Pepper, Silk & Ivory By Rabbi Marvin Tokayer and Ellen Rodman, PhD, © 2014, Gefen Publishing House, ISBN 978-965-229-647-4; 316 pages including index.
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO –When friends question me about whether I really think “There is a Jewish Story Everywhere,” as the motto of San Diego Jewish World insists, I shall now offer Pepper, Silk & Ivory as “Exhibit A” because this book, compiled by a long-serving American rabbi in Japan, takes us on a Jewish tour of Asia with stops in such venues as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Burma, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, among others.
Rabbi Marvin Tokayer loves to hear a Jewish story—and evidently to write one too, particularly with the collaboration of television producer Ellen Rodman—and the result is this far-ranging collection of anecdotes about Jews who have visited, and many instances, stayed in the Far East, often playing important roles in the historical development of the cities and countries where they have landed.
The first chapter tells us of “Two Gun Cohen,” a Jewish-American tough guy who felt a sense of identity with the Chinese immigrants in Saskatchewan, Canada, and became their protector. This led to him being introduced to Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the first president of China, who had come to Canada clandestinely to recruit fighters in his bid to overthrow China’s aging and corrupt empire. Eventually, Cohen became Sun’s bodyguard, then his advisor and confidante. After Dr. Sun died in 1925, his successor Chiang Kai-shek promoted Cohen to the rank of general. Communists under Mao Tse-tung drove Chiang out of China to Taiwan, but Cohen was able to retain the affection of both men, and occasionally shuttled between them for purposes of non-public diplomacy.
A much later story in the 23-chapter collection tells of David Marshall, whose family were Orthodox Jews who traced their lineage back to Iraq and shepped great nachas in his being a brilliant student, being the top in his class from kindergarten through law school. It is not surprising that Marshall became the president of the Jewish community in Singapore, but you may be surprised to learn that when Singapore became independent of the British in 1955, he was elected as the tiny nation’s First Minister, a position equivalent to prime minister. Given the fact that the overwhelming majority of voters were Chinese, it was quite a tribute to Marshall. In a meeting with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, according to Tokayer’s account, it was agreed that Chinese residents of Singapore could travel freely between the Chinese mainland and Singapore, and that 543 Jews who had been prohibited from leaving China for Israel would be permitted to depart.
There are numerous other fascinating stories in the book. For example, did you know that the Shell Oil Company was begun by a Jewish merchant who saw the opportunity of transporting Russian oil to ports east of the Suez Canal? Marcus Samuel also designed the first oil tanker that made carrying the flammable substance less dangerous, and was honored by Britain with knighthood and with the office of Lord Mayor of London.
Beate Sirota Gordon, daughter of the pianist Leo Sirota, had grown up in Japan after her parents escaped the Nazis in Vienna and Leo was appointed a professor at Japan’s Imperial Academy of Music. She traveled to the United States to study, and was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Mills College in 1943. With her knowledge of Japan’s geography and language, she was recruited to the staff of General Douglas MacArthur. She was part of the team that wrote Japan’s Constitution, and she paid special attention to guaranteeing women’s rights in Japan.
Some of Rabbi Tokayer’s stories go back many centuries. In discussing the story of the Jews of Kaifeng, China, he tells the story of a Jesuit Missionary, Father Matteo Ricci, who arrived in Kaifeng in 1605, not knowing that a colony of Jews had settled centuries previously in Kaifeng, with written records dating back to the twelfth century. One Chinese man asked him if he had come to teach about the “One God.” Father Ricci immediately assumed that the man was a descendant of Christians who had made their way to China in the distant past and then disappeared, perhaps by assimilation. Meanwhile his questioner, Ai Ten, having never heard of Christianity, assumed that Fr. Ricci was a fellow Jew. When he saw a painting of the Last Supper, he mistook it for one depicting Jacob and his 12 sons. As the story went, Father Ricci then showed Ai the figurines of John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus, asking him to kneel with him in prayer. At that point, Ai realized the priest was not a Jew because Jews do not kneel in front of statues. Father Ricci caught on to Ai’s identity when Ai recognized the Hebrew words in one of his Bibles.
I’m tempted to summarize each chapter of Pepper, Silk & Ivory, but that would deprive readers of the joy of discovery. So I’ll conclude with just one more of Tokayer’s stories. In 1878, a third child was born to Maurice Alfassa and Mathilde Ismalun. Her name was Blanche Rachel Miriam (Mirra) Alfassa, and she excelled at learning. But what made her different from other bright Jewish children was that she frequently experienced out-of-body episodes, which led her on a spiritual path that included Kabbalah and eventually took her to Japan to study Zen Buddhism and to India to become an associate of Hindu mystic Sri Aurobindo, who regarded her as a spiritual equal. When Adobindo went into contemplative retirement in 1926, he named Mira Alfassa as “The Divine Mother” and she was revered as a guru. She administered and lectured at an ashram named for Aurobindo which grew in size and reputation over the decades. A branch of the ashram opened in Delhi in 1956, and in 1968, when she was 90, she founded in India the international city of Auroville. Reminiscent of John Lennon’s song “Imagine,” no religion was practiced at Auroville and the international solidarity of humanity was proclaimed by inaugural attendees from 124 nations. Having taught that life was a transitional state to the Divine, Alfassa died in 1973.
*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com