After his ordination as a rabbi, Marvin Tokayer served as United States Air Force Chaplain in Japan. Upon discharge he returned to Tokyo to serve for eight years as the rabbi for the Jewish Community of Japan. He wrote 20 books in Japanese, including several bestsellers; discovered literally the last of the Chinese Jews; located a long-lost Jewish cemetery in Nagasaki; contributed to the Encyclopedia Judaica; acted as a bridge for many travelers between East and West; served the needs of his congregation; and became spellbound by the threads of a story which he began piecing together. His investigation of the facts took him throughout Asia, to Israel and Washington D.C. as he searched for documents and tracked down the people, both Jewish and Japanese, who had taken part in the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust.

After his time in Japan, he founded and led the Cherry Lane Minyan shul in Great Neck, New York for fourteen years, while leading tours of Japan, China,  India and Southeast Asia.

In 2003, he created the Foundation for Remote Jewish Communities (FRJC) dedicated to preserving and promoting the endangered Jewish communities on the periphery of the Diaspora. Since inception, over $1 Million has been donated to the communities in the Far East including Cambodia, China, India, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Click for information about frjc.org

In February 2017, Rabbi Tokayer was awarded Japan’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, by Ambassador Reiichiro Takahashi. Click to see a video of the ceremony.

He and his wife are the parents of four children, grandparents of seventeen, and great grandparents of one.

Books
Pepper, Silk & Ivory: Amazing Stories about Jews and the Far East

The Fugu Plan

Films
2018: Pepper, Silk, and Ivory Documentary (in development)

Fugu Plan Documentary Film