According to Rabbi Avichail of the Israeli Investigative Body Amishav, “There is no doubt that there is some kind of strong connection between Judaism and Japan. More research is needed to determine the details.” Those are some bold words, considering that these two cultures from the outside appear to have no physical connection. But as you might of guessed, appearances are almost always deceiving.
The blog Oniazuma found this interesting video that actually shows some compelling evidence that links both cultures together, like the striking similarities between Hebrew letters and the Japanese Katakana and Hiragana letters. Not only are the letters the same, but some of the words and phrases are alike. Such as the word “essa”, which is chanted when one carries a portable shine through the street, actually means “carry” in Hebrew. The evidence is stacking up, so much so that Israel has sent members of their investigative branch to check up on these accusations.
I’m not sure what to think about this. On one hand it tells us exactly where the Japanese people have originated from, which is always a good thing, Though if proven correct, it could be another excuse for the Japanese people to distance themselves from their Asian neighbors. Either way this was all predicted in Neon Genesis, so one cannot be too surprised.
[Via Oniazuma] (the second half is coming soon)
live comments!
Being a "light" Jew myself ("light" meaning that I am officially a Jew and know the culture, though I don't practice at all except when it means "good diner tonight". I mean : tonkatsu forbidden ? are you kidding me ?!), I know that Jews have a tendency to claim they are the origin of everything and everyone and that they know better.
Until now, it has been PROVEN that Japanese writing comes from Chinese one, right ? What if Chinese were as megalomaniac as Jews and were starting to say that CHINESE is at the origin of Hebrew writing ?
Japanese and Hebrew connection is a mere phantasy : look at the evidences given :
1) writing : Japanese started using the kana around the 8th century, after they had been using the chinese writing all the time. Where were the Hebrews in the 8th century ?
2) words : that is the shallowest evidence, as the Japanese language has been evolving from the origin till the Meiji era. Pronunciation, intonation, nothing was fixed in the whole Japan for centuries, so taking one word out of nowhere and finding "uncanny resemblance" ? give us a break ! ;-D. This is as solid an evidence as listening to some Led Zeppelin song in reverse and finding hidden messages.
This is a typical case when you take elements and bent them to your point of view rather than dealing with facts and objectivity.