开封犹太人庆祝逾越节

choi

Becky Davis, 犹太教在中国复兴，开封犹太人庆祝逾越节. 纽约时报中文网, Apr 7, 2015.
cn.nytimes.com/china/20150407/c07passover/


, which is translated from

Becky Davis, Ancient Chinese Community Celebrates Its Jewish Roots, and Passover. New York Times, Apr 7, 2015.

Quote:

"The millennium-old Jewish population of Kaifeng has witnessed a surprising revival in recent years, a phenomenon all the more notable for the tolerant eye that the Chinese government, which does not count Judaism among state-sanctioned religions, seems to have turned toward it.

"Floods and fires repeatedly destroyed the city’s synagogue, which was not rebuilt after a flood in the 1850s.

"These days, Jewish visitors and organizations from the United States and Israel come to the city * * * financing a small Jewish community center and paying for the immigration to Israel of 15 people from Kaifeng.

"Wang Xiangxuan 王祥轩, a finance official who attended the Seder [said,] 'The Jewish issue here is a matter of history rather than religion. * * * We can turn Kaifeng into a little Israel, which will help us develop our economy,' [ ] adding that officials were also considering rebuilding a Jewish community center and museum complex that would house a synagogue

"Israel has also awarded a high-speed rail project to a Chinese company, and another Chinese firm recently won the right to operate a port in the Israeli city of Haifa.

Note:
(a) "to sing 'Ma Nishtana,' a song that asks why Passover is a night different from all others."

Ma Nishtana
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Nishtana

(b) "The prayer text for the Seder, or Haggadah, was developed by Barnaby Yeh 叶亦伦, a Taiwanese-American convert to Judaism working for the Sino-Judaic Institute, a California-based organization devoted to the study of Jewish communities in China."
(i) Haggadah
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggadah
(ii) Barnaby can be a forename or a surname.

Barnaby: "from the Middle English vernacular form of the personal name Barnabas, which was borne by the companion of St Paul (Acts 4:36). This is of Aramaic origin, from Barnabia ‘son of Nabia,’ a personal name perhaps meaning ‘confession’"
Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford University Press
(iii) Sino-Judaic Institute  中華猶太研究院 (in traditional Chinese characters; cn.nytimes.com is wrong by translating it as 中华-犹太研究所--no hyphen, no 所)
www.sino-judaic.org
("The Sino-Judaic Institute has been a pioneer in the field of Chinese-Jewish relations for over 25 years. We are a virtual institute, based in the USA but with members the world over. We offer this website as a resource to all who are curious about various aspects of Chinese-Jewish relations and want to learn more")

It is VIRTUAL, thus can not possibly be "California-based."

(c) "Each table at the gathering Friday night was equipped with a Seder plate with Chinese characteristics – red jujube paste served as the sweet charoset, and a local bitter salad green as the maror, symbolizing bondage."
(i)
(A) charoset
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charoset
(B) For pronunciation, see
haroseth. Dictinary.com, based on the Random House Dictionary.
dictionary.reference.com/browse/haroseth
(ii) maror
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maror

(d) "A portion of the evening’s budget went to bringing in five members of the Li clan from the neighboring village of Lankao"

Lankao  开封市兰考县

(e) "a 75-year-old farmer named Li Faliang [a novice] * * * ferreted away a copy of the booklet to share with relatives who could not attend, as well as his new skullcap"
(i) The phrase" ferret away" is simply wrong and does not exist. It should be "squirrel away."
(ii) The "ferret" as a verb has the opposite meaning and usually followed by "out"--not "away."

ferret (vt): "(1) to hunt (as rabbits) with ferrets  (2) :  to force out of hiding :  flush"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ferret