From the Geil Archive (35)—Chinese Jews

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To learn more about William Edgar Geil, click here for the Accidental Ethnographer Resource Center
A year ago on Round and Square (28 October 2012)–La Pensée Cyclique–Rural Religion in China (28)
Two years ago on Round and Square (28 October 2011)–Middles (13)—Belt Buckles

[a] Jewish Christmas RF

Click here for Rachel Johnson's other posts in the series "From the Geil Archive"

1-About Me                    2-Naming (Un-)Conventions                3-Out of the Frying Pan       
4-Jack of All Trades       5-Warring Pens                                    6-Thinking in Fives                                  7-Chinese Jews

Today's Round and Square Guest Contributor is Rachel Johnson. Rachel, from Burr Ridge, IL, just graduated from Beloit College with a BA in anthropology and a minor in Asian Studies. She was introduced to William Edgar Geil through a course taught by Rob LaFleur, and she is currently working in Doylestown, Pennyslvania with four other interns to research and digitize his archives with the Doylestown Historical Society. She and Geil share a mutual love of travel and of Chinese history and culture in particular, which is what drew her to study him further.

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Please note that all items marked "DHS" are property of the Doylestown Historical Society, and used with DHS permission. If you wish to use an image, you need permission of the Society. Please contact Robert LaFleur (lafleur@beloit.edu), and he will put you in contact with the appropriate people.

The traditional intersection of the Jews and the Chinese is a time-honored one. After all, just ask any American Jew what they do for Christmas. In a survey done last-minute at the Doylestown Historical Society, 4 out of 4 Jewish interns, or an impressive 100%, admit to having gone out for Chinese food at least once on Christmas. And statistics like that speak for themselves.

[b] Torah RF

Of course, the intersection runs deeper than this. Both cultures have historically immigrated in massive numbers to the US, and both faced deeply ingrained prejudice for many years, for instance. That said, this relationship is seldom studied. In fact, when I had the opportunity over the summer to study Jewish and Chinese immigrant communities in nineteenth century Nevada, I jumped on it. “How often does anybody focus on these two groups together? This never happens!” I thought.

Then I came to the Geil archives, and somebody pointed out the name of one of the subfolders. “Chinese Jews.” I knew I had to explore this further.

The three type-written pages in this subfolder deal with the history of Jews living in China, though Geil’s hurried typing and often hard-to-follow trains of thought make it somewhat difficult to follow. (For instance, at one point it seemed like he was insinuating that Jews mispronounced the Hebrew word “Bereisheet” [בְּרֵאשִׁית], the first word of the Torah, or the beginning of Genesis 1:1. Upon seeing this, I scowled, and turned to the other interns. “It’s Hebrew!” I exclaimed. “We invented the pronunciation! We can’t mispronounce it! It’s our word!” Then I reread the passage and realized he was referring to the obfuscation of the word by Jews in China who had adopted Chinese accents and whose ability to properly pronounce certain sounds, like that produced by the letter “R”, was diminished as they adapted to the new language. I calmed down, even though I still doubt that Chinese Jews pronounced “bray-steeth”, as Geil writes it, as “Pieleshitze” like he claims.)

Despite the challenges presented by the somewhat muddled text, I read these three pages over (and over again, to ensure I made no more embarrassing mistakes like the first) and I have to admit, I was impressed.

Geil talks about religion a lot. Well, duh, you’re likely saying. He’s a missionary. That’s sort of his job.

[c] Not a Taoist RF

Except, much of the time, he’s not talking about Christianity. He seems utterly, and earnestly, fascinated in the religions he encounters wherever he travels. Granted, he refers to Muslims as “Mohammads," mentioned the “Taoist pope," and called Japanese Confucians, Buddhists, and Shintoists “aggressive vegetarians,” (see Sarah Conn’s post, Confusion in Japan, for more details) so his fascination is not always coupled with a thorough understanding of the subject matter, but it is sincere nonetheless.

It would be easy—expected, even—for a devout missionary like Geil to dismiss other religions as worthless or blasphemous, but he doesn’t. Occasionally he throws around the word “heathen”, though it is generally in reference to cannibals and seems almost more endearing(ly condescending) than judgmental, but on the whole, he is surprisingly accepting of the spectrum of religious beliefs.

Don’t misunderstand me. He likely wouldn’t have won any awards for religious tolerance, and he certainly isn’t winning any awards for the accuracy of his information in regards to certain religions. But he makes the effort, and his interest seems genuine. And even though I winced at the “Taoist pope” line, I respect him for this interest. Geil’s religious fervor really is religious fervor. Of course, he is passionate about Christianity and is an ardent follower of Christ. But that doesn’t mean that he can’t stop to take a look around, explore the other options, talk to people about their religions, and this is exactly what he does. He is genuinely interested in religion as a whole, as a philosophy and as a way of life, and he is not afraid to expand his interest in religion beyond the purview of Christianity. 

[d] Chinese Jews DHS