Lee Diamond – A Simple Tale of Joy
It was in Kaifeng China
Once the home of a thriving
Jewish Community
In the 12th century
The beautiful synagogue
Had been long destroyed
And a Chinese hospital stood
In its place.
A small community of
“Descendants of the Jews”
Still exists.
They celebrate Jewish holidays
And events together.
Though they are distant in many ways
And integrated into their Chinese
Culture; though intermarried and
Far from “halachic” observance
They strongly identify as the “Descendants of
The Jews.”
An American Jewish family
Determined to celebrate their sons’s
Bar Mitzvah at the site of the Kaifeng
Synagogue; now the courtyard of a hospital
Gathered for a Monday morning service
And Torah reading
We invited the
descendants of the Jews
To join us at our service.
AND THEY DID
10’s of them joined in prayer.
After the Torah reading
One of the young “descendants”
Asked to be called for an Aliyah
“He certainly didn’t look Jewish”
Yet his enthusiasm prevailed
His Chinese name meant “Joy”
And he received the Hebrew name
Of ‘Simcha”
He was called to the Torah as Simcha
And he was full of JOY
Two years later
As rabbi of United Jewish Congregation
Of Hong Kong
I looked out at the congregation
There before my eyes stood
A young Asian man hardly bearded
in a “streimal”
And “capputa״
Tiny ״payot”
And “tzitzit”
A long black coat
Shukkelling and swaying
In his prayers
Like a veteran Hasid
BUT IN LIBERAL
Mixed seated congregation
I wondered
And when the service ended
I approached this man
And introduced myself
And was addressed with the words
“Rabbi, don’t you remember me”?
“I’M SIMCHA”
I’m learning in Lakewood To be a Jew
What A Joy
God works in strange ways
