Jews Along the Silk Road

Lecture by Gary Rendsburg, Rutgers University. In the year 2011 the most remarkable discovery occurred: a cache of Jewish documents hidden in a cave in Afghanistan, dated to c. 1000 C.E. – all now in the collection of the National Library of Israel.

Two years later the world’s oldest siddur, from c. 900 C.E.. with an early version of the Passover Haggadah, surfaced on the antiquities market, apparently smuggled out of Afghanistan as well – now in the collection of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.

These recent discoveries reignited interest in the remarkable history of medieval Jews along the Silk Road. Scholars quickly recalled other stray discoveries from decades and centuries past, including Jewish rock inscriptions in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Jewish documents found at Dunhuang and at Dandan-Uiliq, both in western China.

These precious manuscripts bring to life the testimony of medieval Jewish and Muslim historians, who describe the work of Jewish traders along the Silk Road. The easternmost terminus of the Silk Road was Kaifeng, the traditional capital of China and home to a Jewish community established c. 1100 C.E.

The journey is a remarkable one and moreover serves to remind us that the student of Jewish history needs to retain the broadest geographical and chronological horizons.