Description
Book SynopsisThis comprehensive, textual treatment of the Kaifeng Passover Rite is a significant contribution to the ongoing discussion of the community’s origins in particular and to comparative Jewish liturgy in general. The book includes a facsimile of one manuscript and a sample of the other, the full text of the Hebrew/Aramaic and Judeo-Persian Haggadah in Hebrew characters, as well as an English translation. Following a review of the community’s history, sources for study, and related scholarly work conducted to date, the languages used in the Haggadah and their backgrounds are discussed in detail. Analysis of the order of the service allows for comparison of the Kaifeng Jewish community’s recitation of the Passover liturgy, performance of ritual, and consumption of ceremonial food to other communities in the Jewish Diaspora. The various parts and chapters of the book, including its extensive and meticulous annotations and bibliographical references, provide much fresh and useful material for scholars and readers interested in pre-modern Jewish, Judeo-Persian and Chinese literary traditions and cultures. David Yeroushalmi, Tel Aviv University, 2015
Trade Review"Much has been written about this community, but this is the first detailed analysis of the Passover Haggadah as it was preserved in Kaifeng [...] This volume should interest not only specialists in liturgy but also students interested in far-flung Jewish communities, researchers interested in the Persian Jewish community, experts on Hebrew, and others as well." - Shaul Stampfer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in: Religious Studies Review, 38:4 (2012) "...an important work of scholarship." - Daniel Scheide, Wimberly Library, Florida Atlantic University, in: Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews, 2:2
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Haggadah Manuscripts of the Kaifeng Jews Chapter Two: The Community's Knowledge of Hebrew as Reflected in their Haggadah Chapter Three: Hebrew in the Kaifeng Haggadah Chapter Four: The Judeo-Persian of KH Chapter Five: Order of the Service
