same way in the Jewish wedding the bridegroom and bride drink from the same cup of wine, although this is not Biblical but Talmudic (the 3-6th century C.E.). Christian wedding does not have this custom.
In the Jewish wedding today, after drinking wine, the bridegroom break a wine glass. This is to remember that the Temple of Jerusalem is destroyed. This custom started after the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 C.E., and the Israelites before that did not have this custom of breaking the glass.
In Shinto wedding the bride has a shawl on her head and hides half of her face. The shawl is to the hight of her eyes today, but in old days, this was to hide all of her face (called Kazuki in Japanese). In old days, this shawl was also put when a Japanese woman attended a shrine.This custom of shawl was also seen among the ancient Israelites. In the Bible, Jacob, the ancestor of the Israelites, thought that he had married Rachal though, the bride was in fact not Rachal, but her sister Lear. It was due to darkness and the shawl on her face that he could not distinguish her. Even today, Jewish bride puts a veil on her face in wedding . Ancient Israeli woman had the custom to put a shawl and hide her face when she comes out. Every time she comes to a synagogue, she had to put a shawl on her head.
It is also an important feature of Shinto that every Shinto priest is married. There is no rule in Shinto to make priest single. In modern Japan, most of Buddhist monks are married but this is a custom since Meiji-era. Before then, it was the custom of Buddhist monks to be single. Every Buddhist monk outside Japan is single. Catholic father is single. But Shinto priest is married. This is a tradition from the time immemorial. So was the ancient priest of Israel. So is rabbi of modern Judaism.
Concerning Japanese marriage, a Japanese woman told her memory. One day, her mother told her about the marriage of her aunt. After the aunt's husband was killed in a war, the aunt, who did not have any children then, married her husband's brother who had been at that time unmarried. About this marriage, the mother told her, "This is a traditional custom of Japan," but then she thought that today is the age of free love and it is consequential to marry whom one loves, and she could not understand what the mother said. However she told that later she was surprised knowing that this is the same as a Jewish custom.
It is true that that this is the same as a Jewish custom, for the Bible says that if brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside the family to a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her (Deuteronomy 25:5)
In Japan today, we cannot see this custom anymore usually, but it seems that this custom had been performed widely in Japan until recent time.

To be continued to the last chapter:
Chapter 4 - Various Other Similarities Between Ancient Israel and Ancient Japan

Arimasa Kubo

Remnant Publishing
E-mail: remnant@aioros.ocn.ne.jp (Your thoughts and opinions are welcome.)

Home-page is here.

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OrTorah: Re: Are Japanese familiar to the people of Israel?

2008-08-15T06:21:00.001-07:00

Israelites Came To Ancient Japan

Chapter 2
The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Myanmar, and China

What Are Israelites?

Around the time of 1900 B.C.E., there was a man named Jacob who was the ancestor of the people of Israel. Later Jacob's name was changed to Israel.
Israel had 12 sons, who were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zevulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. The descendants of these sons formed 12 tribes of Israel. These 12 tribes are called "Israelites".
When they had territories in Canaan (Israel, Holy Land), the tribe of Levi did not have a territory for they were the tribe of priests. Instead, the tribe of Joseph was divided into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and have their own territories. Thus the land of Canaan was divided into 12 territories.
Later, the 12 tribes of Israel experienced the height of prosperity in the time of King Solomon in the 10th century B.C.E.. But after Solomon died, the united kingdom of Israel was divided into two countries: One is the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the other the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The Northern Kingdom is also called Samaria, the Southern Kingdom is also called Judea.
The word "Jews" is used basically for the people and descendants of Judea, the Southern Kingdom, but sometimes used for the same meaning as Israelites.
The Ten tribes of Israel belonged to Samaria, the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They were Reuben, Gad, Ephraim, Issachar, Zevulun, Naphtali, Asher, Dan, Simeon, and Manasseh. While the other tribes belonged to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
In the 8th century B.C.E., the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the army of Assyrian empire, and the Ten Tribes of Israel was led captive and compelled to march to the land of Assyria. They did not come back to the land of Israel. They are so called "the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel."

Josephus Wrote About the Lost Tribes of Israel

Where was the exact place of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel to be carried captive in Assyrian Empire? The Bible records:
"the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes." (2 Kings 18:11)
These places are located in today's northern Iraq or Northwest Iran called Kurdistan. The Ten Tribes of Israel were firstly compelled to emigrate there, and this is also a starting point of our research.
There is a Jew named Josephus Flavius, a very reliable historian who lived in the first century C.E.. In his book of history, there is a description about whereabouts of the Ten Tribes:
"...the Ten Tribes who are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, whose numbers cannot be estimated." (Antiquities 11:2)
Josephus wrote that in the first century C.E., the Ten Tribes of Israel lived as an immense multitude beyond Euphrates River. This may mean that some of of them lived in the close area east of Euphrates River and others moved to a place far beyond east of the Euphrates.

The Lost Tribes of Israel in Afghanistan

The Bible mentions the cities of Medes, today's Iraq and Iran, as the locations of the Assyrian exile of the Ten Tribes of Israel. It is an accepted tradition that the people of this area are from the Assyrian exile.
It seems that later, many of the Ten Tribes of Israel moved to the east along the Silk Road. We find the descendants of them in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Myanmar (Burma), China and other countries, which are along the Silk Road. I will have a brief explanation about them in this chapter. The information is mostly from the books which were written by Rabbi Marvin Tokayer and published in Japan, and "Beyond the Sambatyon, The Myth of The Lost Tribes" written by Simcha Shtull.
East of Iran is Afghanistan. There are so many tribes in Afghanistan with names that have Yusuf in the name as Yusufzai, Yusufuzi, Yusufzad, etc.. Yusuf means Joseph and Yusufzai means children of Joseph.
They claim their origin to be from the Lost Tribes of Israel, that is, from the tribes of Joseph, which are the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and are a part of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. They also call themselves Bani-Israel meaning children of Israel. Their tradition is that they were carried away from their ancient homeland.
Formerly they were shepherds in search of pasture but they gave up their nomadic life and settled into village communities. The people of Yusufzai live separated from the rest of the world by mountains and difficult rivers and it is hard to find them. They marry among themselves.
Today they are devout Muslims but have Hebrew names, wear the fringes which only Jews and Japanese Shinto priests wear, light candles for the Sabbath on Friday night which only Jews do (The Sabbath is from the sunset of Friday until the night of Saturday). They also have the custom called peyot (side-curls) which is to have curled hair of about 10 centimeters long in front of both ears. This is a custom which only Jews have and which may very well be of the Lost Tribes of Israel.

Pathans As the Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, there also live people called Pathans numbering about 15 million. They live mainly in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as in Persia and India. Most of them are Muslims but they have a tradition of being of the Lost Tribes and have Israeli customs.
According to a book written by Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, the Pathans have custom of circumcision on the 8th day. This is a known Jewish custom, and is the oldest Jewish tradition. Rabbi Tokayer once told me that he had witnessed and been present at a very joyous circumcision ceremony on the 8th day after birth among the Pathans. Muslims have custom of circumcision but it is not on the 8th day, usually at the age of 12.
The Pathans have a sort of small Tallit called Kafan. This is a 4 cornered garment which they tie strings similar to the fringes (Jews call them Tzitzit) and is one of the oldest Jewish traditions going back to the Torah and it is a sign of their Israeli origin.
The Pathans have custom of the Sabbath, Israeli tradition of the day of rest. On the Sabbath they do not labor, cook or bake. The Pathans prepare 12 Hallot (traditional Jewish bread, Leviticus 24:5) in honor of the Sabbath as was done in the ancient Israeli temple. One of the significant indicators proving the Israeli origins of the Pathans is the lighting of the candle to honor the Sabbath. After lighting, the candle is covered usually by a large basket. The candle is lit by a woman past her menopause. This is the same as Israeli custom.
Pathans have custom of Kosher, diatary laws same as Jews. Pathans do not eat horse or camel meat, which is most common in their area but forbidden to Jews. There is some evidence to their not eating meat and milk together which is also an ancient Israeli tradition. And they have a tradition regarding differentiating between pure and impure birds which means permitted and not permitted birds similar to the Torah.
Some still wear a small box which Jews call Tefillin (phylactery) containing a verse of the Bible. This box resemble Japanese Tokin of Yamabushi's forehead, too, which I will mention later. This is an ancient custom of Israel. In the Jewish box there is the verse of Shema Israel, that is, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4) This custom of Tefillin came from a verse of the Scriptures, "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:8).
It is interesting to note that the Pathans retain family names of the Lost Tribes such as Asher, Gad, Naphtali, Reuben and Manasseh and Ephraim. Among them there are people who are called by these names, which are of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. There are also people who are called Israel, Samuel, and so on, which are never found among the Muslims.
The Pathans were mostly called "Bani-Israel" meaning children of Israel even though they live today as devout Muslims.
The legal system which is known as Pashtunwali, the law of the Pashtu, is very similar to the Torah, which is the holiest Jewish book and the book of ancient Jewish way of life. There are pages and even complete books among the pathans and they honor greatly what is called Tavrad El Sharif (the Torah of Moses), and they rise at the mention of the name of Moses even though it is not important in Islam.
Besides the oral tradition related by the elders of the tribe, there are also interesting testimonies of keeping of scrolls of genealogy among the tribes, reaching back to the Fathers of the Jewish nation. These scrolls are well preserved and some are written in gold on the skins of a doe.
No less interesting and significant are the names of the tribes which bear close resemblance to the Tribes of Israel. The Rabbani Tribe is really Reuben, the Shinware Tribe is Simeon, the Lewani Tribe is Levi, The Daftani Tribe is Naphtali, and the Jaji Tribe is Gad, and the Ashuri Tribe is Asher, The Yusefsai Tribe is children of Joseph, and the Afridi Tribe is really Ephraim. These are the names of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
The Pathans themselves point out the differences between the original names of the tribes and their present names are because of the different dialects of the languages so that, for instance, Jaji was actually called Gaji for the tribe of Gad.
Women of the Pathans keep laws similar to the Jewish laws regarding menstruation. During this time and for 7 days after, no contact is allowed with the husband. After this period, the woman immerses in a river or spring or in a bathhouse if a natural spring is not available. This is exactly the same as the Israeli tradition going back to the days of the Bible.

The Lost Tribes of Israel Who Came to Kashmir

Leaving Afghanistan and Pakistan where the Pathans live, when one goes east, it is the State of Kashmir in northern part of India which is west of Nepal.
There are 5 to 7 million people there. Generally speaking, they have clearer complexions and are different from the other citizens of India. An Interesting tradition is passed down among the Kashmiri people regarding their ancestry from the Lost Tribes of Israel.
The people in Kashmir perform a feast called Pasca in Spring, when they adjust the difference of days between the lunar calendar and solar calendar and the way of this adjustment is the same as Jewish. Several books are published on this. The Udu language which is used in Kashmir includes many words of Hebrew.
In Kashmir, various places are called with Israeli names, like Har Nevo, Beit Peor, Pisga, Heshubon. These are all the names in the land of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
The same thing is true in the names of people, male names, female names, and names of village. For example, one of the tribes of Kashmir is called Asheriya which is Asher, the tribe of Dand is Dan, Gadha is Gad, Lavi is Levi. The Tribe of Shaul is the Hebrew name of King Saul. Musa is Moses, Suliamanish is Solomon. And you also have the tribe of Israel, the tribe of Abri which is the tribe of Hebrew, and the tribe of Kahana which is the word for Jewish priest.
There are also 50-75 names of places in Kashmir which are in fact the Hebrew names that ancient Israelites were very familiar with. There is a place called Samaryah which is Samaria. Mamre is Mamre, Pishgah is Pisgah, Nabudaal is Mt. Nevo, Bushan is Bashan, Gilgit is Gilgal, Heshba is Heshbon, Amunah is Amon, Gochan is Goshen, Median-pura is Midian, and Guzana is Gozan which is a place name in Assyria and the very place where the Ten Tribes of Israel were deported.
The name Israel is very common among them as it is among the Pathans, and this name is never used among the Muslims.
The history of the Kashmiris is shrouded in mystery as is the history of other people in that region. Most Kashmir researchers are of the opinion that many inhabitants of Kashmir are descendants of the Lost Tribes who were exiled in 722 B.C.E.. They wandered along the Silk Road into the countries of the East, Persia and Afghanistan until they reached the Kashmir valley and settled there.
The priest Kitro in his book, the General History of the Mughal Empire, said that the Kashmir people are the descendants of the Israelites. The priest Monstrat said that in the time of Vasco da Gama in the 15th century, "all the inhabitants of this area who have been living here since ancient times can trace their ancestry, according to their race and customs, to the ancient Israelites. their features, their general physical appearance, their clothing, their ways of conducting business, all show that they are similar to the ancient Israelites."
Among Kashmiri people there are customs to light a candle for the Sabbath, have sidelocks, beards, and emblem or design of the Shield of David (Star of David) just like Jews do.
In an area which is on the border of Pakistan, called Yusmarg (Handwara), there lives a group which to this very day calls itself B'nei Israel meaning children of Israel. Many of the inhabitants of Kashmir say that this is the ancient name of all the people of Kashmir. The two primary historians of Kashmir, Mulla Nadiri, who wrote The History of Kashmir and Mulla Ahmad who wrote Events of Kashmir have established without a trace of doubt that the origins of the Kashmiri people are to be found in the people of Israel.
In Kashmir there is a strange legend which says that Jesus did not die on the cross but in his search for the Ten Tribes reached the Kashmir valley and lived there until his death. They even point to his grave in Kashmir.
This is very much like a legend which exists in Japan (Herai village, present Shingou village in Aomori prefecture), where they also have the legend that Jesus came to Japan and died there. They even point to his grave. It seems that sometimes the legend of coming of Jesus and his tomb is born where the Ten Tribes are said to come.
In Kashmir, there is another strange tradition of a small community next to the Wallar Link who point out the grave of Moses. There is yet another tradition in connection with King Solomon according to which even King Solomon reached the Kashmir Valley and through his wisdom aided the people of Kashmir by successfully regulating the Jalum river. This tradition is also connected to a place called Solomon's throne which is situated above the capital of Kashmir, Srinagar. Isn't it strange and fascinating that there are historical and even folkloristic tales of ancient Israeli heroes in these strange and exotic places?
These also strangely resemble the legends of Japan. There is so called the grave of Moses on Mt. Houdatsu in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, and also a legend says that many secret treasures of Solomon are kept in Mt. Tsurugi in Shikoku, Japan. What is this phenomenon?

The Lost Tribes of Israel Who Came to India and Myanmar,

In the mountainous region which lies on both sides of the border between India and Myanmar (former Burma), lives the Menashe (Shinlung) tribe which numbers between 1-2 million people. They intermarried with the Chinese and look Chinese-Burmas, but the entire tribe is conscious of their Israeli ancestry.
Recently, Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, who is the president of Amishav, an organization in Jerusalem for the search of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, went to Myanmar and investigated the Menashe tribe.

Menashe people with Rabbi Avichail (right)

The word Menashe appears often in their poetry and prayer. It is the name of their ancestor and they call themselves children of Menashe (Beni Menashe). When they pray, they say, "Oh, God of Menashe," which is from the name Manasseh, a tribe of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
According to the history which Menashe people say, they were exiled to Assyria in 722 B.C.E. with other Tribes of Israel. Assyria was later conquered by Babylon (607 B.C.E.), which was later conquered by Persia (457 B.C.E.), which was later conquered by Greece of Alexander the Great (331 B.C.E.), when the people of Menashe were deported from Persia to Afghanistan and other places.
There Menashe tribe became shepherds and Idol worshipers. They were later conquered by Islam and forced to convert to Islam. Because of their speaking Hebrew they were called the Semitic speakers. Throughout this entire period they possessed a Hebrew Torah scroll which they guarded with their elders and their priest.
Among them there were those who left Afghanistan and migrated eastward until they reached the area of the Tibetan-Chinese border. From there they continued into China following the Wei River until they reach the central China, near Kaifeng. They settled there at about 231 B.C.E..
But the Chinese were cruel to them and made them as slaves. Some of them escaped and lived in caves in the mountainous areas called Shinlung, which became another name for the tribe of Menashe. They are also called the cave people or the mountain people.
Menashe people lived in caves in poverty for about two generations but they still kept the Torah scroll with them. But they started to assimilate and have Chinese influences. Later they were banished from their cave area and went west through Thailand and eventually reached the area in Myanmar.
There they wandered along the river until they reached Mandaley. From there they reached the Chin Mountains. In the 18th century a part of them migrated to Manipur and Mizoram which are in northeastern India. Generally, they maintained the tradition about their wandering and they realized that they were not Chinese even though they spoke the local language.
They call them themselves Lusi which means the Ten Tribe ("Lu" means tribes, and "si" means ten).
According to the history which Menashe people state, when they were banished from their cave area they lost their Torah scroll when or perhaps it was stolen or burnt by the Chinese. But the priests of the tribe of Menashe continued to hand down their tradition orally including their ritual observances until the 19th century.
They had kept the custom of circumcision, which when it became difficult was no longer practiced but they blessed the child in a special ceremony on the 8th day. They also had holy days which were very similar to the Jewish days.
The following poem accompanied them throughout their migrations. It is a traditional song about the crossing of the Red Sea which was written by their ancestors. This is the English translation:

We must keep the Passover feast
Because we crossed the Red Sea by dry land
At night we crossed with a fire
And By day with a cloud
Enemies pursued us with chariots
And the sea swallowed them up
And used them as food for the fish
And when we were thirsty
We received water from the rock

This content is similar to the experience of Israelites written in Exodus. The people of Menashe call their God Y'wa, which is the same as Biblical God's name Yah, or Yahweh.
In every village they had a priest whose name was always Aaron, the brother of Moses and the first Jewish priest. One of his duties was to watch over the village.
The priest wore a tunic and a breastplate and an embroidered coat fastened with a belt and a crown on his head. And they always sang about Menashe at the beginning of each gathering.
Rabbi Tokayer says that he met this group in the jungles of Burma in 1963 or 1964 and he can describe their offerings and sacrifices as exactly the same as was offered in the Bible.
Recently a return to Judaism began. Several thousand people of Menashe decided to observe the laws of the Torah and returned to Judaism. They have synagogues in Manipur, Assam, and Mizoram. There are also those who emigrated to Israel. Thousands long for returning to Israel.

The Lost Tribes of Israel Who Came to China

In the mountainous area of northwest China, west of the Min River, near the border of Tibet, in Szechuan lives an ancient people called by the Chinese, Chiang or Chiang-Min, who numbers about 250 thousand people.
In 1937, a book was published entitled, China's First Missionaries, subtitled, Ancient Israelites, by Rev. Thomas Torrance, who was a missionary in this area of China and was the first to write about this tribe and what he believed to be their ancient roots of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
According to the reports by Torrance, he believed that the customs, rituals, modes of thought, domestic and religious practices of the Israelites who were the contemporaries of Amos, Hosea and Elijah, were found within the Chiang people of northwestern China. Torrance was basically very impressed with the simple monotheism of this people in China in an area where the term God was not even known.
The language of the Chiang tribe had been forgotten and they had also lost their ancient script. Today they speak Chinese.
They themselves see themselves as immigrants from the west who reached this area after a journey of three years three months. The Chinese treated them as Barbarians, while Chiang people related to the Chinese as idol worshipers.

Chiang Min people (Photo: Thomas Torrance in 1920's)

Hate and enmity existed between the Chinese and this tribe for a long time. They lived independently until the middle of the 18th century when they became part of the general population to earn more freedom. The religious pressure from the Chinese, the spread of Christianity, and the influence of intermarriage caused the Chiang tribe to generally and greatly give up their special monotheistic way of life.
However it is still possible even today to learn about the past traditions of the Chiang tribe through their customs and their faith which they still keep. This tribe had been living a special Israeli way of life since the time of B.C.E..
According to their tradition, the Chiang tribe is the descendant of Abraham and their forefather had 12 sons. Those among them who did not take Chinese wives after their victory in war still look Semitic.
They believe in one God whom they call Abachi meaning the father of heaven, or Mabichu, the spirit of heaven, or also Tian, heaven. As a result of Chinese influences they all call Him God of the mountains as the mountains are the central place for worship of God.
Their concept of God is that of an all powerful God who watches over the entire world, judges the world fairly, rewards the righteous, and punishes the wicked. This God gives them the opportunity to do repentance and to gain atonement for their actions. In times of trouble, they call God in the name of "Yawei", the same as Yahweh.
They also believe in spirits and demons and they are forbidden to worship them, but this is probably a Chinese influence. In the past they had written scrolls of parchment and also books but today they only have oral traditions. They themselves do not understand the prayers that they recite every week.
The Chiang tribe lives a very special way of life based on the offering of animal sacrifices which seems to have been seen among the Ten Tribes of Israel. It is forbidden to worship statues or foreign gods and anyone who offers a sacrifice to another god faces the death penalty.
These priests wear clean white clothes and perform the sacrifices in a state of purity as the priests in ancient Israel did (1 Samuel 15:27). I recall that Japanese Shinto priests also wear clean white clothes at holy events.

A priest of Chiang Min tribe (Photo: Torrance in 1920's)

The priest of the Chiang tribe wears a special head turban. The priest is ordained in a special ceremony in which sacrifices are also offered. Unmarried men may not be a priest, which was the same in ancient Israel (Leviticus 21:7, 13).
The altar itself is built of earth which is molded into stones which are then laid one on top of the other without being cut of fashioned by any tool of metal. It is important to remember that in the Torah, the ancient altar could not be made of cut stones (Exodus 20:25), since the sword or whatever tool to be used to cut the stone was also an instrument of war and harm.
The main part of the service is performed at night perhaps to conceal it from other Chinese or because of the special effect of the silence and the tranquility of night. This was also ancient Israeli tradition. It is interesting that the important rituals of Japanese Shinto religion are also performed at night.
Before the offering of sacrifices, one is required to wash one's self and one's clothing and to dress in clean garments. Sacrificial animals themselves must be washed and purified. There is a special place for purification and washing. The elders and priest place their hands on the head of the sacrifice which is to be slaughtered then offer their prayers.
Circumcision is not performed. It seems to have obsoleted. But after the 7th day or at the eve of the 40th day of the child's life, a white rooster is slaughtered in the child's honor and he is given a name.

Ancient Jewish Communities in Kaifeng, China

As I mentioned before, Menashe people once went to the region near Kaifeng, China. The Jewish community in Kaifeng is most famous as the very ancient one which had existed since the time of B.C.E..
Kaifeng was the former capital for several dynasties in China. The Jews there did not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, which is a custom of Israelites, and their religion was called by the name meaning this.
There are still a few thousand Jews in Kaifeng. They had maintained some Jewish tradition. In Kaifeng they had a synagogue. They intermarried with the Chinese and look Chinese.
We can trace the history of Israelites in China to very ancient times. According to a stone monument in Kaifeng, Israelites already came to Kaifeng in 231 B.C.E.. Many Israelites or Jews lived in parts of China even before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E..

The Lost Tribes of Israel Went East Along the Silk Road

I have mentioned above about the people of the Yusufzai and the Pathans in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the people of Kashmir, the Menashe tribe in India and Myanmar, and the Chiang (Chiang-Min) tribe in China. These places are all along the Silk Road. Are these all where they went?
Otherwise, were there any other people who went further east along the Silk Road?
Where is the destination of the Silk Road? Japan. Did the Ten Tribes of Israel come to Japan?
If the Ten Tribes came to China, we must say that there is a strong possibility that they came to Japan also, for next to China is Japan. But someone may think, "There is a sea between China and Japan, which makes it difficult to get to Japan."
However, it was not a big problem for the Israelites. Scholars say that Israelites already traded in the time of King Solomon (the 10th century B.C.E.) with India and other countries of the Mediterranean Sea with a fleet of ships (see 1 Kings 10:22, Some of the words are from Sanskrit). Israelites knew well about ships even in the times before the country of Japan started.
The Silk Road was actually Silk Roads because there were several roads on the land and the sea already in the time of B.C.E. The Israelites were experienced people for getting across the ocean.

To be continued to:
Chapter 3 - Did the Lost Tribes of Israel Come To Ancient Japan?

Arimasa Kubo

Remnant Publishing
E-mail: remnant@aioros.ocn.ne.jp (Your thoughts and opinions are welcome.)

Home-page is here.

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OrTorah: Re: Are Japanese familiar to the people of Israel?

2008-08-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

Re: Are Japanese familiar to the people of Israel?

by EduPlanet Rectorate (daniEl I. Ginerman) - Friday, 15 August 2008, 02:45 PM

http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~magi9/isracame.htm

Israelites Came To Ancient Japan

Many of the traditional ceremonies in Japan seem to indicate that the Lost Tribes of Israel came to ancient Japan.

Arimasa Kubo

Ark of the covenant of Israel (left) and "Omikoshi" ark of Japan (right)

Dear friends in the world,

I am a Japanese Christian writer living in Japan. As I study the Bible, I began to realize that many traditional customs and ceremonies in Japan are very similar to the ones of ancient Israel. I considered that perhaps these rituals came from the religion and customs of the Jews and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel who might have come to ancient Japan.
The following sections are concerned with those Japanese traditions which possibly originated from the ancient Israelites.

The reason why I exhibit these on the internet is to enable anyone interested in this subject, especially Jewish friends to become more interested, research it for yourself, and share your findings.

The ancient kingdom of Israel, which consisted of 12 tribes, was in 933 B.C.E. divided into the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. The 10 tribes out of 12 belonged to the northern kingdom and the rest to the southern kingdom. The descendants from the southern kingdom are called Jews. The people of the northern kingdom were exiled to Assyria in 722 B.C.E. and did not come back to Israel. They are called "the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel." They were scattered to the four corners of the earth. We find the descendants of the Israelites not only in the western world, but also in the eastern world especially along the Silk Road. The following peoples are thought by Jewish scholars to be the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

Yusufzai
They live in Afghanistan. Yusufzai means children of Joseph. They have customs of ancient Israelites.

Pathans
They live in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have the customs of circumcision on the 8th day, fringes of robe, Sabbath, Kashrut, Tefilin, etc.

Kashmiri people
In Kashmir they have the same land names as were in the ancient northern kingdom of Israel. They have the feast of Passover and the legend that they came from Israel.

Knanites
In India there are people called Knanites, which means people of Canaan. They speak Aramaic and use the Aramaic Bible.

Menashe tribe
In Myanmar (Burma) and India live Menashe tribe. Menashe is Manasseh, and the Menashe tribe is said to be the descendants from the tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. They have ancient Israeli customs.

Chiang-Min tribe
They live in China and have ancient Israeli customs. They believe in one God and have oral tradition that they came from far west. They say that their ancestor had 12 sons. They have customs of Passover, purification, levirate marriage, etc. as ancient Israelites.

Kaifeng, China
It is known that there had been a large Jewish community since the time of B.C.E..

Japan
I am going to discuss this on this website.

A Japanese Festival Illustrates the Story of Isaac.

In Nagano prefecture, Japan, there is a large Shinto shrine named "Suwa-Taisha" (Shinto is the national traditional religion peculiar to Japan.)
At Suwa-Taisha, the traditional festival called "Ontohsai" is held on April 15 every year (When the Japanese used the lunar calendar it was March-April). This festival illustrates the story of Isaac in chapter 22 of Genesis in the Bible - when Abraham was about to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. The "Ontohsai" festival, held since ancient days, is judged to be the most important festival of "Suwa-Taisha."

The "Suwa-Taisha" shrine

At the back of the shrine "Suwa-Taisha," there is a mountain called Mt. Moriya ("Moriya-san" in Japanese). The people from the Suwa area call the god of Mt. Moriya "Moriya no kami," which means, the "god of Moriya." This shrine is built to worship the "god of Moriya."
At the festival, a boy is tied up by a rope to a wooden pillar, and placed on a bamboo carpet. A Shinto priest comes to him preparing a knife, and he cuts a part of the top of the wooden pillar, but then a messenger (another priest) comes there, and the boy is released. This is reminiscent of the Biblical story in which Isaac was released after an angel came to Abraham.

The knife and sword used in the "Ontohsai" festival

At this festival, animal sacrifices are also offered. 75 deer are sacrificed, but among them it is believed that there is a deer with its ear split. The deer is considered to be the one God prepared. It could have had some connection with the ram that God prepared and was sacrificed after Isaac was released. Since the ram was caught in the thicket by the horns, the ear might have been split.
In ancient time of Japan there were no sheep and it might be the reason why they used deer (deer is Kosher). Even in historic times, people thought that this custom of deer sacrifice was strange, because animal sacrifice is not a Shinto tradition.

A deer with its ears split

People call this festival "the festival for Misakuchi-god". "Misakuchi" might be "mi-isaku-chi." "Mi" means "great," "isaku" is most likely Isaac (the Hebrew word "Yitzhak"), and "chi" is something for the end of the word. It seems that the people of Suwa made Isaac a god, probably by the influence of idol worshipers.
Today, this custom of the boy about to be sacrificed and then released, is no longer practiced, but we can still see the custom of the wooden pillar called "oniye-basira," which means, "sacrifice-pillar."

The "oniye-bashira" on which the boy is supposed to be tied up

Currently, people use stuffed animals instead of performing a real animal sacrifice. Tying a boy along with animal sacrifice was regarded as savage by people of the Meiji-era (about 100 years ago), and those customs were discontinued. However, the festival itself still remains.
The custom of the boy had been maintained until the beginning of Meiji era. Masumi Sugae, who was a Japanese scholar and a travel writer in the Edo era (about 200 years ago), wrote a record of his travels and noted what he saw at Suwa. The record shows the details of "Ontohsai." It tells that the custom of the boy about to be sacrificed and his ultimate release, as well as animal sacrifices that existed those days. His records are kept at the museum near Suwa-Taisha.

The festival of "Ontohsai" has been maintained by the Moriya family ever since ancient times. The Moriya family think of "Moriya-no-kami" (god of Moriya) as their ancestor's god. They also consider "Mt. Moriya" as their holy place. The name, "Moriya," could have come from "Moriah" (the Hebrew word "Moriyyah") of Genesis 22:2, that is today's Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Among Jews, God of Moriah means the one true God whom the Bible teaches.
The Moriya family have been hosting the festival for 78 generations. And the curator of the museum said to me that the faith in the god of Moriya had existed among the people since the time of B.C.E..
Apparently, no other country but Japan has a festival illustrating the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. This tradition appears to provide strong evidence that the ancient Israelites came to ancient Japan.

The Crest of the Imperial House of Japan Is the Same As That Found On the Gate of Jerusalem.

The crest of the Imperial House of Japan is a round mark in the shape of a flower with 16 petals. The current shape appears as a chrysanthemum (mum), but scholars say that in ancient times, it appeared similar to a sunflower. The sunflower appearance is the same as the mark at Herod's gate in Jerusalem. The crest at Herod's gate also has 16 petals. This crest of the Imperial House of Japan has existed since very ancient times. The same mark as the one at Herod's gate is found on the relics of Jerusalem from the times of the Second Temple, and also on Assyrian relics from the times of B.C.E..

The mark on Herod's gate at Jerusalem (left) and the crest of the Imperial House of Japan (right)

Japanese Religious Priests "Yamabushi" Put A Black Box on their Foreheads Just As Jews Put A Phylactery on their Foreheads.

"Yamabushi" is a religious man in training unique to Japan. Today, they are thought to belong to Japanese Buddhism. However, Buddhism in China, Korea and India have no such custom. The custom of "yamabushi" existed in Japan before Buddhism was imported into Japan in the seventh century.
On the forehead of "Yamabushi," he puts a black small box called a "tokin", which is tied to his head with a black cord. He greatly resembles a Jew putting on a phylactery (black box) on his forehead with a black cord. The size of this black box "tokin" is almost the same as the Jewish phylactery, but its shape is round and flower-like.

A "yamabushi" with a "tokin" blowing a horn

Originally the Jewish phylactery placed on the forehead seems to have come from the forehead "plate" put on the high priest Aaron with a cord (Exodus 28:36-38). It was about 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) in size according to folklore, and some scholars maintain that it was flower-shaped. If so, it was very similar to the shape of the Japanese "tokin" worn by the "yamabushi".

A Jew with a phylactery blowing a shofar

Israel and Japan are the only two countries that in the world I know of that use of the black forehead box for religious purpose.
Furthermore, the "yamabushi" use a big seashell as a horn. This is very similar to Jews blowing a shofar or ram's horn. The way it is blown and the sounds of the "yamabushi's" horn are very similar to those of a shofar. Because there are no sheep in Japan, the "yamabushi" had to use seashell horns instead of rams' horns.
"Yamabushis" are people who regard mountains as their holy places for religious training. The Israelites also regarded mountains as their holy places. The Ten Commandments of the Torah were given on Mt. Sinai. Jerusalem is a city on a mountain. Jesus (Yeshua) used to climb up the mountain to pray. His apparent transfiguration also occurred on a mountain.

In Japan, there is the legend of "Tengu" who lives on a mountain and has the figure of a "yamabushi". He has a pronounced nose and supernatural capabilities. A "ninja", who was an agent or spy in the old days, while working for his lord, goes to "Tengu" at the mountain to get from him supernatural abilities. "Tengu" gives him a "tora-no-maki" (a scroll of the "tora") after giving him additional powers. This "scroll of the tora" is regarded as a very important book which is helpful for any crisis. Japanese use this word sometimes in their current lives.
There is no knowledge that a real scroll of a Jewish Torah was ever found in a Japanese historical site. However, it appears this "scroll of the tora" is a derivation of the Jewish Torah.

Japanese "Omikoshi" Resembles the Ark of the Covenant.

In the Bible, in First Chronicles, chapter 15, it is written that David brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord into Jerusalem.

"David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. ...Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the singers, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouts, with the sounding of rams' horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps." (15:25-28)

Illustration of Israeli people carrying the Ark of the Covenant

When I read these passages, I think; "How well does this look like the scene of Japanese people carrying our 'omikoshi' during festivals? The shape of the Japanese 'Omikoshi' appears similar to the ark of the covenant. Japanese sing and dance in front of it with shouts, and to the sounds of musical instruments. These are quite similar to the customs of ancient Israel."

Japanese "Omikoshi" ark

Japanese carry the "omikoshi" on their shoulders with poles - usually two poles. So did the ancient Israelites:
"The Levites carried the ark of God with poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD." (1 Chronicles 15:15)
The Israeli ark of the covenant had two poles (Exodus 25:10-15).
Some restored models of the ark as it was imagined to be have used two poles on the upper parts of the ark. But the Bible says those poles were to be fastened to the ark by the four rings "on its four feet" (Exodus 25:12). Hence, the poles must have been attached on the bottom of the ark. This is similar to the Japanese "omikoshi."
The Israeli ark had two statues of gold cherubim on its top. Cherubim are a type of angel, heavenly being having wings like birds. Japanese "omikoshi" also have on its top the gold bird called "Ho-oh" which is an imaginary bird and a mysterious heavenly being.
The entire Israeli ark was overlaid with gold. Japanese "omikoshi" are also overlaid partly and sometimes entirely with gold. The size of an "omikoshi" is almost the same as the Israeli ark. Japanese "omikoshi" could be a remnant of the ark of ancient Israel.

Many Things Concerning the Ark Resemble Japanese Customs.

King David and people of Israel sang and danced to the sounds of musical instruments in front of the ark. We Japanese sing and dance to the sounds of musical instruments in front of "omikoshi" as well.
Several years ago, I saw an American-made movie titled "King David" which was a faithful story of the life of King David. In the movie, David was seen dancing in front of the ark while it was being carried into Jerusalem. I thought: "If the scenery of Jerusalem were replaced by Japanese scenery, this scene would be just the same as what can be observed in Japanese festivals." The atmosphere of the music also resembles the Japanese style. David's dancing appears similar to Japanese traditional dancing.

At the Shinto shrine festival of "Gion-jinja" in Kyoto, men carry "omikoshi," then enter a river, and cross it. I can't help but think this originates from the memory of the Ancient Israelites carrying the ark as they crossed the Jordan river after their exodus from Egypt.

In a Japanese island of the Inland Sea of Seto, the men selected as the carriers of the "omikoshi" stay together at a house for one week before they would carry the "omikoshi." This is to prevent profaning themselves. Furthermore on the day before they carry "omikoshi," the men bathe in seawater to sanctify themselves. This is similar to an ancient Israelite custom:
"So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel." (1 Chronicles 15:14)

The Bible says that after the ark entered Jerusalem and the march was finished, "David distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins" (1 Chronicles 16:3). This is similar to a Japanese custom. Sweets are distributed to everyone after a Japanese festival. It was a delight during my childhood.

The Robe of Japanese Priests Resembles the Robe of Israeli Priests.

The Bible says that when David brought up the ark into Jerusalem, "David was clothed in a robe of fine linen" (1 Chronicles 15:27). The same was true for the priests and choirs. In the Japanese Bible, this verse is translated into "robe of white linen."
In ancient Israel, although the high priest wore a colorful robe, ordinary priests wore simple white linen. Priests wore white clothes at holy events. Japanese priests also wear white robes at holy events.
In Ise-jingu, one of the oldest Japanese shrines, all of the priests wear white robes. And in many Japanese Shinto shrines, especially traditional ones, the people wear white robes when they carry the "omikoshi" just like the Israelites did.
Buddhist priests wear luxurious colorful robes. However, in the Japanese Shinto religion, white is regarded as the holiest color.
The Emperor of Japan, just after he finishes the ceremony of his accession to the throne, appears alone in front of the Shinto god. When he arrives there, he wears a pure white robe covering his entire body except that his feet are naked. This is similar to the action of Moses and Joshua who removed their sandals in front of God to be in bare feet (Exodus 3:5, Joshua 5:15).
Marvin Tokayer, a rabbi who lived in Japan for 10 years, wrote in his book:
"The linen robes which Japanese Shinto priests wear have the same figure as the white linen robes of the ancient priests of Israel. "

Japanese Shinto priest in white robe with fringes

The Japanese Shinto priest robe has cords of 20-30 centimeters long (about 10 inches) hung from the corners of the robe. These fringes are similar to those of the ancient Israelites. Deuteronomy 22:12 says:
"make them fringes in the... corners of their garments throughout their generations."
Fringes (tassels) were a token that a person was an Israelite. In the gospels of the New Testament, it is also written that the Pharisees "make their tassels on their garments long" (Matthew 23:5). A woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage came to Jesus (Yeshua) and touched the "tassel on His coat" (Matthew 9:20, The New Testament: A Translation in the Language of the People, translated by Charles B. Williams).
Imagined pictures of ancient Israeli clothing sometimes do not have fringes. But their robes actually had fringes. The Jewish Tallit (prayer shawl), which the Jews put on when they pray, has fringes in the corners according to tradition.

Japanese Shinto priests wear on their robe a rectangle of cloth from their shoulders to thighs. This is the same as the ephod worn by David:
"David also wore a linen ephod." (1 Chronicles 15:27)
Although the ephod of the high priest was colorful with jewels, the ordinary priests under him wore the ephods of simple white linen cloth (1 Samuel 22:18). Rabbi Tokayer states that the rectangle of cloth on the robe of Japanese Shinto priest looks very similar to the ephod of the Kohen, the Jewish priest.
The Japanese Shinto priest puts a cap on his head just like Israeli priest did (Exodus 29:40). The Japanese priest also puts a sash on his waist. So did the Israeli priest. The clothing of Japanese Shinto priests appears to be similar to the clothing used by ancient Israelites.

Waving the Sheaf of Harvest Is Also the Custom of Japan.

The Jews wave a sheaf of their first fruits of grain seven weeks before Shavuot (Pentecost, Leviticus 23:10-11), They also wave a sheaf of plants at Sukkot (the Feast of Booths, Leviticus 23:40). This has been a tradition since the time of Moses. Ancient Israeli priests also waved a plant branch when he sanctifies someone. David said, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean" [Psalm 51:7(9)]. This is also a traditional Japanese custom.

Shinto priest waving for sanctification

When a Japanese priest sanctifies someone or something, he waves a tree branch. Or he waves a "harainusa," which is made of a stick and white papers and looks like a plant. Today's "harainusa" is simplified and made of white papers that are folded in a zig-zag pattern like small lightning bolts, but in old days it was a plant branch or cereals.
A Japanese Christian woman acquaintance of mine used to think of this "harainusa" as merely a pagan custom. But she later went to the U.S.A. and had an opportunity to attend a Sukkot ceremony. When she saw the Jewish waving of the sheaf of the harvest, she shouted in her heart, "Oh, this is the same as a Japanese priest does! Here lies the home for the Japanese."

The Structure of the Japanese Shinto Shrine is Similar to God's Tabernacle of Ancient Israel.

The inside of God's tabernacle in ancient Israel was divided into two parts. The first was the Holy Place, and the second was the Holy of Holies. The Japanese Shinto shrine is also divided into two parts.
The functions performed in the Japanese shrine are similar to those of the Israeli tabernacle. Japanese pray in front of its Holy Place. They cannot enter inside. Only Shinto priests and special ones can enter. Shinto priest enters the Holy of Holies of the Japanese shrine only at special times. This is similar to the Israeli tabernacle.
The Japanese Holy of Holies is located usually in far west or far north of the shrine. The Israeli Holy of Holies was located in far west of the temple. Shinto's Holy of Holies is also located on a higher level than the Holy Place, and between them are steps. Scholars state that, in the Israeli temple built by Solomon, the Holy of Holies was on an elevated level as well, and between them there were steps of about 2.7 meters (9 feet) in width.

Typical Japanese Shinto shrine

In front of a Japanese shrine, there are two statues of lions known as "komainu" that sit on both sides of the approach. They are not idols but guards for the shrine. This was also a custom of ancient Israel. In God's temple in Israel and in the palace of Solomon, there were statues or relieves of lions (1 Kings 7:36, 10:19).

"Komainu" guards for shrine

In the early history of Japan, there were absolutely no lions. But the statues of lions have been placed in Japanese shrines since ancient times. It has been proven by scholars that statues of lions located in front of Japanese shrines originated from the Middle East.

Located near the entrance of a Japanese shrine is a "temizuya" - a place for worshipers to wash their hands and mouth. They used to wash their feet, too, in old days. This is a similar custom as is found in Jewish synagogues. The ancient tabernacle and temple of Israel also had a laver for washing hands and feet near the entrances.

In front of a Japanese shrine, there is a gate called the "torii." The type gate does not exist in China or in Korea, it is peculiar to Japan. The "torii" gate consists of two vertical pillars and a bar connecting the upper parts. But the oldest form consists of only two vertical pillars and a rope connecting the upper parts. When a Shinto priest bows to the gate, he bows to the two pillars separately. It is assumed that the "torii" gate was originally constructed of only two pillars.

In the Israeli temple, there were two pillars used as a gate (1 Kings 7:21). And in Aramaic language which ancient Israelites used, the word for gate was "taraa." This word might have changed slightly and become the Japanese "torii".
Some "toriis," especially of old shrines, are painted red. I can't help but think this is a picture of the two door posts and the lintel on which the blood of the lamb was put the night before the exodus from Egypt.

In the Japanese Shinto religion, there is a custom to surround a holy place with a rope called the "shimenawa," which has slips of white papers inserted along the bottom edge of the rope. The "shimenawa" rope is set as the boundary. The Bible says that when Moses was given God's Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, he "set bounds" (Exodus 19:12) around it for the Israelites not to approach. Although the nature of these "bounds" is not known, ropes might have been used. The Japanese "shimenawa" rope might then be a custom that originates from the time of Moses. The zig-zag pattern of white papers inserted along the rope reminds me of the thunders at Mt. Sinai.

The major difference between a Japanese Shinto shrine and the ancient Israeli temple is that the shrine does not have the burning altar for animal sacrifices. I used to wonder why Shinto religion does not have the custom of animal sacrifices if Shinto originated from the religion of ancient Israel.
But then I found the answer in Deuteronomy, chapter 12. Moses commanded the people not to offer any animal sacrifices at any other locations except at specific places in Canaan (12:10-14). Hence, if the Israelites came to ancient Japan, they would not be permitted to offer animal sacrifices.

Shinto shrine is usually build on a mountain or a hill. Almost every mountain in Japan has a shrine, even you find a shrine on top of Mt. Fuji. In ancient Israel, on mountains were usually located worship places called "the high places". The temple of Jerusalem was built on a mountain (Mt. Moriah). Moses was given the Ten Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai. It was thought in Israel that mountain is a place close to God.
Many Shinto shrines are built with the gates in the east and the Holy of Holies in the west as we see in Matsuo grand shrine (Matuo-taisya) in Kyoto and others. While, others are built with the gates in the south and the Holy of Holies in the north. The reason of building with the gates in the east (and the Holy of Holies in the west) is that the sun comes from the east. The ancient Israeli tabernacle or temple was built with the gate in the east and the Holy of Holies in the west, based on the belief that the glory of God comes from the east.
�@All Shinto shrines are made of wood. Many parts of the ancient Israeli temple was also made of wood. The Israelites used stones in some places, but walls, floors, ceilings and all of the insides were overlaid with wood (1 Kings 6:9, 15-18), which was cedars from Lebanon (1 Kings 5:6). In Japan they do not have cedars from Lebanon, so in Shinto shrines they use Hinoki cypress which is hardly eaten by bugs like cedars from Lebanon.
The wood of the ancient Israeli temple was all overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:20-30). In Japan the important parts of the main shrine of Ise-jingu, for instance, are overlaid with gold.

Many Japanese Customs Resemble Those of Ancient Israel.

When Japanese people pray in front of the Holy Place of a Shinto shrine, they firstly ring the golden bell which is hung at the center of the entrance. This was also the custom of the ancient Israel. The high priest Aaron put "bells of gold" on the hem of his robe. This was so that its sound might be heard and he might not die when ministered there (Exodus 28:33-35).

Golden bell at the entrance of Shinto shrine

Japanese people clap their hands two times when they pray there. This was, in ancient Israel, the custom to mean, "I keep promises." In the Scriptures, you can find the word which is translated into "pledge." The original meaning of this word in Hebrew is, "clap his hand" (Ezekiel 17:18, Proverbs 6:1). It seems that the ancient Israelites clapped their hands when they pledged or did something important.

Japanese people bow in front of the shrine before and after clapping their hands and praying. They also perform a bow as a polite greeting when they meet each other. To bow was also the custom of the ancient Israel. Jacob bowed when he was approaching Esau (Genesis 33:3).
Ordinarily, contemporary Jews do not bow. However, they bow when reciting prayers. Modern Ethiopians have the custom of bowing, probably because of the ancient Jews who emigrated to Ethiopia in ancient days. The Ethiopian bow is similar to the Japanese bow.

We Japanese have the custom to use salt for sanctification. People sometimes sow salt after an offensive person leaves. When I was watching a TV drama from the times of the Samurai, a woman threw salt on the place where a man she hated left. This custom is the same as that of the ancient Israelites. After Abimelech captured an enemy city, "he sowed it with salt" (Judges 9:45). We Japanese quickly interpret this to mean to cleanse and sanctify the city.
I hear that when Jews move to a new house they sow it with salt to sanctify it and cleanse it. This is true also in Japan. In Japanese-style restaurants, they usually place salt near the entrance. Jews use salt for Kosher meat. All Kosher meat is purified with salt and all meals start with bread and salt.
Japanese people place salt at the entrance of a funeral home. After coming back from a funeral, one has to sprinkle salt on oneself before entering his/her house. It is believed in Shinto that anyone who went to a funeral or touched a dead body had become unclean. Again, this is the same concept as was observed by the ancient Israelites.

Japanese "sumo" wrestler sowing with salt

Japanese "sumo" wrestlers sow the sumo ring with salt before they fight. European or American people wonder why they sow salt. But Rabbi Tokayer wrote that Jews quickly understand its meaning.
Japanese people offer salt every time they perform a religious offering, This is the same custom used by the Israelites:
"With all your offerings you shall offer salt." (Leviticus 2:13)
Japanese people in old times had the custom of putting some salt into their baby's first bath. The ancient Israelites washed a newborn baby with water after rubbing the baby softly with salt (Ezekiel 16:4). Sanctification and cleansing with salt and/or water is a common custom among both the Japanese and the ancient Israelites.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the words "clean" and "unclean" often appear. Europeans and Americans are not familiar with this concept, but the Japanese understand it. A central concept of Shinto is to value cleanness and to avoid uncleanness. This concept probably came from ancient Israel.

Similar to Judaism, in Japanese Shinto Religion, There Are No Idols

Buddhist temples have idols which are carved in the shape of Buddha and other gods. However in Japanese Shinto shrines, there are no idols.
In the center of the Holy of Holies of a Shinto shrine, there is a mirror, sword, or pendant. Nevertheless, Shinto believers do not regard these items as their gods. In Shinto, gods are thought to be invisible. The mirror, sword, and pendant are not idols but merely objects to show that it is a holy place where invisible gods come down.
In the ark of the covenant of ancient Israel, there were stone tablets of God's Ten Commandments, a jar of manna and the rod of Aaron. These were not idols, but objects to show that it was the holy place where the invisible God comes down. The same thing can be said concerning the objects in Japanese shrines.

Old Japanese Words Have Hebrew Origin.

Joseph Eidelberg, a Jew who once came to Japan and remained for years at a Japanese Shinto shrine, wrote a book entitled "The Japanese and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel." He wrote that many Japanese words originated from ancient Hebrew.
For instance, we Japanese say "hazukashime" to mean disgrace or humiliation. In Hebrew, it is "hadak hashem" (tread down the name; see Job 40:12). The pronunciation and the meaning of both of them are almost the same.
We say "anta" to mean "you," which is the same in Hebrew. Kings in ancient Japan were called with the word "mikoto," which could be derived from a Hebrew word "malhuto" which means "his kingdom." The Emperor of Japan is called "mikado." This resembles the Hebrew word, "migadol," which means "the noble." The ancient Japanese word for an area leader is "agata-nushi;" "agata" is "area" and "nushi" is "leader." In Hebrew, they are called "aguda"and "nasi."
When we Japanese count, "One, two, three... ten," we sometimes say:

"Hi, fu, mi, yo, itsu, mu, nana, ya, kokono, towo."

This is a traditional expression, but its meaning is unknown it is thought of as being Japanese.
It has been said that this expression originates from an ancient Japanese Shinto myth. In the myth, the female god, called "Amaterasu," who manages the world's sunlight, once hid herself in a heavenly cave, and the world became dark. Then, according to the oldest book of Japanese history, the priest called "Koyane" prayed with words before the cave and in front of the other gods to have "Amaterasu" come out. Although the words said in the prayer are not written, a legend says that these words were, "Hi, fu, mi...."

"Amaterasu" is hiding in a heavenly cave; "Koyane" is praying and "Uzume" is dancing.

Joseph Eidelberg stated that this is a beautiful Hebrew expression, if it is supposed that there were some pronunciation changes throughout history. These words are spelled:
"Hifa mi yotsia ma na'ne ykakhena tavo."

This means: "The beautiful (Goddess). Who will bring her out? What should we call out (in chorus) to entice her to come?" This surprisingly fits the situation of the myth.
Moreover, we Japanese not only say, "Hi, hu, mi...," but also say with the same meaning:

"Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yottsu, itsutsu, muttsu, nanatsu, yattsu, kokonotsu, towo."

Here, "totsu" or "tsu" is put to each of "Hi, hu, mi..." as the last part of the words. But the last "towo" (which means ten) remains the same. "Totsu" could be the Hebrew word "tetse," which means, "She comes out. " And "tsu" may be the Hebrew word "tse" which means "Come out."
Eidelberg believed that these words were said by the gods who surrounded the priest, "Koyane." That is, when "Koyane" first says, "Hi," the surrounding gods add, "totsu" (She comes out) in reply, and secondly, when "Koyane" says, "Fu," the gods add "totsu" (tatsu), and so on. In this way, it became "Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu...."
However, the last word, "towo," the priest, "Koyane," and the surrounding gods said together. If this is the Hebrew word "tavo," it means, "(She) shall come." When they say this, the female god, "Amaterasu," came out.

"Hi, fu, mi..." and "Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu..." later were used as the words to count numbers.
In addition, the name of the priest, "Koyane," sounds close to a Hebrew word, "kohen," which means, "a priest." Eidelberg showed many other examples of Japanese words (several thousand) which appeared to have a Hebrew origin. This does not appear to be accidental.

In ancient Japanese folk songs, many words appear that are not understandable as Japanese. Dr. Eiji Kawamorita considered that many of them are Hebrew. A Japanese folk song in Kumamoto prefecture is sung, "Hallelujah, haliya, haliya, tohse, Yahweh, Yahweh, yoitonnah...." This also sounds as if it is Hebrew.

Similarity Between the Biblical Genealogy and Japanese Mythology

There is a remarkable similarity between the Biblical article and Japanese mythology. A Japanese scholar points out that the stories around Ninigi in the Japanese mythology greatly resemble the stories around Jacob in the Bible.
In the Japanese mythology, the Imperial family of Japan and the nation of Yamato (the Japanese) are descendants from Ninigi, who came from heaven. Ninigi is the anscestor of the tribe of Yamato, or Japanese nation. While Jacob is the anscestor of the Israelites.
In the Japanese mythology, it was not Ninigi who was to come down from heaven, but the other. But when the other was preparing, Ninigi was born and in a result, instead of him, Ninigi came down from heaven and became the anscestor of the Japanese nation. In the same way, according to the Bible, it was Esau, Jacob's elder brother, who was to become God's nation but in a result, instead of Esau, God's blessing for the nation was given to Jacob, and Jacob became the anscestor of the Israelites.
And in the Japanese mythology, after Ninigi came from heaven, he fell in love with a beautiful woman named Konohana-sakuya-hime and tried to marry her. But her father asked him to marry not only her but also her elder sister. However the elder sister was ugly and Ninigi gave her back to her father. In the same way, according to the Bible, Jacob fell in love with beautiful Rachal and tried to marry her (Genesis chapter 29). But her father says to Jacob that he cannot give the younger sister before the elder, so he asked Jacob to marry the elder sister (Leah) also. However the elder sister was not so beautiful, Jacob disliked her. Thus, there is a parallelism between Ninigi and Jacob.
And in the Japanese mythology, Ninigi and his wife Konohana-sakuya-hime bear a child named Yamasachi-hiko. But Yamasachi-hiko is bullied by his elder brother and has to go to the country of a sea god. There Yamasachi-hiko gets a mystic power and troubles the elder brother by giving him famine, but later forgives his sin. In the same way, according to the Bible, Jacob and his wife Rachal bear a child named Joseph. But Joseph is bullied by his elder brothers and had to go to Egypt. There Joseph became the prime minister of Egypt and gets power, and when the elder brothers came to Egypt because of famine, Joseph helped them and forgives their sin. Thus, there is a parallelism between Yamasachi-hiko and Joseph.

Similarity between the biblical genealogy and Japanese mythology

And in the Japanese mythology, Yamasachi-hiko married a daughter of the sea god, and bore a child named Ugaya-fukiaezu. Ugaya-fukiaezu had 4 sons. But his second and third sons were gone to other places. The forth son is emperor Jinmu who conquers the land of Yamato. On this line is the Imperial House of Japan.
While, what is it in the Bible? Joseph married a daughter of a priest in Egypt, and bore Manasseh and Ephraim. Ephraim resembles Ugaya-fukiaezu in the sense that Ephraim had 4 sons, but his second and third sons were killed and died early (1 Chronicles 7:20-27), and a descendant from the forth son was Joshua who conquered the land of Canaan (the land of Israel). On the line of Ephraim is the Royal House of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
Thus we find a remarkable similarity between the biblical genealogy and Japanese mythology - between Ninigi and Jacob, Yamasachi-hiko and Joseph, and the Imperial family of Japan and the tribe of Ephraim.
Furthermore, in the Japanese mythology, the heaven is called Hara of Takama (Takama-ga-hara or Takama-no-hara). Ninigi came from there and founded the Japanese nation. Concerning this Hara of Takama, Zen'ichirou Oyabe, a Japanase researcher, thought that this is the city Haran in the region of Togarmah where Jacob and his anscestors once lived; Jacob lived in Haran of Togarmah for a while, then came to Canaan and founded the Israeli nation.
Jacob once saw in a dream the angels of God ascending and descending between the heaven and the earth (Genesis 28:12), when Jacob was given a promise of God that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. This was different from Ninigi's descending from heaven, but resembles it in image.
Thus, except for details, the outline of the Japanese mythology greatly resembles the records of the Bible. It is possible to think that the myths of Kojiki and Nihon-shoki, the Japanese chronicles written in the 8th century, were originally based on Biblical stories but later added with various pagan elements. Even it might be possible to think that the Japanese mythology was originally a kind of genealogy which showed that the Japanese are descendants from Jacob, Joseph, and Ephraim.

Impurity During Menstruation and Bearing Child

The concept of uncleanness during menstruation and bearing child have existed in Japan since ancient times.
It has been a custom in Japan since old days that woman during menstruation should not attend holy events at shrine. She could not have sex with her husband and had to shut herself up in a hut (called Gekkei-goya in Japanese), which is built for collaboration use in village, during her menstruation and several days or about 7 days after the menstruation. This custom had been widely seen in Japan until Meiji era (about 100 years ago). After the period of shutting herself up ends, she had to clean herself by natural water as river, spring, or sea. It there is no natural water, it can be done in bathtub.
This resembles ancient Israeli custom very much. In ancient Israel, woman during menstruation could not attend holy events at the temple, had to be apart from her husband, and it was custom to shut herself up in a hut during her menstruation and 7 days after the menstruation (Leviticus 15:19, 28). This shutting herself up was said "to continue in the blood of her purification", and this was for purification and to make impurity apart from the house or the village.

Menstruation hut used by Falasha, Ethiopian Jews

This remains true even today. There are no sexual relations, for the days of menstruation and an additional 7 days. Then the woman goes to the Mikveh, ritual bath. The water of the Mikveh must be natural water. There are cases of gathering rainwater and putting it to the Mikveh bathtub. In case of not having enough natural water, water from faucet is added.
Modern people may feel irrational about this concept but women during menstruation or bearing child need rest physically and mentally. Woman herself says that she feels impure in her blood in the period. "To continue in the blood of her purification" refers to this need of rest of her blood.
Not only concerning menstruation, but also the concept concerning bearing child in Japanese Shinto resembles the one of ancient Israel. A mother who bore a child is regarded unclean in a certain period. This concept is weak among the Japanese today, but was very common in old days. The old Shinto book, Engishiki (the 10th century C.E.), set 7 days as a period that she cannot participate holy events after she bore a child. This resembles an ancient custom of Israel, for the Bible says that when a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be "unclean 7 days". She shall then "continue in the blood of her purification 33 days". In the case that she bears a female child, then she shall be "unclean two weeks", and she shall "continue in the blood of her purification 66 days'" (Leviticus 12:2-5).
In Japan it had been widely seen until Meiji era that woman during pregnancy and after bearing child shut herself up in a hut (called Ubu-goya in Japanese) and lived there. The period was usually during the pregnancy and 30 days or so after she bore a child (The longest case was nearly 100 days). This resembles the custom of ancient Israel.
In ancient Israel, after this period of purification the mother could come to the temple with her child for the first time. Also in the custom of Japanese Shinto, after this period of purification the mother can come to the shrine with her baby. In modern Japan it is generally 32 days (or 31 days) after she bore the baby in case of a male, and 33 days in case of a female.
But when they come to the shrine, it is not the mother who carries the baby. It is a traditional custom that the baby should be carried not by the mother, but usually by the husband's mother (mother-in-law). This is a remarkable similarity of purity and impurity of the mother, after childbirth, with ancient Israeli custom.

Japanese "Mizura" and Jewish Peyot

The photo below (left) is a statue of an ancient Japanese Samurai found in relics of the late 5th century C.E. in Nara, Japan. This statue shows realistically the ancient Japanese men's hair style called "mizura," which hair comes down under his cap and hangs in front of both ears with some curling. This hair style was widely seen among Japanese Samurais, and it was unique to Japan, not the one which came from the cultures of China or Korea.

Ancient Japanese Samurai's hair style "mizura" (left) and Jewish "peyot" (right)

Is it a mere coincidence that this resembles Jewish "peyot" (payot) very much, which is also a hair style of hanging the hair in front of the ears long with some curling (photo right)? "Peyot" is a unique hair style for Jews and the origin is very old. Leviticus 19:27 of the Bible mentions:
"'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head."
So, this custom originated from the ancient Israelites. The "peyot" custom of today's Hasidic Jews is a recovery of this ancient custom. Yemenite Jews have had this custom since ancient times. There is a statue from Syria, which is from the 8th or 9th century B.C.E.. It shows a Hebrew man with peyot and a fringed shawl.

To be continued to:
Chapter 2 - The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Myanmar, and China
Chapter 3 - Did the Lost Tribes of Israel Come To Ancient Japan?
Chapter 4 - Various Other Similarities Between Ancient Israel and Ancient Japan

Please feel free to print this site for your personal use, and distribute it to your friends.

Arimasa Kubo

Remnant Publishing
E-mail: remnant@aioros.ocn.ne.jp (Your thoughts and opinions are welcome, although I may not be able to reply to all.)
Home-page is here.

For more information

I appreared in a TV program
I appeared in a Japanese TV program on this topic. You can watch the videos with English captions at "Are the Japanese actually Jewish?"

Recommended books:
The following are the books written by Jewish researchers on the connections between the Israelites and the Japanese.
*The Biblical Hebrew Origin of the Japanese People, written by Joseph Eidelberg (English and Hebrew).
*In the Footsteps of the Lost Ten Tribes, written by Avigdor Shachan (English and Hebrew).
*The Tribes of Israel - The Lost and the Dispersed, written by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail (English and Hebrew).
*If you can read Japanese, "Nihon-Yudaya, Hu

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OrTorah: Are Japanese familiar to the people of Israel?

2008-08-15T06:06:00.001-07:00

	Are Japanese familiar to the people of Israel? by EduPlanet Rectorate (daniEl I. Ginerman) - Friday, 15 August 2008, 02:36 PM
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OrTorah: Backs to the Future (the aymara hebrew alike thought of time)

2008-08-15T05:11:00.001-07:00

http://www.physorg.com/news69338070.html

Published: 13:34 EST, June 12, 2006

Backs to the Future

The future is behind for the Aymara: The speaker, at right, indicates next year by pointing backwards over his left shoulder. Copyright Rafael Nunez, UC San Diego

New analysis of the language and gesture of South America's indigenous Aymara people indicates they have a concept of time opposite to all the world's studied cultures -- so that the past is ahead of them and the future behind.

<a href="http://physorg.tradepub.com/?pt=cat&page=_INTL"> <img src="http://www.physorg.com/banner/lifesci468x60.gif" border="0" width="468" height="60" alt=""></a> Tell an old Aymara speaker to "face the past!" and you just might get a blank stare in return because he or she already does.

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New analysis of the language and gesture of South America's indigenous Aymara people indicates a reverse concept of time.

Contrary to what had been thought a cognitive universal among humans a spatial metaphor for chronology, based partly on our bodies' orientation and locomotion, that places the future ahead of oneself and the past behind the Amerindian group locates this imaginary abstraction the other way around: with the past ahead and the future behind.

Appearing in the current issue of the journal Cognitive Science, the study is coauthored, with Berkeley linguistics professor Eve Sweetser, by Rafael Nunez, associate professor of cognitive science and director of the Embodied Cognition Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego.

"Until now, all the studied cultures and languages of the world from European and Polynesian to Chinese, Japanese, Bantu and so on have not only characterized time with properties of space, but also have all mapped the future as if it were in front of ego and the past in back. The Aymara case is the first documented to depart from the standard model," said Nunez.

The language of the Aymara, who live in the Andes highlands of Bolivia, Peru and Chile, has been noticed by Westerners since the earliest days of the Spanish conquest. A Jesuit wrote in the early 1600s that Aymara was particularly useful for abstract ideas, and in the 19th century it was dubbed the "language of Adam." More recently, Umberto Eco has praised its capacity for neologisms, and there have even been contemporary attempts to harness the so-called "Andean logic" which adds a third option to the usual binary system of true/false or yes/no to computer applications.

Yet, Nunez said, no one had previously detailed the Aymara's "radically different metaphoric mapping of time" a super-fundamental concept, which, unlike the idea of "democracy," say, does not rely on formal schooling and isn't an obvious product of culture.

Nunez had his first inkling of differences between "thinking in" Aymara and Spanish, when he went hitchhiking in the Andes as undergraduate in the early 1980s. More than a decade later, he returned to gather data.

For the study, Nunez collected about 20 hours of conversations with 30 ethnic Aymara adults from Northern Chile. The volunteer subjects ranged from a monolingual speaker of Aymara to monolingual speakers of Spanish, with a majority (like the population at large) being bilinguals whose skills covered a range of proficiencies and included the Spanish/Aymara creole called Castellano Andino.

The videotaped interviews were designed to include natural discussions of past and future events. These discussions, it was hoped, would elicit both the linguistic expressions for "past" and "future" and the subconscious gesturing that accompanies much of human speech and often acts out the metaphors being used.

The linguistic evidence seems, on the surface, clear: The Aymara language recruits "nayra," the basic word for "eye," "front" or "sight," to mean "past" and recruits "qhipa," the basic word for "back" or "behind," to mean "future." So, for example, the expression "nayra mara" which translates in meaning to "last year" can be literally glossed as "front year."

But, according to the researchers, linguistic analysis cannot reliably tell the whole story.

Take an "exotic" language like English: You can use the word "ahead" to signify an earlier point in time, saying "We are at 20 minutes ahead of 1 p.m." to mean "It's now 12:40 p.m." Based on this evidence alone, a Martian linguist could then justifiably decide that English speakers, much like the Aymara, put the past in front.

There are also in English ambiguous expressions like "Wednesday's meeting was moved forward two days." Does that mean the new meeting time falls on Friday or Monday? Roughly half of polled English speakers will pick the former and the other half the latter. And that depends, it turns out, on whether they're picturing themselves as being in motion relative to time or time itself as moving. Both of these ideas are perfectly acceptable in English and grammatical too, as illustrated by "We're coming to the end of the year" vs. "The end of the year is approaching."

Analysis of the gestural data proved telling: The Aymara, especially the elderly who didn't command a grammatically correct Spanish, indicated space behind themselves when speaking of the future by thumbing or waving over their shoulders and indicated space in front of themselves when speaking of the past by sweeping forward with their hands and arms, close to their bodies for now or the near past and farther out, to the full extent of the arm, for ancient times. In other words, they used gestures identical to the familiar ones only exactly in reverse.

"These findings suggest that cognition of such everyday abstractions as time is at least partly a cultural phenomenon," Nunez said. "That we construe time on a front-back axis, treating future and past as though they were locations ahead and behind, is strongly influenced by the way we move, by our dorsoventral morphology, by our frontal binocular vision, etc. Ultimately, had we been blob-ish amoeba-like creatures, we wouldn't have had the means to create and bring forth these concepts.

"But the Aymara counter-example makes plain that there is room for cultural variation. With the same bodies the same neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters and all here we have a basic concept that is utterly different," he said.

Why, however, is not entirely certain. One possibility, Nunez and Sweetser argue, is that the Aymara place a great deal of significance on whether an event or action has been seen or not seen by the speaker.

A "simple" unqualified statement like "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" is not possible in Aymara the sentence would necessarily also have to specify whether the speaker had personally witnessed this or was reporting hearsay.

In a culture that privileges a distinction between seen/unseen and known/unknown to such an extent as to weave "evidential" requirements inextricably into its language, it makes sense to metaphorically place the known past in front of you, in your field of view, and the unknown and unknowable future behind your back.

Though that may be an initial explanation and in line with the observation, the researchers write, that "often elderly Aymara speakers simply refused to talk about the future on the grounds that little or nothing sensible could be said about it" it is not sufficient, because other cultures also make use of similar evidential systems and yet still have a future ahead.

The consequences, on the other hand, may have been profound. This cultural, cognitive-linguistic difference could have contributed, Nunez said, to the conquistadors' disdain of the Aymara as shiftless uninterested in progress or going "forward."

Now, while the future of the Aymara language itself is not in jeopardy it numbers some two to three million contemporary speakers its particular way of thinking about time seems, at least in Northern Chile, to be on the way out.

The study's younger subjects, Aymara fluent in Spanish, tended to gesture in the common fashion. It appears they have reoriented their thinking. Now along with the rest of the globe, their backs are to the past, and they are facing the future.

Source: University of California, San Diego

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OrTorah: Kav HaChesed: Help Us to Fight Poverty in Israel

2006-04-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

Kav HaChesed: Let's fight poverty in Israel!

עזור לנו לעזור להם
Help Us Help Them!

קו החסד לקח על עצמו לתקן את קו העוני. במדינה בה כל ילד שלישי מוגדר ע"י הביטוח הלאומי מתחת לקו העוני משמעות הדבר שישנם ילדים רעבים ללחם יום יום פשוטו כמשמעו. הקו המנחה של העמותה, הינו הרצון העז להיטיב עם עם-ישראל, מתוך שיתוף פעולה בין כל גווני האוכלוסייה במטרה לקשר ולהרבות אהבה בישראל.

Kav Hachesed

Activities: פעילויות

	Chesed Yisrael פרוייקט "חסד לישראל

	Helping elementary school pupils עזרה לתלמיד

	Bridal Salon סלון כלות

	Sandwiches for schools כריך לבי"ס

	Assistance to soldiers עזרה לחייל

	Chesed in an emergency חסד חוצה גבולות

Kav HaChesed is committed to correcting the poverty line. In a country in which every third child is defined by the National Insurance Institute as living below the poverty line, it means quite simply that there are children starving just for bread, every day. Kav HaChesed's guiding principle is the strong desire to improve life for the Jewish people, through cooperation between all the different sectors of the population and with the aim of increasing Ahavat Yisrael, love for one another.

You CAN Help אתה יכול לעזור
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OrTorah: Vote No to Slander - by Rabbi S. Weiss

2006-03-27T07:06:00.000-08:00

Vote No to Slander - by Rabbi S. Weiss

by EduPlanet Rectorate (daniEl I. Ginerman) - Monday, 27 March 2006, 04:12 PM

Vote No to Slander by Rabbi S. Weiss Mar 26, '06 / 26 Adar 5766 From all things we must learn, say the sages, and often the world around us can teach us a thing or two about Jewish values. And so, I call your attention to a little-known town in Colombia, a place called Icononzo, 40 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota. Fed up with local residents being targeted by false rumors and turning up dead or wrongfully arrested, the mayor of Iconozo has made gossip a crime, punishable by up to four years in prison and a six-figure fine. On more than one occasion, malicious gossip in the city has had disastrous consequences. In one instance, a man was killed because somebody claimed, erroneously, that he belonged to a leftist insurgent group. On another occasion, a rumor later proved to be unfounded - that an armed gang was on its way to terrorize the town kept residents locked inside their homes for 48 hours, too afraid to go to work or send their kids to school. Finally, the town council decided to take drastic action. "Human beings must be aware and recognize that having a tongue and using it to do bad is the same as having dynamite in their mouths," said Mayor Jesus Ignacio Jimenez. Knowing that drug-ridden Colombia is no stranger to violence, and that deadly weapons are readily available, local officials decided to clamp down on gossipmongers. "It's definitely had an impact since it went into effect," said one citizen, "now people think twice about what they say before they say it." Of course, Judaism is no stranger to the evils of lashon hara. The Torah prohibits gossip, slander and tale-bearing, and the rabbis characterize the tongue as a snake with a vicious bite that must be kept behind two gates the teeth and the lips to prevent it from striking too easily and spreading its venom. One who uses the power of speech to embarrass another is considered to have shed blood, the evidence of his crime indicated by the red blush of his victim. In Jewish thought, the principal problem with malicious gossip even when it is true and accurate is that it tends to focus on only a tiny portion of the whole person. It takes a snapshot of a particular fault or feature, and blows it up into a pervasive, larger-than-life photograph of the victim. It is a sinister sound bite that can devour whole another's reputation or name, based upon a fraction of that person's behavior. That is why the Torah's punishment for slander is tzara'at, a disease of the skin that comes from too much gossip. A small lesion that ultimately renders the whole body impure, tzara'at repays, measure for measure, the gossiper, who would use one unflattering incident to paint his victim with a wide brush. Once diagnosed as afflicted, the slanderer must be quarantined, kept outside the mainstream, just as he attempted to isolate and ostracize his neighbor. All this seems most topical on the eve of Israeli elections. Watching the various parties' ads, it is clear that the main focus is not what is right about their programs or platforms, but what is wrong with their competition. Kadima's spot shows picture after picture of Binyamin Netanyahu in unflattering poses, questioning his honesty and integrity. Likud warns that Ehud Olmert is "dangerous for the nation." Meretz and Shinui blast the Hareidim for ruining their lives, with Shinui's slogan being, "We're not Shas!" And virtually all the parties let us know what an inexperienced, untested non-cosmopolitan boor Amir Peretz is. Missing from this cavalcade of lashon hara is the clear statement of what each party stands for and what it will do to secure our future. What solid ideas does it offer for improving the economy, stopping road deaths, ending violence in schools and homes, kicking corrupt officials out of government, increasing immigration and bringing the nation together? Does it have a plan, a vision, of where Israel can and should be in five years, ten years, fifty years from now? Is t here a positive reason that you, Mr. or Mrs. Candidate, should be elected, or should I vote for you just because - so you tell me - the other guy is worse? Imagine what a Colombian-like ban on gossip in this election campaign would do to transform the shape of our politicking. It would force the candidates to actually focus on their own qualifications, to impress us with their own unique wisdom, creativity and personal charisma. It would turn the spotlight directly on them, highlighting both their past performance and their future potential. It would make them tell us why they believe that they are the person best equipped to direct this nation. And maybe, just maybe, it would help to create the kind of leader we so desperately need, but cannot seem to find.

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OrTorah: Harry Potter is Jewish!

2006-01-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

Harry Potter is Jewish!
(A Useful Metaphor)

by Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
www.ou.org/ncsy/projects/5764/oct31-64/harry_potter_is_jewish.htm

No, sorry to say, the character of Harry Potter is not Jewish. I
think the books are quite clear on that, what with Christmas being
a major plot point what seems like every six weeks. But I think the
theme of the Harry Potter series is quite Jewish.

Some religious people of different faiths, including Judaism and
Christianity, have opposed the Harry Potter series. (I wouldn't be
surprised to find that Moslems, Hindus and others have objected, as
well.) After all, it does appear to glorify a lifestyle quite at odds with
the one they espouse. But I think they're missing the point. Harry
Potter doesn't advocate witchcraft as a lifestyle choice any more
than the Terminator movies advocate the killer android from the
future lifestyle. Harry Potter is about a boy who just happens to be
a wizard.

Personally, I think the Harry Potter story may be a perfect metaphor
for what many Jewish teens encounter in their quest for religious
growth. You see, Hogwarts isn't a school of wizardry. It's a yeshiva.
It's Yarchei Kallah. It's a Shabbaton. It's wherever you want to go to
grow in Torah observance and get closer to G-d. We'll talk more
about Hogwarts specifically soon enough.

All about Harry

Harry is Jewish. His parents died so that he might survive and
carry on their legacy. Voldemort isn't an evil wizard, but he does
represent the forces of evil. He is Egyptian slavery. He is the
Syrian-Greeks. He is Haman. He is the Roman persecution. He is
the Spanish Inquisition. He is pogroms and Crusades and the
Holocaust and the Intifada. He thought he had destroyed the
Potter family, but you know what? They survived in Harry, much the
same way the Jewish people lives on in you.

Harry didn't know the gifts he had. He knew that talking to snakes
at the zoo was a little strange, but he didn't understand the power
he had inside. Maybe you've sometimes felt different from your
peers. Maybe you've felt that spark inside you, but not known what
it was. That's your Jewish soul, baby! It's looking to get out and
express itself!

So, like you, Harry got his wake-up call. His came by owl post. Yours
probably didn't. But if you're reading this, somehow or some way
G-d sent you an invitation. It didn't say "Hogwarts" on it, but it said
"Torah." G-d invited you to come claim your heritage.

Dealing with the Dursleys

Harry had the Dursleys, his aunt and uncle, who tried to stand in his
way. They were scared of witchcraft. They said it was because it
wasn't "normal," but that wasn't the real reason. It was because Mrs.
Dursley was jealous of her sister, Harry's mother, who was a witch.
Lily Potter had something special that Petunia Dursley lacked and
she hated her for it. Historically, a lot of people have hated the Jews
for exactly the same reason: G-d gave us something special that they
don't have.

You probably have Dursleys in your life, too. In America in the 21st
Century, your Dursleys probably aren't overt anti-Semitism (thank G-d),
but there are plenty of others. People who belittle your interest in Torah
can be Dursleys. But Dursleys can also come from within. The yetzer
hara can be a big Dursley. ("Yetzer hara" is usually translated "the evil
inclination. If you were a cartoon, the yetzer hara would be a little guy
in a red suit who sits on your shoulder and tells you to keep a wallet
instead of turning it in.) Laziness, fear of change, peer pressure -
Dursleys all. Harry overcame his Dursleys. You can beat yours, too.

(But you have to be careful! Harry goes home every summer and has
to outwit the Dursleys again and again. Your Dursleys will never stop
trying to deter you from growing in your "magic," so you must be
ever-vigilant!)

Harry and his Friends at Hogwarts

Harry finally made it to Hogwarts. While he was there, he met other
witches and wizards from all different types of backgrounds. Ron
Weasley's family is all-wizard. He doesn't know any other lifestyle. He
takes for granted so much of what is new and magical to Harry.
Hermione Granger's family is all-muggle (non-wizard), but unlike the
Dursleys, Hermione's family appreciates what being a witch has done
for their daughter and they encourage her growth. Harry is a little
jealous of this positive relationship. After all, Hermione can bring her
muggle relatives to Diagon Alley (sort of like inviting them to your
Shabbos table), something Harry can never do with his family.

At Hogwarts, Harry studies magic. His course of studies includes such
varied courses as the History of Magic, Potions and Care of Magical
Creatures. This is like our study of Torah. (This gets a huge lehavdil,
which is what we say when we compare two things that really aren't
alike.) The Torah is not just a book of laws. It's the history of our
people.
It's self-improvement. It's how to treat other people. Harry's course of
study is diverse and so is ours.

Casting Spells

Harry and his friends cast spells, but the charms they cast don't always
turn out as intended. Hermione didn't mean to turn herself into a cat
with the polyjuice potion. Ron didn't want slugs pouring out of his mouth.
Gilderoy Lockhart didn't intend to remove all the bones in Harry's
broken arm. To a degree this can be compared to davening. (No, really.)
I'll explain.

We "cast our spells" (a big lehavdil, again) and ask Hashem to do
certain things for us. Sometimes He does as we ask. But, like a spell
gone awry, sometimes G-d says no. Not because He's capricious, but
because He knows what's best for us. (It's like when you refuse to stuff a
three-year-old with candy until they get sick. They think you're "mean,"
but you know that you're doing them a big favor.)

It's not a perfect parallel. Spells will probably succeed or fail based on
the wizard's proficiency, which is not the case with our prayers. But, as
with the spells, when our prayers don't get the results we asked for, that
doesn't mean they dissipate in the atmosphere. They still have an effect.
No, they won't make slugs come out of your mouth. The effect of prayer
is invariably positive, even when G-d says no.

Voldemort Returns

But all is not perfect in Harry's world. Voldemort returns and he's out
for blood. Yet, even with his meager abilities, Harry manages to defeat
him. A little magic can go a long way, but after each year at Hogwarts,
Harry becomes much more proficient! Similarly, whatever Torah we
have is what we need to defeat the forces of evil. Even a little is powerful

stuff, but every step brings us much more "power."

Harry would not have been safer back on Privet Drive, never knowing
he was a wizard. Voldemort still would have come after him, because he
considered Harry's very existence a threat. Without Hogwart's, however,
Harry never would have had the tools to survive.

It's the same with you and Torah. Those who would oppose you because
you are a Jew don't care whether you are learned or ignorant, observant
or assimilated. They consider you a threat simply because you're a Jew.
Without Torah, you lack the basic tools to defend yourself and banish the
darkness. Refusing to take up your arms, i.e. the Torah, is what they want
you to do.

I could go on, but I won't. You can draw your own parallels. A metaphor is
just a metaphor. (Or, as I like to put it, "A metaphor is like a simile.")
Harry Potter is just a book. It may be well-written and critically-acclaimed, but at the end of the day it's the product of human hands and imagination. Like all humans, J.K. Rowling is just dust and ashes. She may have her five
Harry Potter books, but we have the five Books that G-d gave to Moses on
Mount Sinai. (And we saw special effects far greater than anything ever
shown on the silver screen!) Those are the books that count. As much as
we can learn from Harry, Ron and Hermione, there is so much more we
can learn from the examples of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov (our
forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). May we merit to spend as much
effort analyzing the Torah, the true source of our real Jewish "magic."

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OrTorah: Jerusalem Talmud Quotes About Shabbat

2005-12-04T16:05:00.000-08:00

Jerusalem Talmud Quotes About Shabbat

compiled by derechemet@yahoo.com
===========================================

{1} Jerusalem Talmud, tractate Berachot
    Chapter 1, Law 5:

Shabbat is equal to all of the other
commandments of the Torah COMBINED.

{2} Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, Page 15:
Shabbat was given to us in order to study Torah.

{2A} Rabbeinu Bachya on Shemot 20:8:
     On SHABBAT, King David would spend
     the entire day studying Torah.

{2B} Sefer Ben Ish Chai,
     Hilchot Shanah Sheniah, Parshat Shemot:
     One hour of Torah-study on Shabbat is
     equal to a thousand hours of Torah study
     during the week.

{3} Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Taanit, Page 3B:
If all Jews would observe one Shabbat properly,
the messiah would come immediately.

{3A} This quote is repeated in:
     Midrash Tehillim for Psalm 95.

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OrTorah: "My big fat Amaraic Wedding"

2005-11-22T15:05:00.001-08:00

"My big fat Amaraic Wedding"

by Jay Bushinsky
International Jerusalem Post
April 29 - May 5, 2005

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HaTsafon

There is no better proof of modern Aramaic's vitality
than the spectacular weddings held by the Jewish "Nash
Didan" community, which hails from the remote
foothills of the Caucasus Mountains.

"Nash Didan" means "Our People" and its distinctive
music and dance have been immortalized by Nissan Aviv,
a brilliant composer and orchestrator who arrived in
Israel 55 years ago during the peak of the "Nash
Didan" immigration, and has devoted his life to
preserving and continuing this culture ever since.

Soon after the late Naomi Shemer's Yerushalayim Shel
Zahav ("Jerusalem of Gold") became a hit on the eve of
the Six Day War, Aviv obtained her permission to
render it in Aramaic. Translated as Yerushalayim Ai
Dheba, it is a beloved staple at "Nash Didan"
weddings.

Aviv was born in Urmia, an ancient city in Iranian
Azerbaijan.

"We spoke Aramaic at home, Turkish on the street and
learned Persian at school," he said.

"I knew a fair amount of Hebrew when we came to Israel
because it was taught in our Jewish schools. And
partly thanks to my Aramaic, I was able to speak like
a sabra in no time."

Aviv's lyrics are written in modern Aramaic and his
songs not only draw audiences from the various
Aramaic-speaking communities in Israel - located in
Holon, Givatayim and Jerusalem -- but also are played
on the Aramaic (or Syriac) radio and TV stations in
Australia, Canada and Sweden.

"Jerusalem of Gold is as popular abroad is it is
here," he said.

Aviv's music is based on three instruments: a drum
known as a dair'a, a five-stringed instrument plucked
like a balalaika or mandolin known as a kar kavkazi
and a Central Asian version of the cello known as a
kamanncha.

Aviv has won the unstinting acclaim of one of Israel's
leading experts in cognate Semitic languages, Hezy
Mutzafi, who speaks half a dozen of the Aramaic and
Syriac dialects fluently. Noting that the "Nash
Didan" community consists of "only a few thousand"
Israelis (its members constitute a relatively small
percentage of an influx of nearly 200,000 immigrants
from Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus), Mutzafi points
out that it is also one of the least known Jewish
ethnic groups.

"Its focus is on culture, folklore and spoken
Aramaic," explained Mutzafi, referring to the latter
as lishan noshan or "our language."

Mutzafi singled out Aviv as one of the outstanding
activits in the "Nash Didan" community, a man who has
contributed mightily to its spiritual and cultural
life.

Privately, Aviv is rather pessimistic about what the
future holds for the language and lifestyle he loves
and has tried to preserve.

"Our Aramaic is being forgotten," he said. "The
younger generation can understand it, but cannot speak
and in time, this too will be lost."

One project that gives Aviv hope is the Tel Aviv
University's development of an Aramaic dictionary.

"The trouble is that the project is enormous and the
funding available for it is miniscule," he said.

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OrTorah: "Other" Jewish Languages

2005-11-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

www.myjewishlearning.com/xcommon/Hot_Topics/primers_index.htm

For most of their history, Jews have been
multilingual. Hebrew is the language of the Bible, the
principal language of Jewish liturgy, and the language
spoken in modern Israel--but it has been the primary
language of only a small percentage of Jews who have
ever lived.

The geographical diversity of the Jewish people
accounts for its multilingualism. Jews have adopted
the various languages of their homelands and also
spoken numerous Jewish hybrid languages.

By the beginning of the Common Era, Aramaic had
replaced Hebrew as the spoken language of Palestinian
Jews. The causes of Hebrew's decline are not wholly
understood, but it was certainly hastened by the
Babylonian exile in 587 B.C.E. and the continued
foreign rule of Palestine during the Second Temple
period. Aramaic, like Hebrew, is a Semitic language,
and there are many similarities between the two.

Because of Aramaic's prominence during the rabbinic
era, it is arguably the second most important Jewish
language--though it was spoken by non-Jews as well.
The Talmud is written in Aramaic, as is the Zohar, the
great medieval mystical text. One of the most well
known Jewish prayers, the kaddish, also is written in
Aramaic. During the talmudic era, Hebrew illiteracy
was so high that the Shabbat Torah reading was recited
along with a verse-by-verse translation into Aramaic.

Jewish hybrid languages have existed for more than two
millennia. Linguists have long puzzled with little
resolution over whether these tongues should be
considered dialects, unique languages, or Creole
languages (languages that began as pidgins--simplified
forms of speech, often mixtures of two languages--and
are later adopted as primary languages).

During the Second Temple Period Judeo-Greek, also
known as Yevanic, was spoken by Jews in the
Hellenistic world. Over the years many other such
hybrid languages emerged. These languages tended to
adopt structural and lexical elements of the local
languages, mixing them with Hebrew and Aramaic words.
They were usually written in Hebrew script.

The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa spoke
Judeo-Arabic. As early as the eighth century, Jews of
present day Iran and Afghanistan spoke Judeo-Persian.
Many Jews in Italy spoke Judeo-Italian, a language
featuring early South Italian elements and Hebrew
characters. Most of these languages, and many other
Jewish hybrid languages, are extinct or almost
extinct.

The two most well known Jewish hybrid languages are
Judeo-Spanish -- better known as Ladino -- and
Yiddish.

Judeo-Spanish was spoken by the Jews of medieval
Spain, as well as their descendants. It received most
of its linguistic characteristics from early-medieval
Spanish, but it was written in Hebrew characters.
Though Ladino is its earliest documented name, the
language is also known as Judezmo (which is a
linguistic equivalent of Yiddish) and Spanyol.

Today there are still some speakers of Judeo-Spanish
in the Balkans, North Africa, and Israel. The
Holocaust hastened the decline of the language; the
Nazis decimated many Judeo-Spanish speaking
communities--particularly in Greece and the Balkans.

In many ways, Yiddish is the German equivalent of
Judeo-Spanish. Yiddish is almost wholly German in its
linguistic structure and vocabulary, but it is written
in Hebrew characters. Yiddish originated in the
Rhineland cities of Germany in the early Middle Ages,
though the first recognizable Yiddish texts date from
the 14th century. Over the next few centuries, Yiddish
spread all over Europe, from Eastern France to the
Baltics.

More Jews have spoken Yiddish than any other language.
Prior to the Holocaust, Yiddish-speakers accounted for
75 percent of world Jewry, but during the Holocaust,
about 75 percent of the world's Yiddish speakers were
killed. Today, Yiddish is spoken by fewer and fewer
people, though it is still the primary spoken language
of many ultra-Orthodox Jews, and there are still
probably tens of thousands of Yiddish speakers in the
former Soviet states.

In addition, the study of Yiddish language and
literature is enjoying something of a renaissance on
some college campuses. And parts of the language live
on in the many Yiddish words that have become part of
English vernacular in America, such as nosh (which
means to snack) and mentsh (a gentleman).

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OrTorah: Sanhedrin Moves to Establish Council For Noahides

2005-11-17T05:05:00.000-08:00

Sanhedrin Moves to Establish Council For Noahides

01:39 Sep 29, '05 / 25 Elul 5765
By Ezra HaLevi
taken from http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=90646

A council of non-Jewish observers of the Seven Laws of Noah has been selected and will be ordained by the reestablished Sanhedrin in Jerusalem this January.

B'nai Noach, literally "Children of Noah," known as Noahides, are non-Jews who take upon themselves the Torah's obligations for non-Jews - consisting of seven laws passed on from Noah following the flood, as documented in Genesis (see below).

Until now, Noahide communities and organization had been scattered around the globe, with a particular concentration centered around the southern United States. The communities themselves are a relatively recent phenomenon bolstered by the fact that the Internet has allowed individuals sharing Noahide beliefs to get in touch with one another.

The court of 71 rabbis, known as the Sanhedrin, which was reestablished last October in Tiberius following the reinstitution of rabbinic semikha, decided, after numerous requests from the Noahide community, to assist the movement in forming a leadership council.

Rabbi Michael Bar-Ron, with the Sanhedrin's blessing, travelled to the United States to meet with representatives of the Noahide movement and select members for the High Council. Bar-Ron, an ordained student, talmid samukh, who currently sits on the Sanhedrin, is also one of the Sanhedrin's spokesmen.

Bar-Ron organized a small conference in California where six of the council's future members were selected and also addressed the annual convention of the Vendyl Jones Research Institute - one of the Noahide organizations represented on the council. At the VJRI convention, Bar-Ron met five more of the Noahide leaders who will be joining the council.

The purpose of the council, which was the brainchild of Rabbi Avraham Toledano, is to assist the B'nei Noach in their struggle to observe the word of G-d. "The goal is to unify, serve and organize all kosher B'nei Noach communities of the world under a single body that can operate under the direct authority and supervision of the Sanhedrin," the decision to establish the body reads. "To form a vessel through which the Torah, from Zion (via the Sanhedrin) can effectively serve non-Jewish communities around the world."

A third goal of the creation of the High Council and the Sanhedrin's efforts in regard to the Noahide community, is to "transform the Noahide movement from a religious phenomenon - a curiosity many have not heard of - into a powerful international movement that can successfully compete with, and with G-d's help bring about the fall of, any religious movement but the pure authentic faith that was given to humanity through Noach, the father of us all," said emissary Bar-Ron.

To that end, one of the primary functions of the council will be the creation and development of effective outreach materials for the world. Although Judaism does not require or encourage non-Jews to become Jewish, the observance of the Seven Laws of Noah is incumbent upon humanity and widespread observance is to be worked toward, even through active proselytization, something that is anathema to Judaism.

The council is also seeking to identify and contact communities around the world who observe the Seven Laws of Noah in order to invite them to learn more about the movement. B'nei Noach in India and Brazil are already in touch with Noahide leaders.

Asked why the Sanhedrin would reach out to B'nei Noach before concentrating on outreach within the Jewish community, Rabbi Bar-Ron answered: "There was no conscious choice to ignore the issue of outreach toward other Jews, but there is a Torah principle that a mitzva, positive precept, that comes to your hand should be fulfilled first and should not be put off. It happens to be that the group that showed the most outward display of support and genuine concern for the success of the Sanhedrin - contacting us from the very outset - were the B'nei Noach. One of the great responsibilities of the Jewish people is to spread the laws of Noach."

Bar-Ron said he had mixed feelings as he departed for the meetings with the B'nei Noach leaders, as he left the day the forced expulsion of Jews from Gaza began. "I was in such a horrible heart-wrenching pain about leaving - I almost felt like a traitor to our people. But I realized then that although the government was detaching itself from the Land of Israel - a partial annulment of our covenant with G-d, similar to the sin of the ten spies - there is another aspect of the covenant that has not been pursued. That aspect is our obligation to be a nation of priests unto the nations. This is the core of the covenant with Abraham and it is something the Jewish people as a nation has not involved itself in since Second Temple times. So as the government disengaged from the covenant, I was participating in the reengagement with an aspect of the covenant that has been dormant."

Bar-Ron was very impressed with the B'nei Noach leaders he met. "Each of them had a different unique talent. One was an extremely talented media coordinator, two were great scholars of Noahide law, one was secretary of a large successful Noahide community and research institute and one was a law enforcement officer for a number of years. Each had the wisdom and experience that will help them lead the movement.

All of the prospective members of the High Council are obligated to appear in Jerusalem this coming January, at which time they will be ordained by the Sanhedrin as members of the High Council. "One of the things I thought would be more difficult was implementing the fact that the Sanhedrin's steering committee unanimously voted that the High Council members must appear personally before the Sanhedrin to be ordained as such," Bar-Ron said. "But the level of commitment of these people is so high that it is not posing a problem at all.

Each member was screened very carefully and accepted not only on the basis of their high reputation, wisdom and experience - there were many dedicated and talented B'nei Noach who we would have loved to have accepted into the council - but for their role as representatives of entire B'nei Noach communities or as experts in a particularly field.

The acting head of the Sanhedrin, Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, has set up a Beit Din for B'nei Noach to serve the needs of B'nei Noach worldwide. At this point, the council will not serve as a adjudicating body.

"It is our sincere hope that in years to come, the knowledge of the halakha, Torah law, of the Seven Laws of Noach will grow to such a degree that there will be true Noahide judges," Bar-Ron said. "One of the goals is to delineate clearly the seven laws and their applications according to the Mishneh Torah of the Rambam."

"Never before in recorded history have B'nei Noach come together to be ordained by the Sanhedrin for the purpose of spreading Noahide observance of laws," Bar-Ron said. "This is the first critical step of bringing about the ultimate flowering of the brotherhood of mankind envisioned by Noach, the father of mankind."

The Seven Laws of Noah are:

Shefichat damim - Do not murder.
Gezel - Do not steal or kidnap.
Avodah zarah - Do not worship false gods/idols.
Gilui arayot - Do not be sexually immoral (engage in incest, sodomy, bestiality, castration and adultery)
Birkat Hashem - Do not utter G-d's name in vain, curse G-d or pursue the occult.
Dinim - Set up righteous and honest courts and apply fair justice in judging offenders and uphold the principles of the last five.
Ever Min HaChai - Do not eat a part of a live animal.

For more information email the Sanhedrin's secretary at: dbtc@actco.com

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Chapters On Jewish Literature, by Israel Abrahams

2005-08-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

A whole book, to download, to read and discuss:
Chapters On Jewish Literature, by Israel Abrahams

(downloadable also as PDF from the Midrash Library 4all)

Halakha/Aggadata/Midrash

2005-08-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

Halakha/Aggadata/Midrash

taken from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Halakha_&_aggadata_&_midrash.html

The Talmud is the most comprehensive compilation of the Oral Law. Throughout its many volumes, one finds the rabbis engaged in two types of discussions, halakha (purely legal matters), and aggadata (ethical and folkloristic speculations).

The opening Mishna in the tractate Bava Mezia is a classic halakhic discussion:

"Two men are holding a cloak [and come before a judge]. This one says: 'I found it,' and the other one says, 'I found it.' If this one says, 'It is all mine,' and the other one says, 'It is all mine,' then this one must swear that he does not own less than a half, and the other must swear that he does not own less than a half and they divide it [dividing means that each gets half of the value of the cloak].

"If this one says: 'It is all mine,' and the other one says, 'It is half mine' [because he believes that they discovered it simultaneously then the one who says, 'It is all mine' must swear that he does not own less than three quarters, and the one who says, 'Half of it is mine' must swear that he does not own less than a quarter, and this one takes three quarters and this one takes one quarter."

The Talmud's discussion of this Mishna is very extensive, and directly and indirectly raises numerous legal nuances. For one thing, since each party concedes that he only found the cloak but never purchased it, what about the man to whom the cloak originally belonged-shouldn't it be returned to him? We must assume, therefore, that the cloak either had been abandoned or that efforts to find the owner had proven futile. (There are extensive laws in the Talmud dealing with restoring lost objects to their owners, based on the biblical laws recorded in Deuteronomy 22:13.)

Secondly, it is no coincidence that the Mishna portrays both parties coming into court holding the cloak. As a rule, Jewish law accepts the principle that "possession is nine tenths of the law." In noting that both litigants are holding the garment, the text underscores that each has a tangible claim. If, in fact, only one party held the cloak, the cloak would be presumed to belong to him unless the second litigant could produce evidence that the first person had taken it from him.

Third, why the need for an oath at all? Why not just divide the cloak? The purpose of the oath is to induce fear in the liar, to discourage him from persevering in his dishonesty. Without an oath, a person might be more prone to lie, feeling that no harm is involved, since he is not depriving the real finder of something that had cost him money, but only of something he had found. Rabbi Louis Jacobs summarizes the principle behind the oath: "While a man may be willing to tell an untruth in order to obtain something that is not his, he will be reluctant to swear in court that he is telling the truth when he is not really doing so." In Jewish law, perjury is a particularly serious sin, and outlawed by the ninth of the Ten Commandments.

Fourth, why do the rabbis impose so strange an oath? Since each litigant claims "it is all mine," why not have each one swear that the entire cloak belongs to him? What is the sense in saying "I swear that I own not less than a half." There is a moral consideration behind the strange wording. Were each party to swear to owning the entire garment, the court knowingly would be administering a false oath: Two people would be swearing to full ownership of one garment. Yet were each party to swear that he owns only half of the garment, he would be discrediting his earlier claim that he owns it all. That is why each party swears, "I own not less than a half." This is the only oath that might possibly be truthful, for the two litigants might have picked up the garment simultaneously.

As for the Mishna's second part — in which one party claims ownership of the whole garment, and the other ownership of half — why the strange wording of the oath, and why give one litigant three quarters of the garment's value and the other only one quarter? The Talmud reasons: Since the person who claims that he owns only a half admits that the other half of the garment belongs to the first litigant, the dispute facing the court is restricted to the remaining half. That half, the court in turn divides in half, so that one party gets three quarters and the other a quarter.

This lengthy discussion about halves reminds me of an old Jewish joke about a man who complains to his friend, "A horrible thing. My daughter is getting married tomorrow and I promised a five-thousand ruble dowry. Now, half the dowry is missing."

"Don't worry," his friend consoles him. "Everybody knows that people usually pay only half the promised dowry."

"That's the half that's missing."

Aggadata refers to all of the Talmud's nonlegal discussions, including such varied matters as medical advice, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and folklore. One particularly well-known bit of aggadata is found in the talmudic tractate Bava Mezia 59b. The aggadata follows a halakhic discussion in which the rabbis debated whether an oven that had become impure could be purified. While almost all the sages felt it couldn't be, Rabbi Eliezer, a lone voice but a great scholar, disagreed:

"On that day, Rabbi Eliezer put forward all the arguments in the world, but the Sages did not accept them.

"Finally, he said to them, 'If the halakha is according to me, let that carobtree prove it.'

"He pointed to a nearby carob-tree, which then moved from its place a hundred cubits, and some say, four hundred cubits. They said to him 'One cannot bring a proof from the moving of a carob-tree.'

"Said Rabbi Eliezer, 'If the halakha is according to me, may that stream of water prove it.'

"The stream of water then turned and flowed in the opposite direction.

"They said to him, 'One cannot bring a proof from the behavior of a stream of water.'

"Said Rabbi Eliezer, 'If the halakha is according to me, may the walls of the House of Study prove it.'

"The walls of the House of Study began to bend inward. Rabbi Joshua then rose up and rebuked the walls of the House of Study, 'If the students of the Wise argue with one another in halakha," he said, "what right have you to interfere?'

"In honor of Rabbi Joshua, the walls ceased to bend inward; but in honor of Rabbi Eliezer, they did not straighten up, and they remain bent to this day.

"Then, said Rabbi Eliezer to the Sages, 'If the halakha is according to me, may a proof come from Heaven.'

"Then a heavenly voice went forth and said, 'What have you to do with Rabbi Eliezer? The halakha is according to him in every place.'

"Then Rabbi Joshua rose up on his feet, and said, 'It is not in the heavens' (Deuteronomy 30:12).

"What did he mean by quoting this? Said Rabbi Jeremiah, 'He meant that since the Torah has been given already on Mount Sinai, we do not pay attention to a heavenly voice, for You have written in Your Torah, 'Decide according to the majority' (Exodus 23:2).

"Rabbi Nathan met the prophet Elijah. He asked him, 'What was the Holy One, Blessed be He, doing in that hour?'

"Said Elijah, 'He was laughing and saying, "My children have defeated me, my children have defeated me.""'

The British-Jewish scholar and writer Hyam Maccoby has commented: "This extraordinary story strikes the keynote of the Talmud. God is a good father who wants His children to grow up and achieve independence. He has given them His Torah, but now wants them to develop it...."

A third category of rabbinic literature is midrash, of which there are two types. Midrash aggada derive the sermonic implications from the biblical text; Midrash halakha derive laws from it. When people use the word midrash, they usually mean those of the sermonic kind. Because the rabbis believed that every word in the Torah is from God, no words were regarded as superfluous. When they came upon a word or expression that seemed superfluous, they sought to understand what new idea or nuance the Bible wished to convey by using it. Thus, we find the following discussion on a verse from Genesis concerning Noah.

"This is the story of Noah. Noah was a righteous and blameless man in his generation" (Genesis 6:9).

What words seem superfluous? "In his generation." So why, the rabbis ask, did the Torah include them?

Characteristically, more than one view is offered. Rabbi Yochanan said: "In his [particularly awful] generation [Noah was a righteous and blameless man] but not in other generations." Resh Lakish maintained: "[If even] in his generation' how much more so in other generations" (Sanhedrin 1 08a).

Aside from the ingenuity of these explanations, this midrash also demonstrates that a reader understands a text in light of his own experiences. Take Resh Lakish's point: If even in his generation Noah was righteous, how much more so would he have been had he lived in another society? Elsewhere, the Talmud informs us that Resh Lakish became religious only as an adult. Earlier on, he had been a thief, a gladiator, or a circus attendant. Resh Lakish knew firsthand how much harder it is to be a good person when you come out of a seedy or immoral environment. In his eyes, if Noah could emerge from so immoral a society as a righteous man, how much greater would he have been had he been raised among moral people.

Midrash continues to be created. For example, Genesis 19:26 records that when Lot and his family were fleeing the destruction that Cod wrought on Sodom and Gomorrah, they were told not to look back. "But Lot's wife looked back, and she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt."

What possible relevance could this verse have to our lives? A friend of mine was teaching this chapter at a home for the aged, and the residents were debating the verse's meaning. An eighty-five-year-old woman broke into the discussion: "Don't you understand what it means? When you are always looking backwards, you become inorganic."

Finally, in modern Jewish life, the word halakha refers to any issue of Jewish law. If a person wants to know the Jewish law on a specific issue, he will ask a rabbi, "What is the halakha in this case?" The word also is used for the Talmud's legal sections, the codes of Jewish law (for example, the Shulkhan Arukh) or any of Judaism's legal writings (e.g., Responsa).

Aggadata, as noted, describes the non-halakhic sections of the Talmud, and the word aggada in modern Hebrew refers to any legendary or folkloristic writing.

Midrash most commonly refers to the famous compilation of Midrash Rabbah, a compilation of the rabbis' comments on each of the five volumes of the Torah. But to this day, you can hear a Jew who has some novel interpretation of a Torah passage say, "I want to give you a drash [from midrash] on this week's Torah portion."

Source: Joseph Telushkin. Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Midrash: what is it?

2005-08-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

GUIDE TO TEXTS

Midrash

taken from http://www.wujs.org.il/activist/learning/guide/midrash.shtml

what is it?

Midrash is the name given to certain collections of writings that are ordered around the layout of the Tanach. The Midrash is distinguished by the high amount of Aggadah it contains. Aggadah is the name given to a certain kind of writing (be it history, story, legend, allegory, scientific observation or such like) that is not legal or concerned with law. The Midrash is, therefore, mostly collections of stories that relate to words, themes, or narratives in the Tanach.

The word Midrash comes form the Hebrew root 'darash', meaning to search or investigate. Midrash attempts, through minute examination and interpretation of the Tanach, to bring out the deeper or ethical meaning of the text.

There are many different collections of Midrash. The largest collection is called Midrash Rabbah (The Great Midrash), which consists of a number of volumes. Other collections include Pesikta (Divisions), Mechilta (Treatise), Sifra (Book), and Sifre (Books).

what is it about?

The Midrash is about a wide variety of topics. Faced with opposition from those who interpreted Torah in a strictly literal sense, the Rabbis sought to find more subtle meanings within the words of Torah. The Midrash often includes whole stories from an examination of a word or words. Other times, the Midrash will fill in an apparent gap in a story. The Midrash can be thought of as an attempt to discover the inner meaning of Tanach.

There are two main types of Midrash - Midrash Aggadah and Midrash Halachah. Midrash Aggadah is the most common and contains stories and legends, concerned with ethical teachings or other topical issues. Midrash Halachah expounds upon the legal aspects and implications of texts in Tanach. Midrash Halachah and Midrash Aggadah exist side by side in the same way that Halachic (to do with Jewish Law) and Aggadic (not to do with Jewish Law) material exist together in the Talmud. However some volumes contain mostly Midrash Halachah, and others mostly Midrash Aggadah.

Midrash Rabbah contains volumes on the Chumash (Five Books of Moses) and the Hamesh Megillot (Five Scrolls, from Ketuvim).

The Pesikta (Divisions) is really three different works, based around the Shabbat and festival readings from the Prophets (the Haftorot).

Mechilta (Tractate) is a Midrash to Shemot (Exodus). Sifra (Book) is a Midrash to Vayikra (Leviticus). Sifre (Books) is a Midrash to Bamidbar (Numbers) and Devarim (Deuteronomy). All three are mainly Halachic (to do with Jewish Law). Different Midrashim are sometimes repeated in different collections.

where does it come from? who wrote it down?

The Midrashim are thought by some to have been divinely inspired and so are part of the religious corpus. Some are meant to be interpreted literally and others aren't, but all are meant to be taken seriously.

The material of the Midrash is mostly from the time of the Amoraim (200 - 500 CE). Some of the Midrash (particularly Mechilta, Sifra, and Sifre) can be traced back to the Tannaim (400 BCE - 200 CE).

Different Midrashim were written down at different times, over a period of almost a thousand years, from 300 - 1200 CE.

The compilers of the different collections of Midrash are generally unknown.

what do we do with it?

Because of the accessibility of a story, and the ethical messages that they contain, Midrashim are often used in preaching. Rabbis' sermons often start with a Midrash, which is used to bring out the deeper meaning of a passage from Tanach.

Many of the stories that are taught about characters from the Tanach are from Midrash. Because the Midrash is written to fill in gaps in the narrative, any attempt to reconstruct the lives of characters from Tanach will necessarily include a use of the Midrash. The film, 'Prince of Egypt', for example, was full of material taken from collections of Midrash.

Midrash was translated into Modern Hebrew by early Zionists.Writers such as Bialik collected various stories from Midrash, and published them to encourage Jews to read from the actual body of Jewish tradition. Today Midrash is often studied as literature, as well as a religious text.

what language is it in?

The Midrash, like the Talmud, is written in a combination of Hebrew and Aramaic. Some parts are in Hebrew, most are in Aramaic, and others are a combination of the two.

what does it look like?

This page is from the 1923 Vilna Edition of the Midrash Rabbah. (1) is the Midrash. (2), (3), (4) and (7) are commentaries. (5) compares different versions of stories in different volumes of Midrash. (6) suggests emendations to the text. (8) is a collection of cross-references and sources.

if I want to read it...

There is a translation of the Midrash Rabbah published by Soncino. This comes in ten volumes, including an index. It is a well-written and fairly straightforward translation.

The Sefer HaAggadah (Book of Legends) by Bialik and Ravinitzky is a compilation of many stories from both Midrash and Talmud. It is very well written and contains a very wide range of material, with a clear indication of the source. It is an expensive book, but can frequently be found in Jewish libraries.

MIDRASH TANHUMA

2005-08-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

MIDRASH TANHUMA

taken from http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/midrash.htm

The Torah is full of holy fire; it was written with a black fire upon a white fire.

The Torah has meekness as its footgear, and the fear of God as its crown. Hence Moses was the proper person through whose hands it should be delivered; he was meek, and with the fear of the Lord he was crowned.

You can not expect to occupy yourself with the study of the Torah in the future world and receive the reward for so doing in this world; you are meant to make the Torah your own in this life, and to look for reward in the life to come.

Cain's offering consisted of the seed of flax, and that of Abel of the fatlings of his sheep. This is probably the reason why the wearing of a garment of various materials, as of woolen and linen together, was prohibited.

As one who finishes the building of his house proclaims that day a holiday, and consecrates the building, so God, having finished creation in the six days, proclaimed the seventh day a holy day and sanctified it.

If the fraudulent man and the usurer offer to make restitution, it is not permitted to accept it from them.

The Bible, or written law, contains unexplained passages and hidden sentences, which can not be fully understood without the help of the oral law. Further, the written law contains generalities, whilst the oral law goes in for explanations in detail, and is consequently much larger in volume. Indeed, as a figure of speech we could apply to it the words in Job (iv. 9), "The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea." The knowledge of this oral law can not be expected to be found amongst those who are bent on enjoying earthly life and worldly pleasures; its acquisition requires the relinquishment of all worldliness, riches and pleasures, and requires intellect aided by constant study.

There is no evil that has no remedy, and the remedy for sin is repentance.

continues at http://midrash.ieshivah.net/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=9

What are some other important Haggadic works?

2005-08-24T12:09:00.001-07:00

What are some other important Haggadic works?

taken from http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/03-Torah-Halacha/section-31.html

Answer:

Megillat Ta'anit

A list from the time of the Second Temple describing 36 days on which fasting is not permitted because of the joyous events that occurred on those days. The main text is from the 1st century, while the commentary is post-Talmudic.

Seder Olam Rabbah (Seder Olam)

Traditionally written by Tannaitic Rabbi Yose ben Halafta. It covers topics from the Creation to the construction of the Second Temple.

Seder Olam Zutta

This book draws up a list of 89 generations from Abraham to the exile, and then to the Talmudic period. Not written before the 8th century.

Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer (Baraita de Rabbi Eliezer)

Contains 54 chapters on the life of Rabbi Eliezer, and most of the Torah. It is nor a midrash in the real sense of the word, but is more a coherent biblical story. Dates from the 8th century.

Josippon

A history of the Jews from the fall of Babylonia to the destruction of the Second Temple. Written in 953 CE by an anonymous author in Southern Italy, based on many historical records, but mainly the works of the Roman Jew, Josephus.

Sefer haYashar (Toldot Adam)

"The Book of The Upright" presents a view of history from Adam and Eve to the Exodus from Egypt. Written sometime between the 12th and 16th centuries.

Mesillas Yesharim

Mesilas Yesharim is a guide to character improvement written by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (a/k/a the Ramchal, after his initials). He lived in the 18th cent, born in Italy but spending most of his life in Amsterdam. Professionally, he was a gem cutter.

The Ramchal bases the structure of Mesilas Yesharim on a progression of personality traits listed by the tanna (mishnaic era rabbi) Rabbi Pinchas ben Ya'ir (quoted in Tr. Avodah Zarah 20a). For each trait, he has one chapter defining the trait, sometimes he has a second defining subcategories of it, and finally advice for how to acquire it. The Ramchal starts with Watchfulness, and makes his way to aquiring Holiness. A complete translation can be found at: [5]http://www.shechem.org/torah/mesyesh.

What are the Midrashim on the Five Megillot (aka The So-Called Rabbot)?

2005-08-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

What are the Midrashim on the Five Megillot (aka The So-Called Rabbot)?

taken from http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/03-Torah-Halacha/section-30.html
Answer:

Lamentations Rabbah
As noted in Section [5]3.27, Lamentations Rabbah is exegetical
midrash on Eichah (Lamentations). It contains verse by verse
expositions, simple lexical explanations and also many parables
and stories. It contains many stories about the destruction of
the Temple, the crises under Trajan and Hadrian, and the Bar
Kokhba revolt. It draws upon the Mishna, Tosefta, Mekhilta,
Sifra and Sifre.

Midrash Shir haShirim (Song of Songs Rabbah)
An allegorical interpretation of 'Song of Songs'. Written
sometime between the 3rd and 6th century.

Midrash Ruth
Exposition of the book of Ruth, redacted around 500.

Midrash Kohelet (Ecclesiastes Rabbah)
An exposition of the book of Ecclesiastes, written in the 8th
century.

Midrash Ester (Haggadat Megillah)
An exposition of the book of Ester, written around 500 CE.

What are the main Homiletic Midrashim?

2005-08-24T12:08:00.001-07:00

What are the main Homiletic Midrashim?

taken from http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/03-Torah-Halacha/section-29.html
Answer:

Leviticus Rabbah (Vayikra Rabbah)
This consists of 36 homilies on Leviticus, and was redacted
sometime between 400 and 500 CE.

Pesiqta de Rab Kahana (Verses of Rabbi Kahana)
For a long time this work was only known by separate
quotations, although recent scholarship has reconstructed the
content and structure by piecing together more recently
discovered manuscripts and fragments from the Cairo Genizah.
This book is a homiletic midrash for the readings on the
festivals and Sabbaths. The material contained within it was
probably written between 500 and 700 CE.

Pesiqta Rabbata
A collection of sermons for the festivals and Sabbaths. It may
have been written sometime in the 6th or 7th century, but a
more accurate dating still is impossible.

Tankhuma (Yelamdenu)
A homiletic midrash on the whole Torah. It probably was
redacted around 400 CE.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Rabbah
Consists of 27 self contained homilies that relate to
Deuteronomy. Its core material was written before 400 CE, but
later material was added until its redaction around 800 CE.

Shmot (Exodus) Rabbah
The first part is an exegetical midrash on Exodus, while the
second part is a homiletic midrash. It was redacted sometime
before the 12th century, although it contains much older
material.

Bamidbar (Numbers) Rabbah
A haggadic and homiletic midrash on Numbers. Although its final
form was reached around the 12th century, most of the material
is probably from the 8th century.

What are the main Halakhic Midrashim?

2005-08-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

What are the main Halakhic Midrashim?

taken from http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/03-Torah-Halacha/section-27.html
Answer:

Mekhilta. The Mekhilta is an important commentary on Exodus. It is
essential to note that there are two separate versions of this midrash
collection. One is "Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael" and the other is
"Mekhilta de Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai". The former is the one that most
Jews use today, but the latter is the text that was used by many
medieval Jewish authorities. While the latter (ben Yohai) text was
popularly circulated in manuscript form from the 11th to 16th
centuries, it was lost for all practical purposes until it was
rediscovered and printed in the 19th century.
* Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael. This is a halakhic commentary on
Exodus, concentrating on the legal sections, from Exodus 12 to 35.
It derives halakha from Biblical verses. This midrash collection
was redacted into its final form around the 3rd or 4th century CE;
its contents indicate that its sources are some of the oldest
midrashim, dating back possibly to the time of Rabbi Akiva. The
midrash on Exodus that was known to the Amoraim is not the same as
our current mekhilta; their version was only the core of what
later grew into the present form.
* Mekhilta de Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai. Based on the same core
material as Mekhlita de Rabbi Ishmael, it followed a second route
of commentary and editing, and eventually emerged as a distinct
work. The Mekhlita de Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai is an exegetical
midrash on Exodus 3 to 35, and is very roughly dated to near the
4th century CE.

Sifra. A comprehensive halakhic commentary on Vayikra (Leviticus),
which works through all of Leviticus verse by verse. References in the
Talmud to the Sifra are ambiguous; It is uncertain whether the texts
mentioned in the Talmud are to an earlier version of our Sifra, or to
the sources that the Sifra also drew upon. However, we do know that
the references to the Sifra from the time of the Geonim and after are
to the text that is extant today. The core of this text developed in
the mid-3rd century as a critique and commentary of the Mishnah,
although subsequent additions and editing went on for some time
afterwards.
* Sifre Numbers. A mainly halakhic midrash on Bamidbar (Numbers). It
also includes a long haggadic piece in sections 78-106. References
in the Talmud, and in the later Geonic literature, indicate that
the original core of Sifre was on Numbers, Exodus and Deuteronomy.
However, transmission of the text was imperfect, and by the middle
ages, only the commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy remained. The
core material was redacted around the middle of the 3rd century.
* Sifre Zutta (The small Sifre). A Halakhic commentary on Bamidbar
(Numbers). The text of this midrash is only partially preserved in
medieval works, while other portions were discovered by Solomon
Schecter in his research in the famed Cairo Geniza. It seems to be
older than most other midrash, coming from the early 3rd century.
Terminology alert: Maimonides refers to this work as Mekhlita (de
rabbi Ishamel) in his Sefer Ha'Mitzvot.
* Sifre Deuteronomy. An exegetical and halakhic midrash on
Deuteronomy. Redacted near the late 3rd century.

Midrash Tannaim (also known as Mekhilta on Deuteronomy). This was a
Halakhic midrash on Deuteronomy, of which only fragments exist today.
Only portions of it can be reconstructed from quotes in other extant
works, including Genizah fragments.

What are Halakhic (or Tannaitic) Midrashim?

2005-08-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

What are Halakhic (or Tannaitic) Midrashim?

taken from http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/03-Torah-Halacha/section-26.html

Answer:

These are exegetical [5]midrashim on the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, primarily legal. They establish the Tanakh (Hebrew bible) as the source of Halakha.

What is a Midrash?

2005-08-24T12:05:00.001-07:00

What is a Midrash?

taken from http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/03-Torah-Halacha/section-25.html

Answer:

Dr. Jacob Neusner explains that the word 'Midrash' is based on a Hebrew word meaning 'interpretation' or 'exegesis'. He shows that the term 'Midrash' has three main usages:

1. The term 'Midrash' can refer to a particular way of reading and interpreting a biblical verse. Thus we may say that the ancient rabbis provided Midrash to Scripture. This does not mean that any interpretation of scripture is automatically true rabbinical Midrash. In fact, most of what people call 'Modern Midrash' has nothing to do with the classical modes of literary exegesis that guided the rabbis. Commentary and Midrash are two different things! In order to get a good idea of what classical rabbinic Midrash really is, one has to actually study it; No two or three sentence definition can accurately define the structure of Midrash.

2. The term 'Midrash' can refer to a book - a compilation of Midrashic teachings. Thus one can say that "Genesis Rabbah" is a book that is a compilation of Midrash readings on the book of Genesis.

3. The term 'Midrash' can refer to a particular verse and its interpretation. Thus one can say that "The Midrash on the verse Genesis 1:1 says that...[and some Midrashic interpretation of the verse would go here].

Dr. Charles T. Davis (Appalachian Statue University, Philosophy and Religion Department, NC) has prepared a [5]summary of the definition and features of Midrash, based on Rabbi Burton Visotzky's "Reading the Bible". This summary says that once a canon (i.e., approved scriptural text) is closed, the problem facing the community is the problem of "searching out" the canon. Midrash is a method of reading the Bible as an Eternal text, and is the result of applying a set of hermeneutical principles evolved by the community to guide one in reading the canon, in order to focus one's reading. The ultimate goal of midrash is to "search out" the fullness of what was spoken by the Divine Voice.

In developing midrash, there are two schools of thought on how to handle the language of Torah. One is that the language is the language of human discourse, and is subject to the same redundancies and occasional verbiage that we all encounter in desultory conversation.

The other view holds that since Scripture is the Word of G@d, no word is superfluous. Every repetition, every apparent mistake, every peculiar feature of arrangement or order has meaning.

Midrash minimizes the authority of the wording of the text as communication, normal language. It places the focus on the reader and the personal struggle of the reader to reach an acceptable moral application of the text. While it is always governed by the wording of the text, it allows for the reader to project his or her inner struggle into the text. This allows for some very powerful and moving interpretations which, to the ordinary user of language, seem to have very little connection with the text. The great weakness of this method is that it always threatens to replace the text with an outpouring of personal reflection. At its best it requires the presence of mystical insight not given to all readers.

Additional reading on Midrash may be found in the [6]Midrash Reading List.

What are the main Exegetical Midrashim?

2005-08-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

What are the main Exegetical Midrashim?

taken from http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/03-Torah-Halacha/section-28.html
Answer:
* Genesis Rabbah (Bereshit Rabbah). A midrash on Genesis, it offers
explanations of words and sentences and haggadic interpretations
and expositions, many of which are only loosely tied to the text.
It is often interlaced with maxims and parables. Its redactor drew
upon earlier rabbinic sources, including the Mishna, Tosefta, the
halakhic midrashim the Targums. Genesis Rabbah also apparently
drew upon a version of Talmud Yerushalmi that resembles, yet was
not identical to, the text that survived to present times. It was
redacted sometime in the early 5th century.
* Lamentations Rabbah (Eichah Rabbah). An exegetical midrash on
Eichah (Lamentations). It contains verse by verse expositions,
simple lexical explanations and also many parables and stories. It
contains many stories about the destruction of the Temple, the
crises under Trajan and Hadrian, and the Bar Kokhba revolt. It
draws upon the Mishna, Tosefta, Mekhilta, Sifra and Sifre.
Lamentations Rabbah has been transmitted in two versions. One
edition is represented by the 1st printed edition, 1519 Pesaro;
the other is the Buber edition, based on manuscript J.I.4 from the
Biblioteca Casanata in Rome. This latter version (i.e. Buber) is
quoted by the Shulkhan Aurkh, as well as medieval Jewish
authorities. It was probably redacted sometime in the 5th century.

Welcome to Midrash

2005-08-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Midrash!

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Welcome to Resources for a correct approach to the world of Midrash

2005-08-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

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Welcome to Midrash books to discuss and download

2005-08-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

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