View source for Cochin Jews

{{Short description|Jewish community that settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in modern-day Kerala, India}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Paradesi Jews]] (White Jews) of Cochin who immigrated from Spain/Portugal during the 15th century}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date = February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| image            = File:Cochin Jews.jpg
| image_caption    = A Malabar Jewish family (1900)
| group            = Cochin Jews
| native_name      = {{Script/Hebrew|יְהוּדֵֽי־קוֹצִֽ׳ין}} <br> കൊച്ചിയിലെ ജൂതന്മാർ
| native_name_lang =
| region1          = {{ISR}}
| pop1             = 7,000–8,000 (estimated)<ref>[http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/149027/cochin-indian-cuisine "Jews from Cochin Bring Their Unique Indian Cuisine to Israeli Diners"], ''Tablet Magazine'', by Dana Kessler, 23 October 2013</ref>
| region2          = {{IND}}
| pop2             = 15<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.jns.org/ancient-indian-jewish-community-holds-on-to-customs-despite-shrinking-numbers/ | title=Ancient Indian Jewish community holds on to customs despite shrinking numbers | date=13 September 2022 }}</ref>
| langs            = [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Judeo-Malayalam]]
| rels             = [[Judaism]]
| related          = [[Paradesi Jews]], [[Knanaya]], [[Sephardic Jews]], [[Bene Israel]], [[Baghdadi Jews]], [[Mizrahi Jews]], [[Saint Thomas Christians]], [[Dravidian people]]
}}
{{Jews and Judaism sidebar}}
'''Cochin Jews''' (also known as '''Malabar Jews''' or '''Kochinim''' from {{Langx|he|יְהוּדֵֽי־קוֹצִֽ׳ין|translit=Yehudey Kochin}}) are the oldest group of [[History of the Jews in India|Jews in India]], with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of [[King Solomon]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qhKGPprbQaYC&q=two+millennia ''The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities''] by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 27. {{ISBN|965-278-179-7}}.</ref><ref>Weil, Shalva. "Jews in India." in M. Avrum Erlich (ed.) ''Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora'', Santa Barbara, USA: ABC CLIO. 2008, 3: 1204-1212.</ref> The Cochin Jews settled in the [[Kingdom of Cochin]] in [[South India]],<ref>Weil, Shalva. ''India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art, and Life-Cycle'', Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2009. [first published in 2002; 3rd edn] Katz 2000; Koder 1973; Menachery 1998</ref> now part of the present-day state of [[Kerala]].<ref>Weil, Shalva. "Cochin Jews", in Carol R. Ember, Melvin Ember and Ian Skoggard (eds) ''Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement'', New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. pp. 78-80.</ref><ref>Weil, Shalva.  "Cochin Jews" in Judith Baskin (ed.)'' Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture'', New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. pp. 107.</ref> As early as the 12th century, mention is made of the Jews in southern India by [[Benjamin of Tudela]].
Following their expulsion from [[Iberia]] in 1492 by the [[Alhambra Decree]], a few families of [[Sephardi Jews]] eventually made their way to Cochin in the 16th century. They became known as [[Paradesi Jews]] (or Foreign Jews). The European Jews maintained some trade connections to Europe, and their language skills were useful. Although the Sephardim spoke [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]] (Spanish or Judeo-Spanish), in India they learned [[Judeo-Malayalam]] from the Malabar Jews.<ref name="Katz-Koder-Puthiakunnel">Katz 2000; Koder 1973; Thomas Puthiakunnel 1973.</ref> The two communities retained their ethnic and cultural distinctions.<ref name=":0">Weil, Shalva. "The Place of Alwaye in Modern Cochin Jewish History", ''Journal of Modern Jewish Studies'', 2010. 8(3): 319-335.</ref> In the late 19th century, a few Arabic-speaking Jews, known as [[Baghdadi Jews|Baghdadi]]s, also immigrated to southern India from the [[Near East]].<ref>'''Weil, S.''' 2019 (ed.) ''[https://www.routledge.com/The-Baghdadi-Jews-in-India-Maintaining-Communities-Negotiating-Identities/Weil/p/book/9781032091662 The Baghdadi Jews in India: Maintaining Communities, Negotiating Identities and Creating Super-Diversity],'' London and New York: Routledge.</ref>
After India gained its independence in 1947 and Israel was established as a nation, most of the Cochin Jews made [[Aliyah]] and emigrated from Kerala to Israel in the mid-1950s.
In contrast, most of the Paradesi Jews (Sephardi in origin) preferred to migrate to Australia and other [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries, similar to the choices made by [[Anglo-Indian]]s.<ref name=":1">Weil, Shalva. ''From Cochin to Israel'', Jerusalem: Kumu Berina, 1984. (Hebrew)</ref>
Most of their [[List of Synagogues in Kerala|synagogues still exist]] in Kerala, with a few being sold or adapted for other uses.
Among the 8 synagogues that survived till the mid-20th century, only the [[Paradesi Synagogue|Paradesi synagogue]] still has a regular congregation. Today it also attracts tourists as a historic site.
The [[Kadavumbhagam Ernakulam Synagogue]] was restored in 2018, it houses a [[sefer torah]] with occasional services, managed by one of few remaining Cochin Jews of the ancient Malabar Jewish tradition. A few synagogues are in ruins and one was even demolished and a two-storeyed house was built in its place.
The synagogue at [[Chendamangalam Synagogue|Chendamangalam]] ([[Chendamangalam|Chennamangalam]]) was reconstructed in 2006 as Kerala Jews Life Style Museum.<ref name=":3">Weil, Shalva (with Jay Waronker and Marian Sofaer) ''The Chennamangalam Synagogue: Jewish Community in a Village in Kerala''. Kerala: Chennamangalam Synagogue, 2006.</ref>
The synagogue at [[Paravur Synagogue|Paravur]] ([[Paravur Taluk|Parur]]) has been reconstructed as Kerala Jews History Museum.<ref>"The Synagogues of Kerala, India: Architectural and Cultural Heritage." ''Cochinsyn.com'', Friends of Kerala Synagogues, 2011.M</ref><ref>Weil, Shalva. "In an Ancient Land: Trade and synagogues in south India", ''Asian Jewish Life''. 2011. [http://asianjewishlife.org/pages/articles/winter2010-11/AJL_Feature_InAnAncientLand.html]</ref>
==History==
{{Further|History of the Jews in India|History of Kochi}}
===First Jews in South India===
[[File:Receiving jews.jpg|thumb|Arrival of the Jewish pilgrims at Cochin, 71 CE]]
[[File:Jewish copper plate (c. 1000 CE).png|thumb|The inscription from the Sasanam outlining the grant of rights to Joseph Rabban|alt=]]
P. M. Jussay wrote that it was believed that the earliest Jews in India were sailors from [[King Solomon]]'s time.<ref name=":4">''The Jews of Kerala'', P. M. Jussay, cited in ''The Last Jews of Kerala'', p. 79</ref> It has been claimed that following the destruction of the [[First Temple]] in the [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BCE)|Siege of Jerusalem]] (587 BCE), some Jewish exiles came to India.<ref>''The Last Jews of Kerala'', p. 98</ref> Only after the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|destruction of the Second Temple]] in 70 [[Common Era|CE]] are records found that attest to numerous Jewish settlers arriving at [[Cranganore]], an ancient port near Cochin.<ref>Katz 2000; Koder 1973; Thomas Puthiakunnel 1973; David de Beth Hillel, 1832; Lord, James Henry 1977.</ref> Cranganore, now [[transliteration|transliterated]] as [[Kodungallur]], but also known under other names, is a city of legendary importance to this community. Fernandes writes, it is "a substitute Jerusalem in India".<ref>''The Last Jews of Kerala'', p. 102</ref> Katz and Goldberg note the "symbolic intertwining" of the two cities.<ref>''The Last Jews of Kerala'', p. 47</ref>
Ophira Gamliel notes however that the first physical evidence of the presence of Jews in South India dates only to the granting of the [[Quilon Syrian copper plates|Kollam copper plates]].{{sfn|Gamliel|2018|pp=55-56}} The copper plates are a trade deed dated to the year 849 C.E bestowed upon the Nestorian merchant magnate Maruvan Sapir Iso and the [[Saint Thomas Christian]] community by Ayyan Atikal, the ruler of the [[Venad|Kingdom of Venad]]. The copper plates include signatures in Kufic, Pahlavi, and Hebrew and serve as evidence of West Asian mercantilism in Kerala. {{sfn|Gamliel|2018|pp=55-56}}
In 1768, a certain Tobias Boas of Amsterdam had posed eleven questions to Rabbi Yehezkel Rachbi of Cochin. The first of these questions addressed to the said Rabbi concerned the origins of the Jews of Cochin and the duration of their settlement in India. In Rabbi Yehezkel's response <small>(Merzbacher's Library in Munich, MS. 4238)</small>, he wrote: "after the destruction of the Second Temple (may it soon be rebuilt and reestablished in our days!), in the year 3828 of [[anno mundi]], i. e., 68 CE, about ten thousand men and women had come to the land of Malabar and were pleased to settle in four places; those places being [[Cranganore]], Dschalor,{{nbsp}}<ref>Place unidentified; possibly Keezhallur in Kerala State.</ref> Madai<ref>Place unidentified; poss. Madayikonan in Kerala State.</ref> [and] Plota.<ref>Place unidentified; poss. Palode in Kerala State.</ref> Most were in Cranganore, which is also called ''Mago dera Patinas''; it is also called Sengale."<ref>J. Winter and Aug. Wünsche, ''Die Jüdische Literatur seit Abschluss des Kanons'', vol. iii, Hildesheim 1965, pp. 459-462 (German)</ref><ref>A similar tradition has been preserved by [[David Solomon Sassoon]], where he mentions the first places of Jewish settlement on the Malabar Coast as Cranganore, Madai, Pelota and Palur, which were then under the rule of the Perumal dynasty. See: David Solomon Sassoon, ''Ohel Dawid'' (Descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London), vol. 1, Oxford Univ. Press: London 1932, p. 370, section 268.</ref>
[[Thomas the Apostle|Saint Thomas]], an [[Aramaic]]-speaking Jew<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Aramaic language |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aramaic-language |access-date=30 June 2020}}</ref> from the [[Galilee]] region of Israel and one of the disciples of [[Jesus]], is believed to have come to Southern India<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 September 2006 |title=Benedict XVI, General Audience, St Peter's Square: Thomas the twin |url=https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060927.html |access-date=30 June 2020 |website=w2.vatican.va}}</ref> in the 1st century, in search of the Jewish community there.<ref name="Puthiakunnel">{{Cite book |last=Puthiakunnel |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdN4vQEACAAJ |title=The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India |year=1973 |editor-last=Menachery |editor-first=George |volume=2 |location=Trichur |chapter=''Jewish colonies of India paved the way for St. Thomas'' |oclc=1237836}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qhKGPprbQaYC&q=St.+Thomas |title=The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities |publisher=The Israel Museum, Jerusalem |year=2003 |isbn=965-278-179-7 |editor-last=Slapak |editor-first=Orpa |page=27 |via=University Press of New England}}</ref><ref name="stthoma">{{Cite web |title=''India and St.Thomas > South Indian Mission >Overview'' |url=http://www.stthoma.com/india%20and%20stthomas/south_indian_mission.php |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607150744/http://www.stthoma.com/india%20and%20stthomas/south_indian_mission.php |archive-date=7 June 2011 |access-date=25 July 2020}}</ref> It is possible that the [[Jewish Christian|Jews who became Christians]] at that time were absorbed by what became the [[Saint Thomas Christians|Nasrani Community]] in Kerala.<ref name="Puthiakunnel" /><ref name="stthoma" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Muthiah |first=S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zl8MAQAAMAAJ&q=%22long-settled+Jews%22 |title=Madras Rediscovered: A Historical Guide to Looking Around, Supplemented with Tales of 'Once Upon a City' |publisher=East West Books |year=1999 |isbn=818-685-222-0 |page=113}}</ref>
A number of scholars have noted that the Cochin Jews maintain striking cultural similarities to the [[Knanaya]],{{sfn|Weil|1982|pp=175–196}}{{sfn|Jussay|2005|pp=118–128}} Jewish-Christian migrants from Persia who settled in [[Kodungallur]], Kerala in the 4th or 8th century.{{sfn|Frykenberg|2010|pp=113}} These symmetries are noted in both the wedding traditions and especially the folk songs of the two communities, some songs maintaining the exact same lyrics with few corruptions and variations.{{sfn|Weil|1982|pp=175–196}}{{sfn|Jussay|2005|pp=118–128}}
Central to the history of the Cochin Jews was their close relationship with Indian rulers. This was codified on a set of copper plates granting the community special privileges.<ref>Weil, Shalva. "Symmetry between Christians and Jews in India: the Cnanite Christians and the Cochin Jews of Kerala", ''Contributions to Indian Sociology, ''1982. 16(2): 175-196.</ref> The date of these plates, known as "Sâsanam",<ref>Burnell, ''Indian Antiquary'', iii. 333–334.</ref> is contentious. The plates are physically inscribed with the date 379 CE,<ref>Haeem Samuel Kehimkar, ''The History of the Bene-Israel of India'' (ed. Immanuel Olsvanger), Tel-Aviv : The Dayag Press, Ltd.; London : G. Salby 1937, p. 64</ref><ref>David Solomon Sassoon, ''Ohel Dawid'' (Descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the Sassoon Library, London), vol. 1, Oxford Univ. Press: London 1932, p. 370, section 268. According to David Solomon Sassoon, the copper plates were inscribed during the period of the last ruler of the Perumal dynasty, Shirman Perumal.</ref> but in 1925, tradition was setting it as 1069 CE.<ref name="worldmoon">{{Cite book |last=Katz |first=Nathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWX6pF2PTJwC&q=world+moon&pg=PA35 |title=Who are the Jews of India? |publisher=University of California Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780520213234 |page=33}}</ref> Indian rulers granted the Jewish leader [[Joseph Rabban]] the rank of prince over the Jews of Cochin, giving him the rulership and tax revenue of a pocket [[principality]] in [[Anjuvannam]] near Cranganore, and rights to seventy-two "free houses".<ref>Ken Blady, ''Jewish Communities in Exotic Places''. Northvale, N.J.: [[Jason Aronson]] Inc., 2000. pp. 115–130.<br>Weil, Shalva. "Jews of India" in Raphael Patai and Haya Bar Itzhak (eds.) ''Jewish Folklore and Traditions: A Multicultural Encyclopedia'', ABC-CLIO, Inc. 2013, (1: 255-258).</ref>
The Hindu king gave permission in perpetuity (or, in the more poetic expression of those days, "as long as the world, sun and moon endure"<ref name="worldmoon" />) for Jews to live freely, build [[synagogues]], and own property "without conditions attached".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xQzuGncH1TgC&pg=PA59 ''Three Years in America, 1859–1862''] (pp. 59-60) by Israel Joseph Benjamin</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GDNuAAAAMAAJ ''Roots of Dalit History, Christianity, Theology, and Spirituality''] (p. 28) by James Massey, I.S.P.C.K.</ref> A family connection to Rabban, "the king of Shingly" (another name for Cranganore), was long considered a sign of both purity and prestige within the community. Rabban's descendants led this distinct community until a chieftainship dispute broke out between two brothers, one of them named [[Joseph Azar (prince)|Joseph Azar]], in the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mendelssohn |first=Sidney |title=The Jews of Asia: Especially in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries |publisher=AMS Press |year=1920 |page=109}}</ref>
The Jewish traveler [[Benjamin of Tudela]], speaking of [[Kollam]] (Quilon) on the Malabar Coast, writes in his ''Itinerary'':<blockquote>"[t]hroughout the island, including all the towns thereof, live several thousand [[Israelites]]. The inhabitants are all black, and the Jews also. The latter are good and benevolent. They know the [[law of Moses]] and the [[Nevi'im|prophets]], and to a small extent the [[Talmud]] and [[Halacha]]."<ref>''The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela'' (ed. Marcus Nathan Adler), Oxford University Press, London 1907, p. 65</ref></blockquote>These people later became known as the Malabari Jews. They built synagogues in [[Kerala]] beginning in the 12th and 13th centuries.<ref name="isjm">Weil, Shalva. ''From Cochin to Israel''. Jerusalem: Kumu Berina, 1984. (Hebrew)</ref><ref>Weil, Shalva. "Kerala to restore 400-year-old Indian synagogue", ''The Jerusalem Post'' (2009).</ref> The oldest known gravestone of a Cochin Jew is written in Hebrew and dates to 1269 CE. It is near the Chendamangalam Synagogue, built in 1614,<ref name="isjm" /> which is now operated as a museum.<ref>''The Last Jews of Kerala'', pp. 81–82.<br>Weil, Shalva (with Jay Waronker and Marian Sofaer) ''The Chennamangalam Synagogue: Jewish Community in a Village in Kerala''. Kerala: Chennamangalam Synagogue, 2006.</ref>
In 1341, a disastrous flood silted up the port of Cranganore, and trade shifted to a smaller port at [[Cochin]] (Kochi). Many of the Jews moved quickly, and within four years, they had built their first synagogue at the new community.<ref>''The Last Jews of Kerala'' p. 111.</ref><ref>Weil, Shalva. "The Place of Alwaye in Modern Cochin Jewish History", ''Journal of Modern Jewish Studies''. 2010, 8(3): 319-335.</ref>
The [[Portuguese Empire]] established a trading beachhead in 1500, and until 1663 remained the dominant power. They continued to discriminate against the Jews, although doing business with them. A synagogue was built at Parur in 1615, at a site that according to tradition had a synagogue built in 1165. Almost every member of this community emigrated to Israel in 1954.<ref name="isjm" />
[[File:Codice Casanatense Jews of Malabar.jpg|thumb|Jewish couple depicted in 16th century Portuguese [[Códice Casanatense]]]]
In 1524, the Muslims, backed by the ruler of [[History of Kozhikode|Calicut]] (today called [[Kozhikode]] and not to be confused with [[Calcutta]]), attacked the wealthy Jews of Cranganore because of their primacy in the lucrative [[black pepper|pepper]] trade. The Jews fled south to the [[Kingdom of Cochin]], seeking the protection of the [[Cochin Royal Family]] (Perumpadapu Swaroopam). The Hindu Raja of Cochin gave them asylum. Moreover, he exempted Jews from taxation but bestowed on them all privileges enjoyed by the tax-payers.<ref name="worldmoon" />
The Malabar Jews built additional synagogues at [[Mala, Kerala|Mala]] and [[Ernakulam]]. In the latter location, Kadavumbagham Synagogue was built about 1200 and restored in the 1790s. Its members believed they were the congregation to receive the historic copper plates. In the 1930s and 1940s, the congregation was as large as 2,000 members, but all emigrated to Israel.<ref>Weil, Shalva. From Cochin to Israel. Jerusalem: Kumu Berina, 1984. (Hebrew)</ref>
Thekkambagham Synagogue was built in Ernakulam in 1580, and rebuilt in 1939. It is the synagogue in Ernakulam sometimes used for services if former members of the community visit from Israel. In 1998, five families who were members of this congregation still lived in Kerala or in Madras.<ref>Weil, Shalva. "A Revival of Jewish Heritage on the Indian Tourism Trail". ''Jerusalem Post Magazine'', 16 July 2010. pp. 34-36.</ref>
===A Jewish traveler's visit to Cochin===
The following is a description of the Jews of Cochin by 16th-century Jewish traveler [[Zechariah Dhahiri]] (recollections of his travels ''circa'' 1558).
{{blockquote|I travelled from the land of Yemen unto the land of India and Cush, in order to search out a better livelihood. I had chosen the frontier route, where I made a passage across the Great Sea by ship for twenty days... I arrived at the city of [[Kozhikode|Calicut]], which upon entering I was sorely grieved at what I had seen, for the city's inhabitants are all uncircumcised and given over to idolatry. There isn't to be found in her a single Jew with whom I could have, otherwise, taken respite in my journeys and wanderings. I then turned away from her and went into the city of [[Kochi|Cochin]], wherein I found what my soul desired, insofar that a community of Spaniards is to be found there who are derived of Jewish lineage, along with other congregations of proselytes.<ref>This view is supported by Rabbi Yehezkel Rachbi of Cochin who, in a letter addressed to Tobias Boas of Amsterdam in 1768, wrote: "We are called 'White Jews', being people who have come from the Holy Land, (may it be built and established quickly, even in our days), while the Jews that are called 'Black' they became such in Malabar from proselytization and emancipation. However, their status and their rule of law, as well as their prayer, are just as ours." See: [[Sefunot]]; online edition: [http://www.ybz.org.il/_Uploads/dbsArticles/sefunotI_OCR.pdf ''Sefunot'', Book One (article: "Sources for the History on the Relations Between the White and Black Jews of Cochin")] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028214755/http://www.ybz.org.il/_Uploads/dbsArticles/sefunotI_OCR.pdf |date=28 October 2014 }}, p. רמט, but in PDF p. 271 (Hebrew)</ref> They had been converted many years ago, of the natives of [[Kochi|Cochin]] and Germany.<ref>'''Excursus:''' The word used here in the Hebrew original is "Kena`anim", typically translated as "Canaanites". Etymologically, it is important to point out that during the Middle-Ages amongst Jewish scholars, the word "Kena`ani" had taken on the connotation of "German", or resident of Germany (Arabic: Alemania), which usage would have been familiar to our author, Zechariah al-Dhahiri. Not that the Germans are really derived from Canaan, since this has been refuted by later scholars, but only for the sake of clarity of intent do we make mention of this fact. Al-Dhahiri knew, just as we know today, that German Jews had settled in Cochin, the most notable families of which being Rottenburg and Ashkenazi, among others. In [[Abraham ibn Ezra|Ibn Ezra]]'s commentary on Obadiah 1:20, he writes: "Who are [among] the Canaanites. We have heard from great men that the land of Germany (Alemania) they are the Canaanites who fled from the children of Israel when they came into the country". Rabbi [[David Kimchi]] (1160–1235), in his commentary on Obadiah 1:20, writes similarly: "Now they say by way of tradition that the people of the land of Germany (Alemania) were Canaanites, for when the Canaanite [nation] went away from Joshua, just as we have written in the Book of Joshua, they went off to the ''land of Germany'' (Alemania) and Escalona, which is called the land of Ashkenaz, while unto this day they are called Canaanites". Notwithstanding, Yehuda Ratzaby, in his ''Sefer Hamussar'' edition (published in 1965 by the Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem), believed Zechariah al-Dhahiri's intention here was to "emancipated Canaanite slaves", in which case, he takes the word literally as meaning Canaanite.</ref> They are adept in their knowledge of Jewish laws and customs, acknowledging the injunctions of the Divine Law (Torah), and making use of its means of punishment. I dwelt there three months, among the holy congregations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Al-Dhahiri |first=Zechariah |title=Sefer Ha-Musar |publisher=(ed. Mordechai Yitzhari), Bnei Barak 2008|page=67|language=Hebrew}}</ref>}}
===1660 to independence===
[[File:57Cochin White Jew Town.jpg|right|thumb|Photo identified as "White Jew town", Cochin, 1913]]
The [[Paradesi Jews]], also called "White Jews", settled in the Cochin region in the 16th century and later, following the [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|expulsion from Iberia]] due to forced conversion and religious persecution in Spain and then Portugal. Some fled north to [[Holland]] but the majority [[History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire|fled east to the Ottoman Empire]]. Both "Black Jews" and the "White Jews" (the Spanish Jews) of Malabar claimed that they are the true inheritors of the old Jewish culture.<ref name=":22">"Further Studies in the Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin", ''Indian Historical Review'', vol. 29, no. 1–2, Jan. 2002, pp. 66–76, doi:10.1177/037698360202900204.</ref>
Some went beyond that territory, including a few families who followed the Arab [[Spice trade|spice routes]] to southern India. Speaking [[Ladino language]] and having [[Sephardic]] customs, they found the Malabari Jewish community as established in Cochin to be quite different. According to the historian Mandelbaum, there were resulting tensions between the two ethnic communities.<ref>Cited on p 51 in ''The Last Jews of Kerala''</ref> The European Jews had some trade links to Europe and useful languages to conduct international trade <ref name=":0" />
When the Portuguese occupied the [[Kingdom of Cochin]], they allegedly discriminated against its Jews. Nevertheless, to some extent they shared language and culture, so ever more Jews came to live under Portuguese rule (actually under the Spanish crown, again, between 1580 and 1640). The Protestant Dutch killed the raja of Cochin, allied of the Portuguese, plus sixteen hundred Indians in 1662, during their siege of Cochin. The Jews, having supported the Dutch military attempt, suffered the murderous retaliation of both the Portuguese and Malabar populations. A year later, the second Dutch siege was successful and, after slaughtering the Portuguese, they demolished most Catholic churches or turned them into Protestant churches (not sparing the one where Vasco da Gama had been buried). They were more tolerant of Jews, having granted asylum claims in the Netherlands. (See the [[Goa Inquisition]] for the situation of Jews in nearby [[Goa]].)<ref>'''Weil, S.''' 2020 (ed.) ''[https://www.amazon.com/Jews-Goa-Shalva-Weil/dp/9389755778 The Jews of Goa]'', New Delhi: Primus Books.</ref>
The Paradesi Jews built their own house of worship, the [[Paradesi Synagogue]]. The latter group was very small by comparison to the Malabaris. Both groups practiced [[endogamous]] marriage, maintaining their distinctions. Both communities claimed special privileges and the greater status over each other.<ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4435-cochin "Cochin Jews"], ''Indian Express''. Accessed 13 December 2008.</ref>
[[File:"Juifs_noirs"_03.jpg|thumb|Cochin Jewish children in 1936]]
In the early 20th century, [[Abraham Barak Salem]] (1882–1967), a young lawyer who became known as a "Jewish Gandhi", worked to end the discrimination against ''meshuchrarim'' Jews. Inspired by Indian nationalism and Zionism, he also tried to reconcile the divisions among the Cochin Jews.<ref>[http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-kochi-dream-died-in-mumbai/397831/0 "A Kochi dream died in Mumbai"]. ''Indian Express'', 13 December 2008.</ref> He became both an [[Indian nationalism|Indian nationalist]] and Zionist. His family were descended from ''meshuchrarim''. The Hebrew word denoted a [[manumission|manumitted]] slave, and was at times used in a derogatory way. Salem fought against the discrimination by boycotting the Paradesi Synagogue for a time. He also used ''[[satyagraha]]'' to combat the social discrimination. According to Mandelbaum, by the mid-1930s many of the old taboos had fallen with a changing society.<ref>Katz, ''The Last Jews of Kerala'', p. 164</ref>
==Relations between the Cochin Jews and other Jews==
Although India is noted for having four distinct Jewish communities, ''viz'' Cochin, [[Bene Israel]] (of Bombay and its environs), Calcutta, and New Delhi, communications between the Jews of [[Kochi|Cochin]] and the Bene Israel community were greatest in the mid-19th century.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-09-21 |title=The Last Jews of Cochin |url=https://psmag.com/social-justice/last-jews-of-cochin |access-date=2017-09-22 |website=Pacific Standard}}</ref> According to native Bene Israel historian Haeem Samuel Kehimkar (1830-1909), several prominent members from the "White Jews" of [[Kochi|Cochin]] had moved to Bombay in 1825 from [[Kochi|Cochin]], of whom are specifically named Michael and Abraham Sargon, David Baruch Rahabi, Hacham Samuel, and Judah David Ashkenazi. These exerted themselves not only in changing the minds of the Bene-Israel and of their children generally, but also particularly in turning the minds of these few of the Bene-Israel, who through heathen influence had gone astray from the path of the religion of their forefathers, to the study of their own religion, and to the contemplation of [[Names of God in Judaism|God]]. David Rahabi effected a religious revival at Revandanda, followed by his successor, Hacham Samuel.<ref>Haeem Samuel Kehimkar, ''The History of the Bene-Israel of India'' (ed. Immanuel Olsvanger), Tel-Aviv: The Dayag Press, Ltd.; London: G. Salby 1937, p. 66</ref>
Although David Rahabi was convinced that the Bene Israel were the descendants of the Jews, he still wanted to examine them further. He therefore gave their women clean and unclean fish to be cooked together, but they singled out the clean from the unclean ones, saying that they never used fish that had neither fins nor scales. Being thus satisfied, he began to teach them the tenets of the Jewish religion. He taught Hebrew reading, without translation, to three Bene Israel young men from the families of Jhiratker, Shapurker and Rajpurker.<ref>Haeem Samuel Kehimkar, ''A sketch of the history of Bene-Israel: and an appeal for their education'', Bombay : Education Society's Press 1892, p. 20</ref>
Another influential man from Cochin, who is alleged to have been of Yemenite Jewish origin, was Hacham [[Shelomo Salem Shurrabi]] who served as a ''[[Chazan|Hazan]]'' (Reader) in the then newly formed synagogue of the Bene-Israel in Bombay for the trifling sum of 100 rupees ''per annum'', although he worked also as a book-binder. While engaged in his avocation, he was at all times ready to explain any scriptural difficulty that might happen to be brought to him by any Bene Israel. He was a Reader, Preacher, Expounder of the Law, ''[[Mohel]]'' and ''[[Shochet]]''.<ref>Haeem Samuel Kehimkar, ''The History of the Bene-Israel of India'' (ed. Immanuel Olsvanger), Tel-Aviv : The Dayag Press, Ltd.; London : G. Salby 1937, pp. 67-68</ref> He died on 17 April 1856 in Bombay.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SHURRABI, SHELOMO SALEM - JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13620-shurrabi-shelomo-salem |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref>
==Since 1947==
{{main|Indian Jews in Israel}}
[[File:זוג מקוצ'ין לאחר עלייתם לישראל.jpg|thumb|A Jewish couple from Cochin after immigrating to Israel]] [[File:Judeo-Malayalam map.svg|thumb|Judeo-Malayalam speaking communities in [[Kerala]] (largely historical) and Israel (current)]]
India became independent from British rule in 1947 and Israel established itself as a nation in 1948. With the heightened emphasis on the [[Partition of India]] into a secular republic of [[India]] and a semi-theocratic [[Pakistan]], most of the Cochin Jews emigrated from India. Generally they went to Israel (made [[aliyah]]).{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}
Many of the migrants joined the ''[[moshav]]im'' (agricultural settlements) of [[Nevatim]], [[Shahar, Israel|Shahar]], [[Yuval]], and [[Mesilat Zion]].<ref name=":1" /> Others settled in the neighbourhood of [[Katamon]] in [[Jerusalem]], and in [[Beersheba]], [[Ramla]], [[Dimona]], and [[Yeruham]], where many [[Bene Israel]] had settled.<ref>Shulman, D. and Weil, S. (eds). ''Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India''. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008.</ref> The migrated Cochin Jews still continue to speak [[Malayalam]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spector |first=Johanna |date=1972 |title=Shingli Tunes of the Cochin Jews |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/833956 |journal=Asian Music |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=23–28 |doi=10.2307/833956 |issn=0044-9202 |jstor=833956}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=B. |first=Segal, J. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/624148605 |title=A history of the Jews of Cochin |date=1993 |publisher=Vallentine Mitchell |oclc=624148605}}</ref> Since the late 20th century, former Cochin Jews have also immigrated to the United States. It is recorded that currently only 26 Jews live in Kerala, who is located in different parts of [[Kerala]] such as [[Cochin]], [[Kottayam]] and [[Thiruvalla]].
In Cochin, the [[Paradesi Synagogue]] is still active as a place of worship, but the Jewish community is very small. The building also attracts visitors as a historic tourist site.<ref name="roughguide">{{Cite book |last=Abram |first=David |title=The Rough Guide to Kerala |date=November 2010 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-1-84836-541-4 |edition=2nd |location=London, United Kingdom |page=181}}</ref>
==Genetic analysis==
{{further|Genetic studies on Jews}}
[[Genetic testing]] into the origins of the Cochin Jewish and other Indian Jewish communities noted that until the present day the Indian Jews maintained in the range of 3%-20% Middle Eastern ancestry, confirming the traditional narrative of migration from the Middle East to India. The tests noted however that the communities had considerable Indian admixture, exhibiting the fact that the Indian Jewish people "inherited their ancestry from Middle Eastern and Indian populations".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chaubey |first1=Gyaneshwer |last2=Singh |first2=Manvendra |last3=Rai |first3=Niraj |last4=Kariappa |first4=Mini |last5=Singh |first5=Kamayani |last6=Singh |first6=Ashish |last7=Pratap Singh |first7=Deepankar |last8=Tamang |first8=Rakesh |last9=Selvi Rani |first9=Deepa |last10=Reddy |first10=Alla G. |last11=Kumar Singh |first11=Vijay |date=13 January 2016 |title=Genetic affinities of the Jewish populations of India |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=19166 |bibcode=2016NatSR...619166C |doi=10.1038/srep19166 |pmc=4725824 |pmid=26759184 |last12=Singh |first12=Lalji |last13=Thangaraj |first13=Kumarasamy}}</ref>
==Traditions and way of life==
[[File:Black jew of cochin with peyots.jpg|thumb|A Cochin Jewish man with [[payot]]]]
The 12th-century Jewish traveller [[Benjamin of Tudela]] wrote about the Malabari coast of Kerala: "They know the law of Moses and the prophets, and to a small extent the [[Talmud]] and [[Halacha]]."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adler, Marcus Nathan |year=1907 |title=The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Critical Text, Translation and Commentary |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/tudela.html |access-date=2012-05-01 |website=Depts.washington.edu |publisher=Phillip Feldheim, Inc. |location=New York}}</ref> European Jews sent texts to the community of Cochin Jews to teach them about normative Judaism.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}
[[Maimonides]] (1135–1204), the preeminent Jewish philosopher of his day, wrote,
<blockquote>"Only lately, some well-to-do men came forward and purchased three copies of my code [the [[Mishneh Torah]]], which they distributed through messengers... Thus, the horizon of these Jews was widened, and the religious life in all communities as far as India revived."<ref>Twersky, Isadore. ''A Maimonides Reader''. Behrman House. Inc., 1972, pp. 481–482</ref></blockquote>
In a 1535 letter sent from [[Safed]] to Italy, [[David del Rossi]] wrote that a Jewish merchant from [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] had told him the India town of Shingly ([[Cranganore]]) had a large Jewish population who dabbled in yearly pepper trade with the Portuguese. As far as their religious life, he wrote that they "only recognize the [[Mishneh Torah|Code of Maimonides]], and possessed no other authority or traditional law".<ref>Katz, Nathan and Ellen S. Goldberg. ''The Last Jews of Cochin: Jewish Identity in Hindu India''. University of South Carolina Press, p. 40. Also, Katz, Nathan, ''Who Are the Jews of India?'', University of California Press, 2000, p. 33.</ref> According to the contemporary historian Nathan Katz, Rabbi [[Nissim of Gerona]] (the Ran) visited the Cochini Jews. They preserve in their song books the poem he wrote about them.<ref>Katz, ''Who Are the Jews of India?'', op. cit., p. 32.</ref> In the [[Kadavumbhagam Ernakulam Synagogue|Kadavumbhagam synagogue]], a Hebrew school was available for both "children's education and adult study of Torah and [[Mishnah]]".<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 January 1999 |title=ISJM Jewish Heritage Report Volume II, nos 3-4 |url=http://www.isjm.org/jhr/IInos3-4/india.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010515024520/http://www.isjm.org/jhr/IInos3-4/india.htm |archive-date=15 May 2001}}</ref>
The ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' (1901-1906) said,
<blockquote>"Though they neither eat nor drink together, nor intermarry, the Black and the White Jews of Cochin have almost the same social and religious customs. They hold the same doctrines, use the same ritual ([[Sephardic]]), observe the same feasts and fasts, dress alike, and have adopted the same language Malayalam. ... The two classes are equally strict in religious observances",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jacobs, Joseph and Joseph Ezekiel. "Cochin", 1901–1906, pp. 135–138 |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=558&letter=C |access-date=2012-05-01 |publisher=Jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref></blockquote>According to Martine Chemana, the Jews of Cochin "coalesced around the religious fundamentals: devotion and strict obedience to Biblical Judaism, and to the Jewish customs and traditions ... Hebrew, taught through the Torah texts by rabbis and teachers who came especially from [[Yemen]]."<ref name="sing" />
=== Piyyutim ===
The Jews of Cochin had a long tradition of singing devotional hymns (piyyutim) and songs on festive occasions such as Purim.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weil |first=Shalva |year=2006 |title=Today is Purim: A Cochin Jewish Song in Hebrew |journal=TAPASAM Journal: Quarterly Journal for Kerala Studies |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=575–588}}</ref> Women used to sing Jews songs in Judeo-Malayalam. They did not adhere to the [[Talmud]]ic prohibition against public singing by women ([[kol isha]]).<ref name="sing">{{Cite journal |last=Chemana |first=Martine |date=15 October 2002 |title=Les femmes chantent, les hommes écoutent.. Chants en malayalam (pattu-kal) des Kochini, communautés juives du Kerala, en Inde et en Israël |trans-title=Women sing, men listen: Malayalam folksongs of the Cochini, the Jewish Community of Kerala, in India and in Israel |url=https://journals.openedition.org/bcrfj/752 |journal=Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem |language=fr |issue=11 |pages=28–44}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pradeep, K. |date=15 May 2005 |title=Musical Heritage |work=[[The Hindu]] |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/05/15/stories/2005051500300400.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=2012-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060910074302/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/05/15/stories/2005051500300400.htm |archive-date=10 September 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Cochin: Jewish Women's Music |encyclopedia=Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia |publisher=Jewish Women's Archive |url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cochin-jewish-womens-music |access-date=2012-05-01 |date=1 March 2009 |author=Johnson, Barbara C.}}</ref>
==Judeo-Malayalam==
{{Further|Judeo-Malayalam|List of loanwords in Malayalam}}
Judeo-Malayalam ({{Langx|ml|യെഹൂദ്യമലയാളം|translit=yehūdyamalayāḷaṃ}}; {{Langx|he|מלאיאלאם יהודית|translit=malayalam yəhūḏīṯ}}) is the traditional language of the Kochinim, spoken today by a few dozens of people in [[Israel]] and by probably fewer than 25 in India.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} In their antiquity, Malabar Jews may have used [[Judeo-Persian dialect|Judeo-Persian]] as evident from the [[Quilon Syrian copper plates|Kollam Copper plates]].
Judeo-Malayalam is the only known [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]] [[Jewish languages|Jewish language]]. Since it does not differ substantially in [[grammar]] or [[syntax]] from other colloquial [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]] dialects, it is not considered by many linguists to be a [[language]] in its own right, but a [[dialect]], or simply a language variation. Judeo-Malayalam shares with other Jewish languages like [[Ladino (language)|Ladino]], [[Judeo-Arabic dialects|Judeo-Arabic]], and [[Yiddish]], common traits and features. For example, verbatim translations from Hebrew to Malayalam, archaic features of Old Malayalam, Hebrew components agglutinated to Dravidian verb and noun formations and special idiomatic usages based on its Hebrew loanwords. Due to the lack of long-term scholarship on this language variation, there is no separate designation for the language (if it can be so considered), for it to have its own language code (''see also [[SIL International|SIL]] and [[ISO 639]]'').
Unlike many [[Jew]]ish languages, Judeo-Malayalam is not written using the [[Hebrew alphabet]]. It does, however, like most Jewish languages, contain many [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[loanword]]s, which are regularly transliterated, as much as possible, using the [[Malayalam script]]. Like many other Jewish languages, Judeo-Malayalam also contains a number of [[Vocabulary|lexical]], [[Phonology|phonological]] and [[Syntax|syntactic]] archaisms, in this case, from the days before Malayalam became fully distinguished from [[Tamil language|Tamil]].
{| class="wikitable"
!Malayalam Transliteration
!Meaning
!Original Form
!Pronunciation
|-
|അളം
|world
|עולם
|oˈlam
|-
|അലിയ
|ascension
|עלייה
|aliyá
|-
|അലുവ/ഹലുവ
|sweet
|חלבה
|halvah
|-
|ബാ
|come
|בא
|ba
|-
|ബേത് ക്‌നേസേത്
|synagogue
|בית כנסת
|beit-k'néset
|-
|ഇവിരീത്
|Hebrew language
|עברית
|ivrít
|-
|കബറ്
|grave, tomb
|קבר
|kéver
|-
|മിശ്രേം, മിശ്രീം
|Egypt, Egyptian
|מצרים, מצרי
|mitsráyim, mitsrí
|-
|മെത്ത
|bed
|מיטה
|metah
|-
|നവി
|prophet
|נביא
|naví
|-
|റബ്ബാൻ, രമ്പാൻ
|rabbi, teacher, monk
|רבי
|rabbi
|-
|സായിത്ത്
|olive
|זית
|záyit
|-
|സഫറാദ്, സഫറാദി
|Spain, Spaniard
|ספרד, ספרדי
|sfarad, sfaradi
|-
|ശാലോം
|hello, peace
|שלום
|shalóm
|-
|ശാലോം ആയി
|death
|שלום עליי
|shalóm ali
|-
|ശീർ
|song, music
|שיר
|shir
|-
|ശോഷന്നാ
|lily
|שושן
|shoshán
|-
|തപ്പുവാഖ്
|apple
|תפוח
|tapúakh
|-
|തോറ
|Torah
|תורה
|torá
|-
|യവൻ, യാവന
|Greece, Greek (Likely to be derived from "Ionian", the Greeks who lived in Asia Minor)
|יוון, יווני
|yaván, yevani
|-
|യിസ്രായേൽ, യിസ്രായേലി
|Israel, Israeli
|ישראל, הישראלי
|yisra'él, yisra'éli
|-
|യൂദാ, യെഹൂദൻ
|Jew, Jewish
|יהודי
|y'hudi
|}
==Cochin Jewish synagogues==
{{Further|List of synagogues in Kerala}}
A synagogue is called a beit knesset ([[Malayalam|Mal]]''':''' ''ബേത് ക്‌നേസേത്'' | [[Hebrew language|Heb]]''':''' ''בית'' ''כנסת'') in [[Judeo-Malayalam]] or "Jootha Palli" ([[Malayalam|Mal]]''':''' ''ജൂതപള്ളി'') with ''joothan'' meaning Jew in [[Malayalam]] and -''palli'' a suffix added to prayer houses of the [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic faiths]]. [[File:Israel_Museum-_Transfered_and_Rebuilt_Synagogues_(5689324888).jpg|thumb|The [[Torah ark|ark]] and [[Bema|bimah]] of the Parur Synagogue are now displayed in the [[Israel Museum]] in Jerusalem]]Throughout their history numerous synagogues have been constructed and lost to time. in their first settlement at Shingly ([[Kodungallur|Cranganore]]), there were 18 synagogues as per their oral traditions. Today no archaeological evidence has been yet uncovered to validate these traditions. However the custom of naming their synagogues as "''Thekkumbhagam''" (lit: south side) and "''Kadavumbhagam''" (lit: River side) is cited as a cultural memory of two such synagogues that once stood in [[Muziris]]. Several oral songs sung by Cochini women also contain references to these synagogues.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cochin: Jewish Women's Music|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cochin-jewish-womens-music|access-date=2021-09-28|website=Jewish Women's Archive|language=en}}</ref> Apart from these, numerous Syrian Christian churches of the [[Saint Thomas Christians|St. Thomas Christian]] community in Kerala claim to have been built on old synagogues, though archaeological evidence is scarce.
Synagogues believed to have existed or speculated on basis of oral traditions include:
* Madayi Synagogue, [[Madayi]]
* Cranganore Synagogue, Shingly
* Thekkumbhagam synagogue, Shingly
* Kadavumbhagam Synagogue, Shingly
Synagogues in recorded history whose location and/or remains have been lost in time:<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|first=Jay|last=Waronker|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/173844321|title=Jay Waronker : India's synagogues ; March-April 7, 2007.|date=2007|publisher=Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca College|oclc=173844321}}</ref>
* '''[[Palayoor Synagogue]]''', [[Palayoor|Palur]] ''(known only from a rimon (ornament) bearing its name)''
* '''Kokkamangalam Synagogue''', [[Kokkamangalam]]
* '''[[Kochangadi Synagogue]]''',(1344 A.D - 1789 A.D) [[Kochangadi]] ''(oldest synagogue in recorded history)''
*'''Saudi Synagogue''', (1514 A.D-1556 A.D), Saude, a locality south of [[Fort Kochi]].
* '''Tir-Tur Synagogue''', (1745 A.D-1768 A.D) Thiruthur, Kochi
*'''Muttam Synagogue''' (1800A.D), [[Alappuzha|Muttam]], Alappuzha
* '''Fort Kochi Synagogue''', (1848 A.D), [[Fort Kochi]] ''(congregation of [[Meshuchrarim|meschuhrarim]])''
*'''Seremban Synagogue''', [[Seremban]], [[Malaysia]]
Extant synagogues in Kerala:<ref name=":2" />
* '''[[Kadavumbhagam Mattancherry Synagogue]]''', (1130 A.D or 1539 A.D), [[Mattancherry|Mattanchery]]
* '''[[Thekkumbhagam Synagogue|Thekkumbhagam Mattancherry Synagogue]]''', (1647 A.D), [[Mattancherry|Mattanchery]] ''(demolished in 1960's)''
* '''[[Chendamangalam Synagogue]]''', (1420 or 1614 A.D), [[Chendamangalam]]
* '''[[Mala Synagogue]]''', (1400 A.D or 1597 A.D), [[Mala, Kerala|Mala]]
* '''[[Paravur Synagogue]]''', (1164 A.D or 1616 A.D), [[North Paravur|Parur]]
* '''[[Kadavumbhagam Ernakulam Synagogue]]''', (1200 A.D), [[Ernakulam]]
* '''[[Thekkumbhagam Ernakulam Synagogue]]''', (1200 A.D or 1580 A.D), [[Ernakulam]]
* '''[[Paradesi Synagogue]]''', (1568 A.D), [[Mattancherry]] ''(oldest active synagogue)''
Cochini synagogues in Israel:
* '''Moshav Nevatim Synagogue''', [[Nevatim]] (interiors taken from Thekkumbhagam Ernakulam Synagogue)
*'''Mesilat Zion Synagogue''', [[Mesilat Zion]]
*'''Nehemiah Motta Synagogue''', [[Giv'at Ko'ah]]
==Cochin Jewish surnames==
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%"
! List of Cochin Jewish names and surnames<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Synagogues of Kerala|url=http://cochinsyn.com/|access-date=2021-10-09|website=cochinsyn.com}}</ref><ref name="Puthiakunnel" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" /> (partial)
|-
|
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
*Aaron/Aharon
*Abraham/Avraham/Ibrahim
*Ashkenazi
*Azar
*Bezalel
*Cohen
*Daniel
*David/Davidson
*Dharan
*Efraim/Evarayi
*Elia/Elias/Eliyahu
*Gershon
*Hai/Hay
*Hallegua
*Iype
*Itzhak/Yitzhak
*Japheth
*Joy
*Koder
*Kalloor/Kallookaran/Kallooran
*Kunjeli
*Libi
*Madayi
*Meir
*Menahem
*Meyuhasheem
*Mordekhai/Mordechai/Mordehay
*Motta
*Murdai
*Mutas/Mutach/Mutath/Mutat
*Nehemia/Nehemya
*Oran/Oren
*Palliparambil
*Pal/Pallivathikal/Palivathukal
*Rabban
*Rahabi
*Roby/Rubi
*Salem
*Samuel
*Sargon
*Sarphati
*Sassoon
*Sharet/Chorath
*Siji
*Simon
*Solomon/Shlomo
*Thomas
*Tifferet
*Yaakov
*Yeoshua/Joshua
*Yohanan
*Yoseph/Joseph/Josephai
*Zackai
{{div col end}}
|}
==Notable Cochin Jews==
* [[Joseph Rabban]], the first leader of the Jewish community of Kodungallur, was given copper plates of special grants from the [[Chera dynasty|Chera]] ruler Bhaskara Ravivarman II from [[Kerala]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rubin |first1=Aaron D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W8QIEAAAQBAJ |title=Jewish Languages from A to Z |last2=Kahn |first2=Lily |date=2020-09-13 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-04343-4 |pages=136 |language=en}}</ref>
* Aaron Azar, among the last Jewish princes of Kodungallur
* Joseph Azar, the last Jewish prince of Kodungallur
*Sarah bat Israel, whose tombstone (d. 1249 A.D) is the oldest found in India
*[[Elijah ha-Adeni|Eliyah ben Moses Adeni]], a 17th century Hebrew poet from [[Kochi|Cochin]].
*[[Rahabi Ezekiel|Ezekiel Rahabi]] (1694–1771), chief Jewish merchant of the Dutch East India Company in Cochin
* Nehemiah ben Abraham (d. 1615 A.D), (Nehemiah Mutha), patron saint of Malabar Jews
* [[Abraham Barak Salem]] (1882–1967), Cochin Jewish Indian nationalist leader
*Benjamin Meyuhasheem, the last Cochin Jew in Seremban, Malaysia
* [[Ruby Daniel]] (1912-2002), Indian-Israeli author and subject of ''Ruby of Cochin''
*Meydad Eliyahu, Israeli artist
*Dr. Eliyahu Bezalel, renowned horticulturist
*Elias "Babu" Josephai, caretaker of Kadavumbagam Synagogue
*[[Sarah Jacob Cohen]] (1922-2019), the oldest member of the Paradesi community<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 August 2019 |title=Sarah Cohen, the oldest Kerala Jew, passes away |newspaper=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/sarah-cohen-the-oldest-kerala-jew-passes-away/article29302997.ece |via=www.thehindu.com}}</ref>
== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="200" heights="300" perrow="7">
File:Malabar Jewish High Priest.jpg|A high Priest of the Malabar Jews
File:Paradesi Jew Bhagdhadi.jpg|A Paradesi Jew of [[Baghdadi Jews|Baghdadi]] Origin
File:Two young jewesses.jpg|Two Young ''Achi's'' (Jewess in Malayalam)
File:Two jewesses.jpg|Two ''Achi's'' (Jewess in Malayalam)
File:Malabar Jew.jpg|A Malabar Jew, ''circa'' 1920's
File:U Nu visiting a village of immigrants from Cuchin, India. D777-114.jpg
File:"Juifs noirs" 01.jpg
File:"Juifs noirs" 02.jpg
File:Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia e9 794-0.jpg
</gallery>
==See also==
* [[List of Synagogues in Kerala]]
* [[History of the Jews in India]]
* [[Gathering of Israel]]
*[[Meshuchrarim]]
*[[Paradesi Jews]]
*[[Abraham Barak Salem]]
*[[Joseph Rabban]]
* [[Judaism]]
* [[Anjuvannam]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}
==References==
*Fernandes, Edna. (2008) ''The Last Jews of Kerala''. London: Portobello Books. {{ISBN|978-1-84627-098-7}}
* Koder, S. "History of the Jews of Kerala", ''The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India'', ed. G. Menachery, 1973.
* Puthiakunnel, Thomas. (1973) "Jewish Colonies of India Paved the Way for St. Thomas", ''The Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India'', ed. George Menachery, Vol. II., Trichur.
* Daniel, Ruby & B. Johnson. (1995). ''Ruby of Cochin: An Indian Jewish Woman Remembers''. Philadelphia and Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society.
* [https://archive.org/details/landpermaulsorc00daygoog The Land of the Permauls, Or, Cochin, Its Past and Its Present] <!-- quote=francis day. --> Day, Francis (1869). ''The Land of the Permauls, Or, Cochin, Its Past and Its Present'', Cochin Jewish life in 18th century, read Chapter VIII (pp.&nbsp;336 to 354), reproduced pp.&nbsp;446–451 in ICHC I, 1998, Ed. George Menachery. Francis Day was a British civil surgeon in 1863.
*Walter J. Fischel, ''The Cochin Jews'', reproduced from the Cochin Synagogue, 4th century, Vol. 1968, Ed. Velayudhan and Koder, Kerala History Association, Ernakulam, reproduced in ICHC I, Ed. George Menachery, 1998, pp.&nbsp;562–563
* de Beth Hillel, David. (1832) ''Travels''; Madras.
*{{cite book|first=Robert |last=Frykenberg|title=Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199575831|date=2010}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Gamliel |first=Ophira |title=Jewish Malayalam Women's Songs |date=April 2009 |degree=PhD |publisher=Hebrew University |url=http://shemer.mslib.huji.ac.il/dissertations/W/JMS/001489509.pdf |access-date=2 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326052302/http://shemer.mslib.huji.ac.il/dissertations/W/JMS/001489509.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2017 |url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Gamliel |first=Ophira |year=2018 |title=Back from Shingly: Revisiting the Premodern History of Jews in Kerala |journal=The Indian Economic and Social History Review |volume=55 |pages=53–76|doi=10.1177/0019464617745926 |s2cid=149268133 |url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/157659/1/157659.pdf }}
* Jussay, P.M. (1986) "The Wedding Songs of the Cochin Jews and of the Knanite Christians of Kerala: A Study in Comparison". Symposium.
* {{Cite book |last=Jussay |first=P. M. |title=The Jews of Kerala |publisher=Publication division, University of Calicut |year=2005 |location=Calicut}}
* Hough, James. (1893) ''The History of Christianity in India''.
* Lord, James Henry. (1977) ''The Jews in India and the Far East''. 120 pp.; Greenwood Press Reprint; {{ISBN|0-8371-2615-0}}
* Menachery, George, ed. (1998) ''The Indian Church History Classics'', Vol. I, ''The Nazranies'', Ollur, 1998. {{ISBN|81-87133-05-8}}
* Katz, Nathan; & Goldberg, Ellen S; (1993) ''The Last Jews of Cochin: Jewish Identity in Hindu India''. Foreword by Daniel J. Elazar, Columbia, SC: Univ. of South Carolina Press. {{ISBN|0-87249-847-6}}
* Menachery, George, ed. (1973) ''The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India'' B.N.K. Press, vol. 2, {{ISBN|81-87132-06-X}}, Lib. Cong. Cat. Card. No. 73-905568 ; B.N.K. Press
*{{Cite journal |last=Weil |first=Shalva |date=25 July 2016 |title=Symmetry between Christians and Jews in India: the Cnanite Christians and the Cochin Jews of Kerala |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=175–196 |doi=10.1177/006996678201600202 |ref={{sfnRef|Weil|1982}} |s2cid=143053857}}
* Weil, Shalva. From Cochin to Israel. Jerusalem: Kumu Berina, 1984. (Hebrew)
* Weil, Shalva. "Cochin Jews", in Carol R. Ember, Melvin Ember and Ian Skoggard (eds) Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement, New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. pp.&nbsp;78–80.
* Weil, Shalva. "Jews in India." in M.Avrum Erlich (ed.) Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora, Santa Barbara, USA: ABC CLIO. 2008, 3: 1204–1212.
* Weil, Shalva. India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle, Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2009. [first published in 2002; 3rd edn.].
* Weil, Shalva. "The Place of Alwaye in Modern Cochin Jewish History." ''Journal of Modern Jewish Studies. ''2010, 8(3): 319-335
* Weil, Shalva.  "Cochin Jews" in Judith Baskin (ed.) Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. pp.&nbsp;107.
* {{Cite journal |last=Weil |first=Shalva |year=2006 |title=Today is Purim: A Cochin Jewish Song in Hebrew |journal=TAPASAM Journal: Quarterly Journal for Kerala Studies |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=575–588}}
==Further reading==
* {{Cite journal |last=Chiriyankandath |first=James |date=1 March 2008 |title=Nationalism, religion and community: A. B. Salem, the politics of identity and the disappearance of Cochin Jewry |journal=Journal of Global History |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=21–42 |doi=10.1017/S1740022808002428}}
* Katz, Nathan. (2000) ''Who Are the Jews of India?''; Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-21323-8}}
* Katz, Nathan; Goldberg, Ellen S; (1995) "Leaving Mother India: Reasons for the Cochin Jews' Migration to Israel", ''Population Review'' 39, 1 & 2 : 35–53.
*George Menachery, ''The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India'', Vol. III, 2010, Plate f.p.&nbsp;264 for 9 photographs, {{oclc|1237836}} {{ISBN|978-81-87132-06-6}}
*[http://aapress.com/ethnicity/indian/minnesota-and-the-jews-of-india/ Paulose, Rachel. "Minnesota and the Jews of India"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614094235/http://aapress.com/ethnicity/indian/minnesota-and-the-jews-of-india/ |date=14 June 2013 }}, ''Asian American Press'', 14 February 2012
*Van der Haven, Alexander. "A Jewish Qur’an: An Eighteenth-Century Hebrew Qur’an Translation in its Indian Context." ''Religions''. 2023, 14 no. 11, 1368 [https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111368]
* Weil, Shalva. "Obituary: Professor J. B. Segal." ''Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies''. 2005, 7: 117–119.
* Weil, Shalva. "Indian Judaic Tradition." in Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby (eds) ''Religions in South Asia'', London: Palgrave Publishers. 2006, pp.&nbsp;169–183.
* Weil, Shalva. "Indo-Judaic Studies in the Twenty-First Century: A Perspective from the Margin", Katz, N., Chakravarti, R., Sinha, B. M. and Weil, S. (eds) New York and Basingstoke, England: Palgrave-Macmillan Press. 2007.
* Weil, Shalva. "Cochin Jews(South Asia)." in Paul Hockings (ed.) ''Encyclopedia of World Cultures'', Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall & Co.2. 1992, 71–73.
* Weil, Shalva. "Cochin Jews." in Carol R. Ember, Melvin Ember and Ian Skoggard (eds) ''Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement''. New York: Macmillan Reference USA. 2002, pp.&nbsp;78–80.
* Weil, Shalva. "Judaism-South Asia", in David Levinson and Karen Christensen (eds) ''Encyclopedia of Modern Asia''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 2004, 3: 284–286.
* {{cite EJ|last=Weil|first=Shalva|title=Cochin Jews|volume=3|pages=335–339}}
* Weil, Shalva. "Jews in India." in M.Avrum Erlich (ed.) ''Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora'', Santa Barbara, USA: ABC CLIO. 2008.
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://adaniel.tripod.com/cochin.htm Cochin Jews]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160816072043/http://ionas-editions.com/en/2016/07/14/1687-mosseh-pereyra-de-paiva-notisias-dos-judeos-de-cochim-2/ (1687) Mosseh Pereyra de Paiva - Notisias dos Judeos de Cochim]
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=40&letter=C "Calcutta Jews"], ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'', 1901-1906 edition
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060910074302/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/05/15/stories/2005051500300400.htm "Cochin Jewish musical heritage"], ''The Hindu'', 15 May 2005
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20031027084148/http://www.hindu.com/2003/09/11/stories/2003091108060400.htm news "Indian officials recount Cochin Jewish history"], ''The Hindu'', 11 September 2003
* [http://www.cochinsyn.com The Synagogues of Kerala]
* [http://www.minorsights.com/2016/03/india-minor-synagogues-of-kerala.html Synagogues of Chendamangalam and Pavur, Kerala]
{{Kochi (India) topics}}
{{Asia topic|History of the Jews in}}
{{Jews and Judaism}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Cochin Jews| ]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in India]]
[[Category:Kerala society]]
[[Category:Indian Jews| ]]
[[Category:Jewish ethnic groups]]
[[Category:Social groups of Kerala]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Kerala]]
[[Category:Judaism in Kerala]]
[[Category:South Indian communities]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in India]]