AP Photo

Last week, the small and unassuming mikve (ritual bath) in Hod HaSharon witnessed the unfolding of a remarkable scene in the annals of Jewish history.

One by one, six young Chinese men, all descendants of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, immersed themselves in the warm and purifying waters before a three-man rabbinical court, thereby completing their long journey home to the Jewish people.

It marked the first time that a group of Chinese-Jewish men had undergone a formal return to Judaism in the Jewish state.

And for Yaakov Wang, as well as the others, it was the fulfillment of a life-long dream, one that had been passed down to them by their ancestors throughout the generations.

As a young man in China,...