Father Gozani’s superior, Father Joseph Suarez (苏霖, 1656–1736), tasked him with investigating the Kaifeng Jews' Torah Scrolls to authenticate the existing Bible commonly used in the West. He was also delegated with exploring worshipping etiquette and the terms used to refer to God in order to collect evidence that could be used against the Dominicans and Franciscans who opposed Chinese rituals.

As was common practice amongst Jesuits, Gozani wrote numerous letters describing the state of the Christian community he was living with and anything else that might be of interest to the European readers; this included information about the Jewish community.

The first of his extant letters that contained any references to the Kehillah was written in 1704. This wealth of information on Kaifeng Jewish history, religion, and culture was then included in the 1707 edition of the famous series produced by the French Jesuits Lettres Édifiantes et Curieuses (The Curious and Edifying Letters Written by Jesuit Missionaries); 34 volumes were published between 1702 and 1776. The content of his findings was also part of Father Gabriel Brotier’s (布罗蒂埃, 1723–1789) Mémoire in 1771.

Father Gozani remained in close contact with the Kaifeng Jewish congregation until 1723 when the new Emperor Yong-zheng (雍正皇帝, reign 1722–1735) decided to expel missionaries from China.

Father Gozani even gained entrance to the Bethel, a place that only the rabbi could enter under normal circumstances. In the sanctuary, he saw the congregation's thirteen Torah Scrolls. Each had its own table and was enclosed by a small curtain.

Here, he learned that twelve of the thirteen Scrolls were dedicated to the Twelve Tribes of Israel (以色列的十二支部落), one for each. The thirteenth and final Scroll — which is also the oldest Scroll that was restored from a collection of Holy Books that the 1642 Yellow River Flood destroyed — was dedicated to the Prophet Moses.

Father Gozani requested permission to open two of the Torah Scrolls, including the one dedicated to Moses, for inspection. Upon a closer look at the thirteenth scroll, he noted that there was significant water damage to the skins and that many of the characters were bleached away by water.

Even if some of the scrolls were in poor condition, the Kaifeng Jewish community nevertheless treated them with care and respect. Father Gozani later wrote to his superior, Father Suarez, that all the books “are preserved with greater care and attention than if they were gold and silver.”

According to Father Gozani, “They (the Kaifeng Jews) told me that their ancestors came from Xiyu (西域, regions lying to the west of China) and that their own kingdom in the West is called Judah, a kingdom, which they told me, that was conquered by force by Joshua after the deliverance from Egypt, and the crossing of the Red Sea and the desert; and that the number of those who left Egypt was six hundred thousand."

The Jews of Kaifeng referred to themselves as people of the Religion of the Israelites (一赐乐业教).

To the polytheistic local Chinese population whose upbringing and understanding of the world was rooted in Confucianism, Islam and Judaism the same. Conflating Muslims and Jews, they referred to the Kaifeng Jews as those belonging to the Sect that Plucks the Sinews(挑筋教).

Even if the coining of this term was rooted in a lack of understanding of Jewish culture, the Kaifeng Jews embraced the phrase because it distinguished them from the Muslims. This means the locals, at the very least, recognised them as a distinct entity.

The Kaifeng Jews practised circumcision and observed Passover "and other festivals of the ancient Law."

They observed Sabbath (安息日) on Saturdays as per tradition. Father Gozani noted in his writings, "On the Sabbath, they make no fire, nor do they cook, and they prepare food on a Friday."

They also avoided pork.

There were no statues or images inside the synagogue as per Jewish law.

When the Kaifeng Jews read scriptures in their synagogue, it was customary that they covered their faces with a thin veil to commemorate Moses, who similarly covered his face when he descended Mount Sinai to promulgate the Law of God to his people. The congregation would also face west — the direction of Jerusalem — when praying to God.

Father Gozani asked the Kaifeng Jews if they honoured Confucius; all, including their chief rabbi, answered without hesitation that they did. They took part in the solemn offerings which are made to Confucius, just like the Han Chinese. They also practised ancestral worship. For example, every spring and autumn, they made offerings of oxen and sheep in the Ancestral Hall near the synagogue.

Father Gozani made a list in Hebrew and Latin of the biblical and apocryphal Books known to the Kaifeng Jews at the time; Ecclesiasticus was on the list. Father Gozani did the same for the list of the books of the Talmud.

Father Gozani did not clarify which of these books were in the Kehillah’s possession at the time.

Father Gozani showed the old Rabbi Phineas Gao his Bible, which contained a list of Jewish Scriptural Canons. Rabbi Gao mentioned that he had some of the books but had not ever heard of a few.

When comparing the opening section of the Book of Genesis, Father Gozani commented, “the descendant of Adam down to Noah, with the age (at death) of each … all was in agreement.”

Father Gozani and Rabbi Phineas Gao also ran through “in a summary manner the names and main points of chronology” of each of the Five Books of Moses. In the end, Father Gozani wrote, they discovered that "all were in agreement."

Father Gozani wrote, “A circumstance which surprised me still more is, that their ancient Rabbis have blended several ridiculous tales with the genuine facts related in Scripture, and even interspersed the five Books of Moses in this manner. They told me such extravagant stories on this occasion, that I could not forbear laughing; whence I suspected that these Jews are Talmudists, who pervert and corrupt the sense of the Bible. No one but a person well skilled in the Scriptures, and in the Hebrew tongue (which I am not), can set this affair in a proper light.”

Based on his experiences with Rabbi Phineas Gao, Father Gozani concluded that his Bible and the Kaifeng Torah was "all in agreement … although open to revision by a more competent Hebraist."

Since Father Gozani did not know Hebrew, he cautioned, “as to whether their Bible is true or corrupt, complete or partial,” he wrote apologetically, “I, who am ignorant in these matters, would not be able to say: I will do and am doing my best, but I am doubtful of success.”

Father Gozani “asked them to tell me if they honoured Confucius (孔子). All, including their chief rabbi, answered me without hesitation that they did indeed, and that they also, in the same manner as the greatest pagan scholars, took part in the solemn offerings which are made to Confucius.” Furthermore, those who have achieved literati status from the Jewish community worshipped Confucius statue in the Confucius Temple (孔庙), just like the Chinese literati (文人). Thus, the Kaifeng Jews were clearly celebrating several Confucian rituals over and above the ceremonial rites that had come down to them as part of their own heritage.

Father Gozani believed that the Kaifeng Jews did not deem the act of burning incense in honour of ancestors — regardless of if it was their religious forefathers, their more recent deceased relatives, or the greatest sages of China — to be incompatible with monotheism. The rites they kept were means of remembering and paying respect, not worship.

To Father Gozani and the Jesuits, the Kaifeng Jews were the perfect example for the Christians to follow in terms of participating in Chinese etiquette (礼仪) while still observing monotheistic beliefs (一神信仰).

Content extracted from: Chinese Jews, William Charles White.

At K’ai-feng Fu, capital of

the Province of Honan, China,

November 5, 1704

Reverend Father,

After employing two months in the visitation of the missions of Kuei-te Fu, of Lu-I Hsien, and of Fu-kou Hsien, all of which, through the blessing of God, religion flourishes more and more, I found two of your letters at my return. I thank you for informing me of your health; and for the account you give of your having discovered, in your archives, some pieces which will be of great importance towards discovering the truth.

With regard to the sect, who are here called T’iao-chin Chiao, I was going to visit them about two years since, imagining that they were Jews, and in the view of enquiring for the Old Testament among them. But being utterly unskilled in the Hebrew, and meeting with great difficulties on that occasion, I laid aside my design, upon the supposition that I should not succeed in it. Nevertheless, upon your desiring me to enquire after the people in question, I obeyed their orders, with all the care and exactness possible. At our first interview I shewed them the utmost civility, which they returned, and were pleased to come and see me. I afterwards visited them in their Li-pai-ssu, or synagogue, where they all were assembled, and there had a long conference with them. I saw their inscriptions, some of which are in Chinese, and the rest in their own language. They showed me their Ching, or religious books, and permitted me to go into the most secret place of their synagogue, which they themselves are not allowed to enter. This place is reserved solely for their Chang Chiao, or Ruler of the Synagogue, who never goes into it but with the most profound reverence.

On some tables were thirteen kinds of tabernacles, before each of which were little curtains. The sacred Ching of Moses (the Pentateuch) was shut up in each of these tabernacles, twelve of which represented the Twelve tribes of Israel, and the thirteenth, Moses. These books were writ on long pieces of parchment, and rolled around sticks. I prevailed with the Ruler of the Synagogue to let the curtains of one of the tabernacles be undrawn, and get one of the parchment books unfolded. It seemed to be writ in a very clear and distinct character. One of these books happily escaped the great inundation of the Yellow River, which overflowed the city of K’ai-feng Fu, capital of this province. As the characters of the book in question were wetted, and half effaced, the Jews caused twelve copies to be taken of them; and these they keep very carefully in the twelve tabernacles above-mentioned.

There also are seen, in two other places in this synagogue, several old chests, wherein are carefully preserved a great number of little books, into which they have divided the Pentateuch of Moses, called by them Ta Ching, and the other books of their Law. They use these books for prayer, and shewed me several, which, as I imaged, were writ in Hebrew. Some of them were new, and the rest old and half torn. All these books are preserved with greater care than if they had been of gold and silver.

In the middle of their synagogue is a magnificent pulpit, standing very high, with a noble cushion richly embroidered in it. This is Moses’ Pulpit, on which every Saturday (their Sabbath) and the most solemn days, they lay the Book of the Pentateuch, and read it. There also is seen the Wan-sui-p’ai, or Tablet, on which the Emperor’s name is carved, but there are no statues or images. Their synagogue is oriented west, and whenever they pray to God, they turn to that quarter, and worship Him under the names of T’ien, Shang-t’ien, Shang-ti, Tsao-wan-wu-che or Creator of all Things; and Wan-wu-chu-chai, or Governor of the Universe. They told me that these names were borrowed from the Chinese books, and they used them to express the Supreme Being, and the First Cause.

At our going out of the synagogue is a great hall, which I had the curiosity to look into. I saw nothing in it except a great number of incense bowls. They told me this was the place where they honoured their Sheng-jen, or great men of their Law. The largest of these incense bowls, which is for the Patriarch Abraham, stands in the middle of the hall. After this stand those of Isaac, of Jacob, and his twelve children, called by them Shih-erh-ko-p’ai-tzu, the Twelve Descents or Tribes of Israel. Next are those of Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Ezra, and of several illustrious persons both men and women.

At our coming out of this apartment, we were conducted to the Hall of Guests, in order to discourse together. As the books of the Old Testament were writ in Hebrew at the end of my Bible, I shewed them to the Chang Chiao or Ruler of the Synagogue. He read them, though the characters were ill enough writ; and told me they were the names of their Sheng Ching, or Pentateuch. Then taking up my Bible, and the Chang Chiao his Bereshith, by which name they call the Book of Genesis, we compared the several descendants from Adam down to Noah, with the ages of each, and found a perfect conformity between them. We afterwards ran over, in a concise manner, the names and chronology of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which compose Moses’ Pentateuch. The Ruler of the Synagogue told me that the names of these five books are Bereshith, We-elleh-shemoth, Way-yiqra, Way-yedhabber, and Had-debharim, and that they divided them into 53 volumes, viz. Genesis into twelve volumes, Exodus into eleven; and the three following books, into ten volumes each, which they call Chuan. They opened some of these, and desired me to read to them; but I don’t understand Hebrew, it consequently was to no purpose.

Having enquired concerning the titles of the rest of the books of the Bible, the Ruler of the Synagogue answered, in general, that they had some of them, but wanted others; and that there were others which they were not at all acquainted with. Some of the persons present added, that certain books were lost in the overflowing of the Huang Ho, or Yellow River, spoken of before. To depend entirely on what is related above, a person must understand Hebrew, otherwise he is certain of nothing.

A circumstance which surprised me still more is, that their ancient Rabbis have blended several ridiculous tales with the genuine facts related in Scripture, and even interspersed the five Books of Moses in this manner. They told me such extravagant stories on this occasion, that I could not forbear laughing; whence I suspected that these Jews are Talmudists, who pervert and corrupt the sense of the Bible. No one but a person well skilled in the Scriptures, and in the Hebrew tongue, can set this affair in a proper light.

A circumstance which confirms me in my suspicion is, these Jews add, that under the Ming Ch’ao, or Dynasty of the Great Ming House, Father Fei Lo-te, that is, Father Rodriguez de Figueredo; and under the Ch’ing Ch’ao, or Dynasty of the Ch’ing House which now sways the sceptre, Father En Li-ke, that is the Father Christian Enriques, whose memory is reverenced here, went several times to their synagogue, in order to treat with them. But as these two learned Fathers did not take the trouble to procure a copy of their Bible, ‘tis my opinion, that they found it corrupted by the Talmudists, and not pure and interpolated as before our Saviour’s birth.

These Jews, who are called in China T’iao-chin-chiao, whether Talmudists or not, still observed several ceremonies of the Old Testament, circumcision for instance, which they say began in the Patriarch Abraham, as it really did. They also kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread; have the Paschal Lamb, in remembrance of the Israelite coming out of the Land of Egypt, and their Passage through the Red Sea; observe the Sabbath, and other Feasts of the ancient Law.

The first Jews who appeared in China, as these related to me, came under the Han Ch’ao, or Dynasty of Han. There were many families of them at first, but their number being reduced, there are now only seven, whose names are as follows: Chao (Zhao), Chin (Jin), Shih (Shi), Kao (Gao), Chang (Zhang), Li, and Ai. These families marry one among another, and never with the Hui-hui, or Mohammedans, with whom they have nothing in common, either with regard to books, or religious ceremonies. They even turn up their whiskers in a different manner.

They have but one Li-pai-ssu, or synagogue, and that in the capital of the Province of Honan. I did not see any alter in it there being only Moses’ Pulpit, with an incense bowl, a long table, and some large candlesticks, with tallow-candles. Their synagogue bears some resemblance to our churches in Europe. ‘Tis divided into three naves. The middle one is for the Table of Incense (offerings), Moses’s Chair or Pulpit, and the Wan-sui-p’ai or Emperor’s Tablet, with the tabernacles above-mentioned in which are preserved the thirteen copies of the Sheng Ching, or Pentateuch of Moses. These tabernacles are in the form of an ark, and the middle nave is as the choir of the synagogue. The two others are for praying and worship God. One may walk all around the synagogue, in the inside.

There having been formerly (as at present) Bachelors, and Chien-sheng, who are a degree below Bachelors, I took the liberty to ask whether they worshipped Confucius. They all answered, and event heir ruler, that they honoured him in like manner as the heathen literati in China; and that they partook with them in the solemn ceremonies performed in the halls of their great men. They added also, that in spring and autumn, they paid their ancestors the honours which are usually offered up to them in China, in the hall adjoining to their synagogue. That they indeed did not offer up swine’s flesh, but that of other animals; and that, in the common ceremonies, they only presented China dishes filled with viands and sweetmeats, together with the incense; making very low bows or prostrations at the same time. I further asked them whether they kept, in their houses or in the hall of their dead, inscriptions in honour of their ancestors. They answered that they did not employ either inscriptions or images, but only incense bowls. We nevertheless are to except mandarins, in whose honour only tablets are set up, under which the name and rank of their mandarinate are exprest, in the Tz’u-t’ang or Hall of the Ancestors. With regard to the names, by which they express the First Cause, I have already spoke concerning it; and this you will see more distinctly in their inscriptions which I have copied and now sent to you. I hope you will draw some useful consequences form them. As to their Bible, I intend to borrow it, believing I can easily do this, in which case I will get it copied. If you desire any farther particulars, please to send me word.

I am, &c.

J.P. Gozani

P.S. Be so good as to observe, reverend Father, that these Jews in their inscriptions call their Law, the Law of Israel, Yi-tz’u-lo-yeh Chiao. They told me that their ancestors came from a western kingdom called the Kingdom of Judah, which Joshua conquered after he came out of Egypt, and had passed through the Red Sea and the Desert. That the number of Jews which came out of Egypt were sixty wan, or six hundred thousand men.

They spoke to me concerning the Books of Judges, of David, of Solomon, of Ezekiel, who gave life to the withered bones; of Jonah, who was three days in the whale’s belly, &c. whence ‘tis manifested that they have several books of Scripture besides the Pentateuch of Moses.

They declared that their alphabet consisted of twenty-seven letters, but that they only employed twenty-two for ordinary use; which agrees with what St. Jerome says, viz. that the Hebrews have twenty-two letters, five whereof are double. I asked them by what they name they called their Law in Chinese; they answered that it was called “T’iao-chin Chiao,” signifying that they abstained from blood; and that they cut the sinews and veins of such animals as they kill, in order that the blood may flow away the easier.

The idolaters first gave them this name, which they willingly received, as it distinguished them from the Mohammedans, whom they call T’ie-mu Chiao. They call their Law Ku Chiao, the ancient Law (religion); T’ien Chiao, the Law of God, or Law of Israel. They do not light fires, or dress any victuals on Saturdays; but prepare on Friday everything necessary for that day. Whenever they read the Bible in their synagogue, they cover their face with a transparent veil, in memory of Moses who came down from the Mountain with his face covered, and thus promulgated the Decalogue and Law of God to his people.

I forgot to observe that these Chinese Jews, besides the Bible, are possessed of other Hebrew books, composed by the ancient Rabbis; and that these books, called by them San-tsao (miscellaneous writings), which are stuff’d with the most extravagant stories, comprehend their rituals and the ceremonies they use now. They seem to entertain very odd notions concerning paradise and hell. Probably whatever they say with regard to them was borrowed from the Talmud.

I spoke to them about the Messiah promised in Scripture. They seemed greatly surprised at what I said relating to them; and upon my telling them that his name was Jesus, they answered that mention was made in their Bible of a holy man named Jesus, the son of Sirach; but they did not know the Jesus whom I hinted at.

Such, reverend Father, are the particulars I learnt concerning these Chinese Jews. You may depend that what follows is fact:

1. These Jews worship the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and call Him, T’ien, Shang-ti, Shang-t’ien, &c as is evident from their ancient P’ai-fang, and P’ai-pien, or inscriptions.

2. ‘Tis certain that the literati among them pay Confucius those honours which the rest of the idolaters pay him in the hall of this philosopher, as was before observed.

3. ‘Tis certain, as you yourself may perceive by their ancient inscriptions which I now send you, and as they themselves have assured me unanimously, that they honour their dead in the Tz’u-t’ang, or Hall of the Ancestors, with the same ceremonies as are employed in China; but without Tablets, they being forbid the use of images and of everything of that kind.

4. ‘Tis certain that, in their inscriptions, mention is made of their Law, which they call the Law of Israel, of their origin, their antiquity and descent, of their patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; of the Twelve Tribes of Israel; of Moses their Lawgiver, who received the Law contained in the two tablets with the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai; of Aaron, Joshua, and Ezra; of the Sheng Ching or Pentateuch, which they received from Moses, and is composed of the books called Bereshith, We-elleh-shemoth, Way-yiqra, Way-yedhabber and Had-debharim, which they, when joined together, called Taura; and St. Jerome, Tora.

You may believe as a truth what I told you concerning the time when these Jews came and settle in China; and every circumstances contained in the inscriptions before-mentioned. As to other particulars, which I know only from their own account, and therefore inserted them merely for entertainment sake; you are to form such judgement as you please from them, I have found these Jews, by the conversation I had with them, to be persons who are not much to be depended upon.

Father Jean-Paul Gozani’s (骆保禄, 1647–1732) letter to his superior Father Joseph Suarez (苏霖, 1656–1736), dated 5th November 1704, was published in the seventh volume of the collection.

Father Gobien was an ardent opponent of the Talmud. He declared that the Jews of Europe have “altered the Scriptures perhaps by omitting or transposing entire chapters; perhaps by merely changing several verses or words; perhaps by revising those passages that did not suit them; or perhaps by altering the punctuation in various passages in order to make them support their own views.”

Father Gobien continued, if it were possible to “make the Jews see that the tenets of Judaism as they comprehend them are not necessarily the same as those held by Jews living in certain other regions — regions, that is, to which the teachings of the Talmud have never penetrated — we will have convinced them to stop venerating their Talmud. We might also be able to do likewise with regard to those Jews who now live in China by demonstrating to them that the faith to which they subscribe differs greatly from the faith of their brethren in the West.”

Father Gobien was convinced that the Jews in Europe must have “altered the Scriptures — perhaps by omitting or transposing entire chapters; perhaps by merely changing several verses or words, perhaps by revising those passages which did not suit them; or perhaps by altering the punctuation in various passages in order to make them support their own views.”

Father Gobien believed that “one of the greatest stumbling blocks to the conversion of the Jews has been their deep-seated attachment to the chimerical writings of their rabbis.” If it were possible to “make the Jews see that the tenets of Judaism as they comprehend them are not necessarily the same as those held by Jews living in certain other regions — regions, that is, to which the teaching of the Talmud have never penetrated — we will have convinced them to stop venerating their Talmud.” Therefore, Father Gobien wished “to gain an insight into the practice of the Chinese Jews and be provided thereby with the appropriate weapons for combating the extravagances of the Talmud.”