The foreigners who throng the Synagogue at Mattancherry in Kochi these days offer their commiserations to Sammy Hallegua, warden and leader of the community. The Mumbai terror attack is too big for anybody to be unaware about the deaths of the Jewish hostages at Colaba’s Nariman House that has been the workplace of a branch of the ultra-orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement. “It’s terrible,” says Hallegua. “Our friends and relatives have called us from all over the world. Many of our neighbours have left for Israel, but that does not mean they were not shattered by the tragedy.”
The Jewish community in Kochi is small: just a few families are left. The majority have migrated to Israel and settled in the Negev, in south Israel and Yuval in the north. There are about 60,000 Indian Jews in Israel; they comprise the Cochin Jews and the Bene Israel Jews from Maharashtra.
In India, the earliest Jews had settled on the Malabar Coast around 700 BC. A charter, written in Tamil and
engraved on two copper plates, is preserved in the Jewish synagogue. It describes the privileges granted to a certain Joseph Rabban by Bhaskara Ravi Varma, the Hindu ruler of Malabar. The Jews were given the village of Anjuvannam, and it could remain in their possession, "so long as the world and moon exists."
There were two types of Jews: the black Jews comprising local converts and those who came from Israel and the white Jews, who came from Europe. These Jews settled down in Cranganore (today’s Kodungallur in Thrissur district) and were given a principality by the Chera Emperor of Kerala, Bhaskara Ravivarman II.
White Jews were full members of the synagogue, while black Jews could only pray here. Just like in temples and mosques, worshippers take their shoes off before entering the synagogue. The Jews in Kochi have no rabbis, instead they are headed by community elders. The prayer books are hand-written in Hebrew and Malayalam. Today, Mattancherry synagogue is the only one functioning in Kerala.
The Jews lived peacefully till the 15th century when the Rabban lineage became extinct. Soon, there was a fight between two brothers about who would become the chieftain of Anjuvannam. The community divided into two groups. Sensing the disunity among the Jews, in 1524, the Moors (Arabs who settled in Calicut) attacked the community in order to eliminate them from the pepper trade. Most of the Jews fled to Cochin and received protection from the Hindu Raja there. He was gracious enough to provide land, which later became known as ‘Jew Town.’ The Portuguese came to India around this time, and they persecuted the Jews. Things were bad till the Dutch arrived in 1660. They were tolerant and the Jews did well. In 1795, Cochin came under the control of the British. The local Jews prospered under the British and became a successful trading community.
Following India's Independence in 1947, the princely states of Cochin, Travancore, and Calicut merged into the state of Kerala. One of the Central government's first policies was to ban the import of luxury goods. Many Jews, who were traders, used to import clothes, chandeliers and alcohol from Europe which they sold to the local British elite. This decision caused economic hardships for the community. The coconut estates were nationalised and the Jews lost a valuable source of income. The mass migration to Israel weakened the community further. Apart from this, there were several conversions to Christianity. These Jews were known as Nasrani or St Thomas Christians.
Despite the loss of numbers, the Jews were treated with respect and affection by the society, at large. In 1968, on the 400th anniversary of the Jewish Synagogue, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the chief guest. Mrs Gandhi said, "Mazel Tov (a Yiddish phrase, which means Congratulations')." The Jews said, "How did you know this?" A smiling Mrs Gandhi replied, "I saw the film, Fiddler on the Roof." A stamp was issued to commemorate the event.
Today, the six families, comprising 50 people, that live on in Mattancherry and the nearby Ernakulam and Aluva are limping along. When sunset arrives, as it has to in every human life, one day, not far off into the future, sadly, there will be no Jews left in Kochi.
— shevlins@gmail.com