NEWS)
Japanese Christian Sect
Sings Hebrew Songs
BEN GALLOB
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FRIDAY,.DECEMBER29,1989
)
choir of 40 Japanese
Christians singing
"Jerusalem, the
Golden" in fluent Hebrew,
clad in kimonos and using
traditional Japanese
musical instruments, is a
charming audio-visual expe-
rience that raises inter-
esting questions.
Who is
this group of professed
Christians who act like
dedicated Jews? Is there a
Jewish community in Japan
and what is it like?
The answers were provid-
ed to New York Jewish Week
reporter Toby Axelrod and to
the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency (JTA) by Rabbi Mar-
vin Tokayer, who was rabbi
of the Jewish community in
Japan for 13 years and is
now executive director of the
North Shore Hebrew Acad-
emy in Great Neck, N.Y.
The singers come from
Kyoto and are members of
the Shinonome choir --
e Japanese for" `The Dawn"
-- which recently completed
its second tour of American
cities.
They belong to an unusual
Christian religious society,
"Beit Shalom," or house of
peace, which was founded in
1970 by the Rev. Takeji Ot-
suki.
Tokayer said Otsuki
believes that "as part of his
theology it is a divine profes-
sional purpose to be friendly
to Jews."
In an interview with JTA,
Tokayer spoke of the
Japanese Jewish communi-
ty, which he estimated
numbers no more than 500,
making it the smallest
religious group in Japan.
It has three components;
the oldest, largest and most
influential is made up of
Soviet Jews, who originated
in Siberia, moved to Man-
churia, relocated in
Shanghai and finally settled
in Japan.
The second component,
mostly Sephardic Jews,
originally lived in Baghdad
and Basra in Iraq, and then
made their way to Shanghai
before settling in Japan.
The third component is
made up of American and
Israeli Jews serving em-
bassies in Japan or working
for multi-national corpora-
tions.
The first two are perma-
nent settlers, but none of the
Jews in Japan are citizens.
Rabbi Tokayer:
Suggested U.S. tour.
Tokayer, a Conservative
rabbi ordained in New York
in 1962, explained that
under Japanese law, a Jew
can be a permanent resident
without being a citizen.
Most of them live in Tokyo
and some in Kobe. There is a
synagogue in each city.
Whereas in the western
world the rabbi is the rabbi
of his congregation, in
Japan, he is the rabbi of the
community and his salary is
paid by the community,
Tokayer said.
As community rabbi, he
provided education, culture
and religion, including daily
worship services. Tokayer
said every Jew in Japan par-
ticipated in almost all
Jewish public events, such
as New Year services and
Israeli Independence Day.
As for Rev. Otsuki's 10,000
followers, they constitute
the second largest religious
minority in Japan. Tokayer
described them as "a kind of
Jewish Christians," who not
only never proselytized but
are anti-missionary.
The majority of Japan's
120 million citizens are
followers of Shinto.
Tokayer, a former U.S.
Navy chaplain, first heard
the Shinonome choir about
20 years ago, soon after he
became the community
rabbi.
He told Axelrod that the
Hebrew used by the choir "is
correct, not butchered and
highly emotional, which
means they understand the
words."
The choir, whose members
light candles and sing
Jewish Sabbath songs, are
frequent visitors to Israel. It
was Tokayer's suggestion
that they also visit the
United States. •
They made a brief stop in