The Haggadah of the Kaifeng Jews of China

233 Pages·2011·10.33 MB·English

by  Fook-Kong Wong

The Haggadah of the Kaifeng Jews of China
The Brill Reference Library
of Judaism
Editors
Alan J. Avery-Peck(CollegeoftheHolyCross)
William Scott Green(UniversityofMiami)
EditorialBoard
David Aaron(HebrewUnionCollege-JewishInstitute
ofReligion,Cincinnati)
Herbert Basser(Queen’sUniversity)
Bruce D. Chilton(BardCollege)
José Faur(NetanyaCollege)
Neil Gillman(JewishTheologicalSeminaryofAmerica)
Mayer I. Gruber(Ben-GurionUniversityoftheNegev)
Ithamar Gruenwald(TelAvivUniversity)
Maurice-Ruben Hayoun(UniversityofGeneva)
Arkady Kovelman(MoscowStateUniversity)
David Kraemer(JewishTheologicalSeminaryofAmerica)
Baruch A. Levine(NewYorkUniversity)
Alan Nadler(DrewUniversity)
Jacob Neusner(BardCollege)
Maren Niehoff(HebrewUniversityofJerusalem)
Gary G. Porton(UniversityofIllinois)
Aviezer Ravitzky(HebrewUniversityofJerusalem)
Dov Schwartz(BarIlanUniversity)
Günter Stemberger(UniversityofVienna)
Michael E. Stone(HebrewUniversityofJerusalem)
Elliot Wolfson(NewYorkUniversity)
VOLUME32
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.nl/brlj
The Haggadah of the
Kaifeng Jews of China
By
Fook-Kong Wong and Dalia Yasharpour
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2011
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Wong,Fook-Kong.
TheHaggadahoftheKaifengJewsofChina/byFook-KongWongandDaliaYasharpour.
p.cm.–(TheBrillreferencelibraryofJudaism,ISSN1571-5000;v.32)
IncludesfulltextoftheHebrew/AramaicandJudeo-PersianHaggadahinHebrewcharacters,
withEnglishtranslationandcommentary.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN978-90-04-20809-4(hardback:alk.paper)1.Haggadah(KaifengShi,China)2.
Haggadot–Texts.3.Seder–Liturgy–Texts.4.Judaism–China–KaifengShi–Liturgy–Texts.5.
Jews–China–KaifengShi–History.6.Jews–China–KaifengShi–Intellectuallife.I.Yasharpour,
Dalia.II.Haggadah(KaifengShi,China).Polyglot.III.Title.IV.Series.
BM674.79.W662011
296.4'5371095118–dc23
2011028618
ISSN1571-5000
ISBN9789004208094
Copyright2011byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
KoninklijkeBrillNVincorporatestheimprintsBrill,GlobalOriental,HoteiPublishing,
IDCPublishers,MartinusNijhoffPublishersandVSP.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedin
aretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,
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Feesaresubjecttochange.
Tomyhusband,Michael,withlove
DaliaYasharpour
ToCharis,Jeremy,andAudrey,withlove
Fook-KongWong

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements................................................... ix
ListofAbbreviations.................................................. xi
Judeo-PersianFontsChart ........................................... xiii
HebrewFontsChart .................................................. xv
Introduction .......................................................... 1
PassoverHaggadah ................................................ 1
JewsinKaifeng..................................................... 3
StudyoftheKaifengJews.......................................... 4
ChapterOne HaggadahManuscriptsoftheKaifengJews ........ 7
PhysicalDescription............................................... 7
Dating .............................................................. 11
HUCMs .................................................... 12
HUCMs .................................................... 18
Relationship........................................................ 22
ChapterTwo TheCommunity’sKnowledgeofHebrew
AsReflectedinItsHaggadah...................................... 25
Introduction........................................................ 25
InternalEvidence .................................................. 25
ExternalEvidence.................................................. 29
Conclusion......................................................... 32
ChapterThree HebrewintheKaifengHaggadah ................. 33
Phonology.......................................................... 33
InfluenceoftheJudeo-PersianHaggadah......................... 35
TextualorOrthographicalSimilarities......................... 35
FurtivePatahUpgradedtoaFullVowelorNotIndicated..... 36
˙
TheLackofDāgēštoIndicateDoublingorPlosive
Pronunciation ................................................ 36
SĕgōlInsteadofSērêandViceVersa............................ 37
˙
QāmesInsteadofPatahandViceVersa........................ 38
˙ ˙
SimilarVocalizationafterTakingintoConsiderationKH’s
UniqueCharacteristics....................................... 38
viii contents
InfluenceofChinesePronunciationandOtherDevelopments .. 38
TheUseofDāgēštoIndicateStressedSyllables ................ 46
TheUseofSērêtoIndicateStressedSyllables .................. 49
˙
TheReductionofVowelsforUnstressedSyllables............. 49
TheUseofaFullVoweltoRepresentŠĕwaˇ’andViceVersa ... 50
PronunciationofQāmesAsHōlem............................. 51
˙ ˙
Interchangeable/e/and/i/Vowels ............................. 52
VowelReductionRules ......................................... 52
Conclusion......................................................... 54
ChapterFour TheJudeo-PersianofKH ........................... 55
TheLanguageandItsBackground ................................ 55
TheJudeo-PersianDialectFoundinKH.......................... 56
ThePresenceofJudeo-PersianinKH............................. 57
Orthography ....................................................... 57
TheJudeo-PersianofKHAsComparedtoOtherJPHaggadah
ExegesesandTranslations ...................................... 59
HebrewintheJudeo-PersianofKH............................... 60
OtherSelectFeaturesoftheJudeo-PersianofKH................ 60
TheJudeo-PersianTranslationoftheHebrew .................... 62
Conclusion......................................................... 63
ChapterFive OrderoftheService.................................. 65
TheSanctificationoftheHolidayRecitedoverWine............. 67
WashingofHands ................................................. 68
GreenVegetableandBreakingoftheUnleavenedBread......... 68
Recital .............................................................. 69
TheFourQuestions................................................ 69
UnleavenedBread.................................................. 72
BitterHerbs ........................................................ 73
TheMealandFinalPieceofUnleavenedBread................... 74
WashingoftheHands ............................................. 74
BenedictionandThirdCupofWine .............................. 74
Praise............................................................... 75
Conclusion......................................................... 75
HaggadahText........................................................ 77
EnglishTranslation ................................................... 123
ListofWorksCited ................................................... 149
Plates .................................................................. 157
Index .................................................................. 211
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
IamgratefultoDr.Fook-KongWongforhispartnershipinthisproject;
ithasbeenamostpleasantandgratifyingcollaboration.
I am indebted to Professors Bernard Septimus and Shaul Shaked for
sharingtheirvaluablefeedbackandinsightwithrespecttotheorderof
serviceandEarlyJudeo-Persianlanguagerespectively.
At various stages, I have also greatly benefited from discussions and
correspondence on specific aspects of the book with professors and
scholars Malachi Beit-Arie, David J. Gilner, Vera B. Moreen, James R.
Russell,YonaSabar,MarcShell,P.OktorSkjærvo,WheelerM.Thackston
andDavidWeisberg.
Thepublicationofthisbookwouldnotbepossiblewithoutpermission
from the Ben Zvi Institute, Klau Library of the Hebrew Union College,
Cincinnati,TheLibraryoftheJewishTheologicalSeminaryandNational
Library of Israel. I want to take this opportunity to thank the many
librariansandstaffwhokindlyfacilitatedmyvisitstotheirarchivesand
accesstomanuscripts.
I also thank my many students at Harvard University who over the
yearshavecontinuouslychallengedandmotivatedme.
DaliaYasharpour
First of all I wish to thank Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary
forgrantingmeleaveandfinancialassistancetodotheinitialstudiesat
VanderbiltUniversity.
I also wish to thank Professor Jack Sasson for arranging my stay at
Vanderbilt and Dean James Hudnut-Beumler for giving me a visiting
scholar status. The fellowship and assistance of the teachers and staff,
too many to name, made my stay at Vanderbilt both productive and
pleasurable.Inaddition,IwishtothankDr.DavidGilnerandMsLaurel
Wolfson at the Hebrew Union College of Cincinnati for their help in
accessingtheoriginalcopiesoftheKaifengHaggadoth.
Last,butcertainlynottheleast,IwishtothankDr.DaliaYasharpour
forherparticipationinthisproject;ithascertainlybeenanenjoyableand
fruitfulexperience.
Fook-KongWong