Ever heard of Jew Town in Cochin
thats where my ancestors came over
300 years ago with the Dutch East India Company
Jonathan:
You hit jackpot with me. Here is what you are looking for.
By A.Y.C MOHAN COCHIN -India
Once a prosperous and vibrant community of 40,000, the Jews of Cochin now comprise a mere 21 people in seven families. Successive migrations to their Holy Land have reduced them to this numerically insignificant minority. But the Jews here can boast of a hoary tradition. This central Kerala city has one of the oldest Jewish quarters in the world, the fifth oldest synagogue in the world, and a Judaic tradition that dates back to 72 AD.
The synagogue is in Jew Town, next to the Mattancherry Palace, in the busy throb of the City. But the chanting of ancient Hebrew prayers is now rarely heard even on Sabbath days in the 16th-century synagogue, the oldest in the Commonwealth, which encompasses Britain and its former colonies.
Lilly Koder, one of the surviving Jews, told India Abroad that it was difficult to get the bare minimum strength of even 10 male members for the weekly prayers.
'øf the exactly 10 surviving male Jews, the eldest is 75 years and bedridden. Another one goes to work and is seldom available." Said Koder, who herself is in her early 70s:
'We often request some non-Jew males in the locality to help conduct the prayers. It is only during the tourist season that we can muster enough strength for the prayers. Visiting Jews come to our help."
The young, caretaker who takes tourists around the synagogue is half Jewish and half Christian. The tiles of the blue-and-white floorings of the synagogue were brought from Canton, China, in the 18th century by Ezekial Rahabi, a trader who also erected a clock tower atop the synagogue. A pulpit stands in the center of the room and, at one end, is the holy tabernacle with gilded doors. Within are kept the great scrolls of the old Torah capped with golden crowns. Opinions vary about the first Jewish settlement in Cochin. Jewish groups were said to have used Odu, the trading route to India that finds mention in the Bible, to escape from Palestine after the destruction of the second temple by the Romans in 72 AD.
The oldest Cochin Jewish history book, printed in 1686 and written by a Dutch Jew, Moses Pereira de Paiva, however, asserts that 7,000 to 8,000 Jews arrived on this coast in 370 A D. from Majorca, where their forefathers had been taken captive by Vespasianus. The Babvlonian Talmud. compiled between the third and sixth centuries, refers to Rabbi judah, a Hindu convert to Judaism.
No one had then heard of anb-Semitism, and there was no persecution. The Hindu rulers of the Vijayanagar Empire were tolerant of all beliefs This explains why the Cochin Jews enjoyed such relative harmony and security among the majority Hindus, compared to their peers in Europe.
Successive waves of immigration reinforced the Jews' presence to such an extent that between the 5th and 15th centuries, Cranganore, near Cochin, was a self-administered Jewish principality. Enriched by an influx of Jews from Spain and other parts of Europe, they continued to prosper for more than 1,00.0 years. The eventual destruction of Craganore, following the Moors' onslaught against the Jews in 1524, has often been described as a sacrilege of "Palestine in miniature." To this day, sand from Cranganore is put in the coffin of every Jew along with that from present-day Israel.
Jewish survivors of. Cranganore appealed to the Hindu Raja (king) of Cochin for refuge. The Raja, says an English historian, "treated them with a liberality that can hardly be understood." Soon, the Raja's best fighting men were the Jewish battalion and, in 1550, a battle had to be deferred because the Jews would not fight on the Sabbath. Jew town was built in 1567 and the synagogue came a year later. The Portuguese, who brought antiSemitism with them, derided the Hindu Raja as the King of Jews. One hundred and sixty years of Portuguese occupation were the darkest period for the Jews of Cochin. Alfonso de Albuquerque sought the Portugal King's
permission to exterminate them one by one. They destroyed even the remnants of the Jewish principality of Cranganore.
The Dutch, who came after the Portuguese, were different and they won the support of the Jews, who prospered through 132 years of Dutch supremacy.
The Jews continued to be accepted in secular India, which gained independence in 1947, but for many their desire to live in a land of their own became a reality when Israel was established in 1948.
The Jewish community may have dwindled, but still Indian rulers have not ignored them. In 1968 when the Cochin synagogue celebrated its 400th anniversary, the occasion was graced by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Only 85 Jews were present at the celebrations then.
By RICHA SINGH
NEW DELHI-The history of the Jews in India, unlike Jews elsewhere, has been happy on the whole. India is, perhaps, the only country which has no history of anti-Semitism.
Despite the happy past, Indian Jews have emigrated in large numbers to Israel, Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia From 30,000 at the time of independence in 1947, THE JEWS have dwindled to 5,000 today.
The first wave of emigration to Israel began soon after the Jewish state was established in 1948. Better prospects, generous aid for rehabilitation and other benefits, rather than any religious longing, provided the main lure. Soon, a mass exodus began.
Journalist Gulu Ezekiel, himself a Jew, told India Abroad: "Just as the (Persian) Gulf has been the El Dorado for Indian Muslims, Israel is a magnet for Indian Jews. Few have done well but others are guaranteed a comfortable lifestyle and a welfare state which looks after its elderly."
The Jews came to India many centuries ago and became a part of the country's social fabric. Conjectures about when Judaism first appeared in India ranges from 70 B.C., when the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed and Judea and Galilee Jews were dispersed, to the 10th or 11th centuries when historic writings mentioned Jews in India
Indian Jews comprise three different categories: The Marathi-speaking Bene Israel, based on India's west coast who form the majority, the Cochinis settled in Cochin (now Kochi) and the Baghdadis who arrived in India from Iraq, Iran and Syria during the British Raj.
Jews, wrote Bene Israel scholar Benjamin J. Israel, "have earned the reputation of the wandering Jew solely because they have seldom been allowed until comparatively recent times, to settle permanently and send down roots, as from the start they were allowed to do in India"
This made the Indian Jew "normal." He could freely interact with his non-jewish neighbor and participate in the general life of the community. This picture is contrary to the image of the Jew in the Christian and Islamic worlds-a person hated, despised and yet paradoxically in the Christian land, feared.
In such a hostile environment, the Jewish heritage had to be guarded and the Jewish identity preserved, forcing the Jews towards self-consciousness and protective withdrawal into self-created ghettos.
The Indian Jews knew nothing of this, and in varying degrees, became Indianized-adopting the local language, dress and customs, without getting assimilated.
Happily balancing his Jewishness and Indianness, Ezekiel Issac Malekar, honorary secretary of the Judah Hyam Synagogue in New Delhi, said, "Indianness is my culture, nationality, birthplace -Judaism my religion."
This "normality" is a unique instance in Jewish history-a fact that made Indian Jews "strange" -strange to the rest of the Jewish world and to the English educated Indian with his image of Shylock. Besides the Indian Jews, many Ashkenazi Jews took temporary refuge in India during World War 11.
Israel, however, has been only one of the destinations of the Indian Jews. Many Jewish families, according to Malekar, most of whose relatives are now in Israel, emigrated to increase their children's odds of marrying a Jew. Besides the dwindling Jewish population in India, the girl-boy ratio is also very disproportionate.
What made him stay? His position among the Jewish community, the cultural difference between Indian values and lifestyles, the westernized Israeli milieu and the high cost of living in Israel, are some of the reasons Malekar cited.
Today, what remains of the jewish community in India are some Bene Israelis in Mumbai, a handful of Cochini Jew families and a few Baghdadi Jews. Most of them are old people, well settled in their station of life and unwilling to uproot and relocate in a totally new sociocultural surrounding. Conscription and language are two other factors that have prevented them from emigrating to Israel.
More controversial in the Jews' "homeward journey" has been the case of the Shingling tribe, spread through the northeaster states of Mizoram and Manipur. Claiming to be descendants of the lost tribe of Manashe and inspired by the dream of a farmer, named Chala, they began their, journey to Israel in the 1950's.
They were stopped but their persistence payee off when on Aug. 1, 1993, 36 Shinglungs were flown into Jerusalem and converted to Judaism. Many other Shinglungs have also converted to Judaism, both in India and Israel.
Despite the Shinglung's claim to Jewishness conversion is mandatory. No orthodox Rabbi will accept the wholesale admission of a tribe into the Jewish community.
The Bene Israelis, the Cochinis and the Baghdadis have made their transition into the Israeli mainstream. They brought with them their languages, food, customs and sports. Indian presence began to be felt in cricket, hockey and badminton.
Today the Indian Jew is among the fastest growing groups in Israel numbering some 55,000. Fiercely loyal to their roots, Indian Jews retain their Indianness through cultural events, occasional trips to India and by retaining their languages end customs.
Women in sarees, Indian restaurants and bhelpuri stands are common sights in the 'little Indias" that have emerged in Israel. However, for the second generation born in Israel, retaining their Indianness is becoming difficult as they try to move into the mainstream of Israeli life.
On the whole, Indian Jews have done fairly well. Their technical skills and fluency in English acted in their fawn The most trying time for the community arose in the 1960's, when their religious status was challenged by the country's Chief Rabbinate. Finally, the community's Jewishness was recognized
The Indian Jewish community has produced some eminent citizens like Ben Abraham- father of Israeli cricket. However, the Indian Jews have failed to acquire any political clout or to impact on Israeli society-the main reason being the animosity among the different Indian Jewish communities.
Ironically, although the Jewish community lied been absorbed in the Indian mainstream, t he Bene Israelis, the Cochinis and the Baghdadis' have formed their own ghettos in Israel, maintaining separate synagogues and rarely intermarrying
As Indian Jews "retum" to Israel, the Jewish presence in India is thinning down. The beautiful synagogues, which used to overflow on holidays, are fast becoming lonely, empty structures. The community's vibrancy is becoming a thing of the past.
Although the wave of emigration has fluctuated, the possibility that Jews as a community may disappear from India does remain a matter of concern.
Joshua Benjamin, vice president of the Jewish Welfare Association in New Delhi, is however optimistic "There will always be Jews in the country where they have enjoyed hospitality for over 2,000 years. Although their numbers have gone down considerably, community activity is going on, even if in a limited manner
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