In the heart of a country of 1.4 billion people, a small community of around 70 native Chinese is on a long march to reconnect to its ancient heritage and traditions. The Jews of Kaifeng, one of the many lost communities of Jews scattered around the world, have once again begun to seek out their long lost heritage.

The community traces its roots back to the ninth century, when Kaifeng was the capital of the Song dynasty and the end of the Silk Road. Jewish merchants made their way to Kaifeng and established a community in a completely tolerant China. In 1163, one stone inscription reads, the early Jews of Kaifeng established their first synagogue equipped with a mikvah and sukkah. Over the centuries, a series of floods impoverished the community and by the time Mao Zedong came to power the community was all but gone.

However, the reforms of the ’80 sallowed the few remaining members of the community to connect with the outside world and learn about their Jewish identity. One of the elder members, who was in a Communist cadre during the Mao era, described how she had always refrained from eating pork and shellfish. Her father had told her that she was from a distant land called Yi-tse-luo-ye (ancient Israel) and that the people of that country have this unusual diet. Only after reading a book about Judaism in China did she realize that she was Youtai, the word for Jewish in Mandarin Chinese.

As the country opened further in the beginning of the ’90s, foreigners began to visit Kaifeng and rebuild the community. Timothy Lerner, a Christian missionary, first made inroads 14 years ago by founding a school that teaches the Kaifeng Jews about Judaism and has helped some make aliyah. Three years ago, Eric Rothberg, who was spending a year abroad in Kaifeng, founded Beit Hatikvah, a school funded entirely by the Sino-Judaic Institute and other Jewish organizations. Now both schools feature weekly davening before Shabbat, followed by a communal dinner. The two schools often come together for the major holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, where the whole community joins together for a Rosh Hashana meal. Only Beit Hatikvah has the space to build a sukkah, so the whole community joins together there for Sukkot.

I was lucky enough to join the Kaifeng Jews for many of their Shabbat services. While there are unfortunately no native Chinese customs left over from the old days (they daven Nusach Sefard), even the familiar tunes for Licha Dodi have a very strong Chinese twist to them. Most of the Kaifeng Jews speak only Mandarin Chinese and read the davening through transliterated Chinese. Those who knew to do so greeted each other with a heavily accented Shabbat Shalom while the rest settled for the Mandarin version, Anxi Ri Hao, or have a good day of rest.

Following davening, Kiddush and Netilat Yadayim—all led by Gao Chao, who also goes by the name Moshe—the community sat together around the table to eat. Instead of the chicken and potato kugel I normally see on the Shabbat table, the Kaifeng Jews served an array of normal Chinese dishes (no General Tso’s, sorry). No forks or plates. Each grabbed a pair of chopsticks and began to eat from the communal dishes served in the middle of the table. Midway through the meal, a few downed shots of a Chinese drink called Baijiu, literally white alcohol, to a chorus of l’chaims. Some things are the same at every Shabbos table.

While the long-lost “Jews of Kaifeng” still have a lot to learn about Judaism, the world’s only native Chinese Jewish community is definitely on the ascent. Over a thousand years after its founding, a community that perhaps numbered as high as 5,000 at its peak is alive once again.

By Ari Schaffer