WHEN a wedding took place recently at Mattanchery Paradeshi synagogue, Kochi — after 21 years — among the guests were 14 Jews who had migrated to Israel more than four decades ago.
For each one of them, Kerala is a treasured memory. Says David, an
opera singer: “We come visiting once a year, at least. All of us love it.”
Once the wedding was over, the group gathered at the house of Menahim, Miriyam, Shafeer and Sonia, at Cheriyappilly off Paravoor, north of Kochi. On this visit, the talk took an unpleasant turn and veered on to
Israeli ruthlessness manifested in the killing fields of Gaza. The world has recoiled in shock from the television images of the bloodied faces of toddlers killed in shell attacks.
“For 2,000 years, the Jews waited to return to the Holy Land,” says David. “Now the Palestinians are trying to snatch everything from us. They want our land…we have nowhere else to go. Jews have only Israel, whereas they have all the rest…yet they keep tormenting us? The Arabs have one agenda: they want to wipe out the Jews. Why is it so?”
David is accompanied by his wife Shalva and daughter Shira. Shalva and her sisters Gila and Lilly belong to the Pallivathukkal family of Chennamangalam, west of Aluva off Kochi. They migrated to Israel in 1972.
Shalva, which means peace in Hebrew, says, “There is a saying in Israel — ‘If they (Palestine) go to war, there won’t be peace; if we (Israel) declare war, there won’t be any Palestine!” A ripple of mirth runs through the group. Adds Shira, a youth worker in Israel: “The whole world thinks otherwise, but I can tell you that Israel does want to stop the bloodshed once and for all…we have no reason to prolong this agony. But the Arabs want this war to go on. They are making life difficult for Israelites.”
The group feels offended that while the international community focuses on the attacks in Gaza, nobody talks about the daily firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas.
“Come to Israel and see for yourself,” says David. “We are a peace-loving people. Like everybody else, we also send our children to school every day, go to work, and earn a living.... Why should we pick up a fight with someone just for the heck of it?”
Shira claims Israel wants peace. “We are a democratic Jewish country willing to come to the table, provided the other side expresses the same willingness to hold talks,” she says.
The group says they are liberals. “I have friends from all religions,” says Shimon, son of Menahim and Molly.
“We are not bothered about the
beliefs they follow…all we want is that everyone should stay together in harmony as a community, bound by love for our ancestral land.”
David’s wife, Rebecca, who used to work in the electricity board, says, “Mutual respect and an understanding of the opposing side’s political and social requirements is the need of the hour. I am a mother. We have to make peace happen, if not for ourselves, but for the generations to come.”
It is clear from their statements that they love Israel intensely. This becomes further transparent when they are asked if they would like to return to Kerala, and all of them say an
emphatic ‘No!’
“True, we migrated to Israel only decades ago, but we belong there,” says David. “The Holy Land is our motherland. We deepened our connection by reading the Torah every day. It’s impossible to come back now.”
Julie adds with a twinkle in her eyes: “Kerala is a nice place to visit once in a while. But we cannot spend the rest of our lives here. The slow pace of life here may prove a bit too discomforting for war-ravaged veterans like us.”
wedding bells chime after 21 years
The Mattanchery Pardeshi Synagogue, Kochi, recently threw open its doors for Solomon and Susan’s wedding — the first one after 21 years. Solomon, the son of Josephai Abraham of Thekkumbhagam in the Cochin Jewish community was getting married to Susan of the Bene Israel community in Mumbai.
The marriage — three days after last Christmas — was conducted according to traditional Jewish customs. Nine candles were lit to denote the ninth day of the Hanukkah festival. The marriage rituals began with prayers sung in Hebrew. Blessings in Aramaic were read out by Solomon.
He wore a black suit, while Susan was in a milky white gown. The two sat under a canopy, which symbolised their home after marriage.
For the ceremony, Solomon and Susan sipped wine and then the groom slipped the wine-soaked wedding ring on the bride’s finger. It was followed by another unique ritual — breaking the glass. This ritual is symbolic of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Then a Ketuvah (a marriage agreement) was signed by the couple. The ceremonies ended with another set of prayers and songs while the guests applauded. In the absence of a rabbi, Samuel Hallegua, the chief warden of the Pardeshi Synagogue presided at the event.
The last wedding, held at Pardeshi Synagogue, was that of Gershom Joshua of the Cochin community and Elizabeth Abraham of the Bene Israel community in 1987. Currently, there are only 48 members in the Jewish
community in Kochi.
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