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Israel and the Far East: Growing Links Between Jews and Asians
| Article
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15821 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1989 |
3,029 Words |
| Author
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Nechemia Meyers
Nechemia Meyers, affiliated with the Weizmann Institute of
Science in Rehovot, Israel, has previously published two
articles in The World & I: Israel and the Far East: Growing
Links Between Jews and Asians (January 1989) and Bar Kokhba: A
Two-Millennia Debate (July 1990). |
Apart from a few exotic exceptions, no historical links have existed between the Jews and the peoples of the Far East: between the culture of Moses on one hand, and that of Confucius and Buddha on the other. Today, however, things are changing. The citizens of Israel and the citizens of Asian countries like China, Japan, and Korea are experiencing greater interest in one another and finding that they share many common values.
Such interest is reflected in Israel, for example, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where East Asian studies are perhaps the most "in" of any subject presently taught on campus. Though it is a relatively new addition to the curriculum, two hundred students are now working for degrees in this field, an increase over the initial three dozen just two decades ago. Moreover, many Asian courses attract students from other disciplines, auditors, and others sitting in on occasional lectures. Professor Ben-Ami Shillony's course "Introduction to Japanese History and Civilization," for instance, is attended by some three hundred students, including young men and women from business administration, a field in which knowledge of Japan has practical value.
This fascination is also reflected by the great popularity of the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art in Haifa, and by the fact that hundreds of young Israelis, immediately after completing years of military service, have devoted several months or even years to backpacking through East Asia.
The Hebrew University is the largest center of Japanese studies between Rome and Hong Kong, and a significant center of Chinese studies. However, there is no parallel center of Israeli (or Jewish) studies in China or Japan. The department of Oriental languages at Beijing University did initiate a course in modern Hebrew some years ago, with an American Jew, Michael Mann, as its first instructor. Its students, most of whom have never met a Jew before, learn the rudiments of Jewish history, modern Hebrew literature, and Judaism.
In Japan, only biblical Hebrew is taught at the university level. Indeed, Prince Mikasa, the emperor's younger brother, speaks Hebrew and is a well-known biblical scholar. He has yet to accept any invitation to visit Israel, however.
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Strong interest in Hebrew and affection for Israel are to be found among a
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