In 1968 Rabbi Marvin Tokayer arrived in Tokyo to serve as rabbi. He found himself in the midst of a highly unusual congregation. While not Japanese by race most of his flock were descendants of families that had lived in Japan or China for three generations (Photos: Amir Levy)

Writer Leo Rosten tells the story of a Jewish businessman who travels to Tokyo. Friday night comes and he manages to find a shul but when he walks in to his surprise the rabbi and the entire congregation are Japanese.

But the tefillah is letter-perfect so afterward he seeks out the rabbi. “It’s such a pleasure to find a minyan so far from home and meet so many fellow Jews!” he tells him.

The Japanese rabbi looks at him dubiously. “You’re Jewish?” he asks.

“Of course!” the businessman says.

The rabbi clucks his tongue. “Funny ” he mutters “you don’t look Jewish.”

In 1968 Rabbi Marvin Tokayer arrived in Tokyo to serve as rabbi. Like the businessman in the story he found himself in the midst of a highly unusual congregation. While not Japanese by race most of his flock were descendants of families that had lived in Japan or China for three generations. Some had come through Siberia or Mongolia; others were Sephardim from Baghdad. He had what to teach them about Torah but they had what to teach him about Asia.

Once on the job Tokayer didn’t simply perform weddings and funerals or verify kashrus: He became an expert on the history of Jews in the Far East. His journey to historical scholarship was spurred by the discovery that he was leading a congregation of “talking books ” Jews who had stumbled into Tokyo through the vicissitudes of world wars Communist upheavals and cultural exchanges. He authored two books on the subject Pepper Silk and Ivory and The Fugu Plan and is currently working on a third a sequel to Pepper Silk and Ivory. He also became a popularizer of Jewish culture in the Japanese language writing books that became best sellers.

Rabbi Tokayer currently lives in a modest but comfortable home in the suburban tranquility of Great Neck. While the walls of his home are hung with attractive Jewish art less typically they’re also adorned with many fine examples of Oriental art souvenirs of a ten-year tenure in the Far East and later as a Jewish tour guide there.

And it hints to his personal narrative: how a Yeshiva University graduate of Hungarian parentage ended up the only Orthodox rabbi in the entire Far East.

A Circuitous Path

Rabbi Tokayer’s parents left Hungary before World War II and settled in Youngstown Ohio (the rest of the family remained in Europe and over 40 members were killed during the Holocaust). Youngstown was a steel mill town.