Can you give me any info. about the Indian Jews in Cochin?

Question

How far back does the community go, where did the Jews come from to Cochin, in what years did they immigrate back to Israel, is there still a Jewish community in Cochin?

Thank you

Answer 1

India has a legacy of four distinct Jewish groups: the Bene Israel, the Cochin Jews, the Sephardic Jews from Europe, and the "Baghdadis" from Iraq. Each group practiced important elements of Judaism and had active synagogues. The Sephardic rites predominate among Indian Jews.

One of the most important Jewish peoples of India are the Bene Israel ("Sons of Israel"), whose main population centers were Bombay, Calcutta, Old Delhi, and Ahmadabad. The native language of the Bene Israel was Marathi, while the Cochin Jews of southern India spoke Malayalam.

The Bene Israel claim to be descended from Jews who escaped persecution in Galilee in the 2nd century BCE. The Bene Israel resemble the non-Jewish Maratha people in appearance and customs, which indicates intermarriage between Jews and Indians. However, the Bene Israel maintained the practices of Jewish dietary laws, circumcision, and observation of Sabbath as a day of rest.

The Bene Israel say their ancestors were oil pressers in the Galil and they are descended from survivors of a shipwreck. In the 18th Century they were "discovered" by traders from Baghdad. At that time the Bnei Israel were practicing just a few outward forms of Judaism (which is how they were recognised) but had no scholars of their own. Teachers from Baghdad and Cochin taught them mainstream Judaism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Jewish merchants from Europe travelled to India in the medieval period for purposes of trade, but it is not clear whether they formed permanent settlements in south Asia. Our first reliable evidence of Jews living in India comes from the early 11th century. It is certain that the first Jewish settlements were centered along the western coast. Abraham ibn Daud's 12th century reference to Jews of India is unfortunately vague, and we do not have further references to Indian Jews until several centuries later.

The first Jews in Cochin (southern India) were the so-called "Black Jews", who spoke the Malayalam tongue. The "Sephardic Jews" settled later, coming to India from western European nations such as Holland and Spain. A notable settlement of Spanish and Portuguese Jews starting in the 15th century was Goa, but this settlement eventually disappeared. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Cochin had an influx of Jewish settlers from the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain.

The Jews of Cochin say that they came to Cranganore (south-west coast of India) after the destruction of the Temple in 70ce. They had, in effect, their own principality for many centuries until a chieftanship dispute broke out between two brothers in the 15th century. The dispute led neighbouring princes to dispossess them. In 1524, the Moors, backed by the ruler of Calicut (today called Kozhikode) attacked the Jews of Cranganore on the pretext that they were "tampering" with the pepper trade. Most Jews fled to Cochin and went under the protection of the Hindu Raja there. He granted them a site for their own town which later acquired the name "Jew Town" (by which it is still known).

Unfortunately for the Jews of Cochin, the Portuguese occupied Cochin in this same period and indulged in persecution of the Jews until the Dutch displaced them in 1660. The Dutch protestants were tolerant and the Jews prospered. In 1795 Cochin passed into the British sphere of influence. In the 19th century, Cochin Jews lived in the towns of Cochin, Ernakulam, and Parur. Today most of Cochin's Jews have emigrated (principally to Israel).

16th and 17th century migrations created important settlements of Jews from Persia, Afghanistan, and Khorasan (Central Asia) in northern India and Kashmir. By the late 18th century, Bombay became the largest Jewish community in India. In Bombay were Bene Israel Jews as well as Iraqi and Persian Jews.

Near the end of the 18th century, a third group of Indian Jews appears. They are the middle-eastern Jews who came to India through trade. They established a trading network stretching from Aleppo to Baghdad to Basra to Surat/Bombay to Calcutta to Rangoon to Singapore to Hong Kong and eventually as fare as Kobe in Japan. There were strong family bonds amongst the traders in all these places.

Typical is the founder of the Calcutta community, Shalom Aharon Ovadiah HaCohen. He was born in Aleppo in 1762 and left in 1789. He arrived in Surat in 1792 and established himself there. He traded as far as Zanzibar. In 1798 he moved to Calcutta. In 1805 he was joined by his nephew, Moses Simon Duek HaCohen, who married his eldest daughter Lunah. Soon the community was swelled by other traders and Baghdadis outnumbered those from Aleppo.

Under British rule, the Jews of India achieved their maximum population and wealth, and the Calcutta community continued to grow and prosper and trade amongst all the cities of the far east and to the rest of the world. The Indians were very tolerant and the Jews of Calcutta felt completely at home. Their numbers reached a peak of about 5000 during WW-II when they were swelled by refugees fleeing the Japanese advance into Burma.

The first generations of Calcutta Jews spoke Judeo-Arabic at home, but by the 1890s English was the language of choice. After WWII, nationalism fever caught the Indians rather strongly and it became less comfortable for the Jews who came to be identified with the English by the Indians. India's Jewish population declined dramatically starting in the 1940s with heavy immigration to Israel, England, and the United States. It is in these 3 nations where the most significant settlements of Indian Jews exist today. Today there is just a handful of old people and the once vital community with its 3 synagogues is no more.

For more details, visit the Jews of Chocin Website (<>).http://www.kashrus.org/asian/cochin.html...

Lastly, note that there were a number of European Jews who lived, or settled in India. Some examples: Lady Mountbatten, and Haffkine, after whom the famous Haffkine Institute in Bombay (Mumbai) has been named. The mother of one of India's most glamorous film actresses, Zeenat Aman is said to be Jewish.

Many Indian Jews have reached great prominence. For example, the Sassons after whom the Sasson docks, the Sasson hospital, and two of Mumbais well known sites- the Jacob Circle, and Flora Fountain have been named. In the past years, there has been a Jewish mayor of Bombay (Dr. E. Moses), and a Jewish Chief of the Navy. In the Indian Army, Jews have reached very high posts. A General Jacobs, now the Governor of Goa, supervised the surrender of the Pakistani Army in the Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. Maj. Gen. Samson who was awarded the Padma Bhushan, and a few other Jews reached prominence in the Indian Army. Two of India's leading literary personalities, poet Nissim Ezeickel, and cartoonist Abu Abraham are Jewish. Also the late famous Hindi film actor David, and the late "Sulochana" the Queen of Indian Silent Films, and the actress/dancer Helen. A Dr. Erulkar was the personal physician/friend of Mahatma Gandhi. His father, also a Dr. Abraham Erulkar, donated land for the synagogue in Ahmedabad, Gujrat. Dr. Erulkar's daughter is currently the 1st lady of Cyprus, married to the President of Cyprus. Another prominent Indian Jew is Dr. Jerusha Jhirad, who was given the title of Padma Shri by the Government of India.

http://www.shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTM...

Answer 2

There is an interesting article about them in the book "Diaspora" but to be honest I thought they were in Trivandrum, not Cochin?

Answer 3

Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews (Malabar Yehudan) are the ancient Jews and their descendants of the South Indian erstwhile state of Kingdom of Cochin which includes the present day port city of Kochi.  They traditionally spoke Judeo-Malayalam, a form of the Malayalam tongue, native to the state of Kerala, in India. Several rounds of immigration of the Jewish diaspora into Kerala led to a diversity amongst the Cochin Jews.

Some sources say that the earliest Jews were those who settled in the Malabar coast during the times of King Solomon of Israel, and after the Kingdom of Israel split into two [4]. They are sometimes referred to as the "black Jews". The Paradesi Jews, also called "White Jews", settled later, coming to India from European and Middle Eastern nations such as Holland and Spain, and bringing with them the Ladino language. Spanish and Portuguese Jews (Sephardim) settled in Goa in the 15th century, but this settlement eventually disappeared. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Cochin had an influx of Jewish settlers from the Middle East, North Africa and Spain.

Jews came to Kerala and settled as early as 700 BC for trade. An old, but not particularly reliable, tradition says that Jews of Cochin came in mass to Cranganore (an ancient port, near Cochin) after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. A chieftain by the name of Joseph Rabban, according to local tradition, was granted a principality over the Jews of Cochin by the Chera Emperor of Kerala, Bhaskara Ravivarman II [3]. His descendents had, in effect, their own principality (called Anjuvannam in Indian sources) for many centuries until a chieftainship dispute broke out between two brothers (one of them named Joseph Azar) in the 15th century. The dispute led neighboring princes to dispossess them. In 1524, the Muslims, backed by the ruler of Calicut (today called Kozhikode), attacked the Jews of Cranganore on the pretext that they were tampering with the pepper trade. Most Jews fled to Cochin and went under the protection of the Hindu Raja there. He granted them a site for their own town that later acquired the name "Jew Town" (by which it is still known).

Unfortunately for the Jews of Cochin, the Portuguese occupied Cochin in this same period and indulged in persecution of the Jews until the Dutch displaced them in 1660. The Dutch Protestants were tolerant, and the Jews prospered. In 1795 Cochin was occupied by and came under the control of the British Empire. In the 19th century, Cochin Jews lived in the towns of Cochin, Ernakulam, Aluva and North Paravur.

For an insight to Cochin Jewish life in eighteenth Century. read Volume VIII (page 336 to 354) of The Land of the Permauls, Or, Cochin, Its Past and Its Present By Dr Francis Day, a British Civil Surgeon of 1863 AD ( [1] ).

The Jews of Cochin did not adhere to the Talmudic prohibition, followed by other Orthodox Jews, against public singing by women, and therefore have a rich tradition of Jewish prayers and narrative songs performed by women in Judeo-Malayalam. Fearful of this tradition dying out, the Jewish Music Research Center at Hebrew University has compiled a CD of these songs.

Answer 4

I don't know alot about Indian Jews. I perfer that you watch this video. It gives you alot of info and makes you change your view that there isn't just Ashkenazi and Sephardi jews.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fS0RQG5FMuE

Answer 5

They are called Cochini Jews because they lived in the city of Cochin in south India. But actually the first settlement of the Cochini Jews wasn’t in Cochin but a little north from Cochin in the town of Kudungallur (formly Cranganore).

Like the Bene Israels, the arrival time of the first Cochini Jews isn’t clear. But one fact is sure about the Cochini Jews, that they weren’t a single emigration. At different times Jews arrived and settled in south India at Kudungallur. According to one version the first forefathers of the Cochini Jews arrived in India during the King Solomon’s period. King Solomon had commercial business with a kingdom probably existing in the present state of Kerala in south India. Other version claims that the Cochini Jews are from the Lost Tribes. Another version claims that the Cochini Jews arrived in India after they were exiled from Land of Israel by Nebuchadnezzar. Later on in the history Jews from Spain, arrived in Cochin. The Spanish Jews lived separately from the veteran Jews and considered them as Indian proselytes to Judaism. The Keralans take pride in the fact that the kingdoms of Kerala were world famous and merchants from around the world frequently visited Kerala, since the times of King Solomon and later on Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese and others. Among the merchants, also arrived in Kerala many Jewish merchants and some of them settled in Kerala. The main center of the Jewish community in Kerala was at Kudungallur (referred to in English as Cranganore). The existence of the Jewish community in south India was known to other Jewish communities outside India and some other Jewish merchants also arrived in India. The Jewish merchants were influential community in their state and outside their state and were main reason for the prosperity in their kingdom. As a gratitude for their contribution to the kingdom, the ruler Sri Parkaran Iravi Vanmar gave to the head of the Jewish community Joseph Rabban the village of Anjuvannam and pronounced him the Prince of this village. These Jewish rulers had all the rights preserved to the ruling families of the Indian kingdoms. But till today there isn’t an agreement among the scholars on the exact date when this ‘Jewish kingdom’ was established. Different scholars give different dates to the establishment of this principality. Some claim it to be in the 4 century A. D. Others claim it to be at a much later period around10 century A. D. According to the Cochini Jews the ‘princely rights’ (written on copper plates and therefore called Copper Plates) were given to them in 379 A. D.

Another fact not clear is : Which Cochini Jews received the ‘Copper Plates’? The Cochini Jews are divided in three groups. The biggest group is called ‘Meyuhassim’ (meaning ‘privileged’ in Hebrew) or Malabari Jews (Malabar is the name of the coast on which Kerala is situated). These Jews forefathers are considered to have arrived in India as merchants during the period of King Solomon. The second group is called ‘Pardesi’ (meaning ‘foreigner’ in some Indian languages). The Pardesi Jews are Jews who came to Kerala at different periods from different countries namely Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Spain and Germany. These two groups were merchants and had slaves who were converted to Judaism and later on released from their status as slaves and are called ‘Meshuhararim’ (meaning ‘released’ in Hebrew). These groups were sometimes referred to by colors. The ‘Privileged’ Jews were called ‘black’ Jews, the ‘Pardesi’ were called ‘white’ Jews.

The ‘Pardesi’ Jews looked at the ‘Privileged’ Jews as impure Jews and as Jewish proselyte. Both these communities claim that the ‘prince’ was from their community. The Jewish principality survived till the 16th century A. D. In 1524 the Jews were attacked by Moorish Arabs because of the monopoly Jewish merchants had in some commodities. The Jews who were a principality with no real army deserted their principality and asked for shelter from the king of Cochin. The king received them in his kingdom and so was established the Jewish community of Cochin. The area where they lived and did business is even today called ‘Jew Town’.

The Cochini Jews knew all of the Jewish traditions and preserved all Jewish traditions. They were particularly strict of Passover and didn’t even allow the non-Jews to touch the cooking utensils during this period. As stated before the Cochini Jews were very influential in their society. Numerically the Cochini Jews at their height were 3000 and that was in the 1940s. Of that the Pardesi were only 200. Today there are about 70 Jews in Cochin.

Answer 6

Three Jewish communities identify themselves in India, that in 1997 counted on approximately 6,000 members:

the community of Cochin, in Kerala, the Bene Israel and the bagdadí community, each of them located in a geographic area certain good. The particularitity of the religions of India, nonmisioneras and cradles in the personal accomplishment, caused that these communities did not undergo persecution some, nor manifestations of anti-semitism, with the exception of the period of the Portuguese colonization, during which the Inquisición was transplanted to the Indian territory.

If the old history of the Jews of Kerala is not known, its presence is testified convincingly from century X, when a crack of the Chera dynasty, that dominated Malabar, grants a letter of recognition to the Jews --like thus also to the nestorianos Christians-- residents in its territory. This recognition is, probably, a gratefulness by the military aid that would have rendered to him in their resistance against the flood to be able of their Chola neighbors. Hebrew letter inscription in KochiLa, recorded in copper plates, is still conserved in the synagogue of Kochi. Anquetil-Duperron, of passage by the city, made a translation. The inscriptions are dated between 974 and 1020. Century X marks, then, the entrance of the Jews of Kerala in written history. Before this date it is impossible to need when they were implanted in the zone, and that was of its lives. Youngest child of Tudela, in the section of its Libro de Viajes that dedicates to India (around 1170, declares that there is in that region around 1,000 Jews, black like its neighbors, who observe the Torá and have little knowledge of the Jewish oral law. If, as thinks, the Jewish community of Kerala were based on the commerce, finished not playing the same role. It will be the Muslim community the one that will gain importance in this activity by its abilities in the marine commerce. The Hindus will abandon the area or they will not invest in him, because to cross the oceans impurity source is considered by them.