Sunday, December 16, 2012

Seven Is A Start

How many Chinese are there?

More than 1.3 billion people in 2011.  There's an estimate of 1,331,349,519 for the population of the People’s Republic of China in 2012.

Why do I ask?

Well, I read this:-

...Tony Liang is one of seven descendants of the Kaifeng Jewish community who have been studying Judaism and Hebrew in Israel for the past two and a half years with Shavei Israel’s help. We previously wrote about one of Tony’s friends, Yaakov Wang, when the group was studying at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu. And we profiled Yecholia (Jin Jin), a Chinese Jewish woman, here.
Jews have lived in Kaifeng, once one of the capitals of Imperial China, for over a thousand years, arriving originally as merchants from Persia or Iraq plying their trade along the fabled Silk Route. The community numbered as many as 5,000 at its peak in the Middle Ages, but has since dwindled to just several hundred descendants. The last synagogue closed 150 years ago, but the community has expressed a keen interest in deepening its Jewish knowledge and commitment.
For most of their time in Israel, the seven Chinese men have been studying at Yeshivat HaMivtar, part of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s Ohr Torah Institutions in Efrat, under the supervision of Rabbi Menachem Weinberg. Rabbi Weinberg deemed the men to be ready for their “interviews” at the Beit Din (Rabbinical Court) this past Thursday and “they passed with flying colors,” reports Rabbi Weinberg.

So, we start with 7.

And work up from there.

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