Pepper, Silk & Ivory reveals a missing page in Jewish history, the amazing stories of Jews who both benefited from and contributed to the Far East. Here you will read about the juvenile delinquent who later became known as the uncrowned Jewish king of China; the woman who refused to give up until the Japanese Constitution included rights for women and children; the secret behind one of the world's most famous logos; and the American baseball player who spied for the United States in Japan. You will also learn the stories of the Jew who served as Singapore's first chief minister; the eccentric writer who introduced China to the West with her pet gibbon always at her side; the Marrano physician in India whose famous volume on botany and pharmacology in the sixteenth-century caused as much excitement as the discovery of penicillin did in the twentieth-century; the Jewish musicians who enhanced both Eastern music and the quality of life for everyone in Asia; the ashram in India created by the Jewish guru who became known as The Mother; and the sexual therapist, poker buddy, doctors and other Jewish members of Mao Zedong's inner circle. Consummate storyteller Rabbi Marvin Tokayer draws on a half century of personal experiences in Asia and a wealth of knowledge about Jews and the Far East, and prolific writer and television producer Ellen Rodman, Ph.D., weave together colorful characters and their captivating stories into this fascinating book. Delightful, informative and altogether fascinating stories. Tokayer and Rodman have filled an important gap in Jewish history. --Richard Zoglin, Time magazine theater critic This fine, surprising addition to the history of the Jewish people awakens readers from the Eurocentric and Near East visions of Jewish culture and influence.… The stories are wonderfully varied…the authors evidence their great passion for their subject. I am hopeful that this volume reaches every Jewish library and library of Far East history. --Philip K. Jason, Jewish Book World A rich and provocative book about the lost stories of Jews and the Far East. The narratives are interesting and detailed.… An important book today…truly marvelous. --Dr. Mehnaz M. Afridi, Director, Manhattan College Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center A fascinating, superbly researched book of footnote characters, incidents and events which deftly fills in wide gaps in history. Who knew? --Jeffrey Lyons, Lyons Den, CBS Radio Rabbi Marvin Tokayer began his rabbinic career in 1962 as a US Air Force chaplain stationed in southern Japan. In 1968, he returned to serve as rabbi of the thousand-member Jewish community of Japan, a post he held until 1976; he remains Lifetime Honorary Rabbi of the community. He also served on the Federation of Jewish Communities of Southeast Asia and the Far East and as Founding Board Member of the Sino-Judaic Institute. He contributed seven articles on rabbinics and the Orient for the Encyclopedia Judaica, authored twenty books in Japanese on Judaica and Japan, and coauthored (with Mary Swartz) The Fugu Plan The Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews during World War II. Ellen Rodman is a writer, producer, and the president of LN Productions LLC, a production and media consulting company based in New York. Prior to founding her own company, Dr. Rodman served as an executive at NBC, where she launched the first missing children's campaign in connection with the broadcast of the made-for-television movie Adam, and at Group W where she accepted a DuPont Columbia Award for Whispering Hope, the company's outreach program on Alzheimer's disease. The former family entertainment reviewer for the New York Times, Dr. Rodman is also the author of numerous magazine and newspaper articles on subjects ranging from culture and media to education and health.