When the Buddhist monk Xuanzang returned to China from India, bringing back precious Buddhist texts, he thought his traveling days were over. But then he finds an intriguing scrap with writing that he does not recognize. Finally connecting it with the Jewish community in Kaifeng he is implored by the community to go on another journey – this time even further west through Persia and Israel to find and bring back a teacher for the Kaifeng Jews. He is joined by his disciples, the magiFc Monkey and 8 rules Pigsy. Eventually a Jewish man known as Bear acts as a guide and interpreter as they encounter Jewish sages from the Talmud and Midrash. Join me for a conversation with Joel Bigman about this delightful mix of Chinese and Jewish folklore and wisdom in his book, The Second Journey.

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Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
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If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.