The Last Jews of Kerala

Title: The Last Jews of Kerala

Author: Edna Fernandes

Publisher: Portobello, 2009 (First published 2008)

ISBN: 9781846270994

Pages: 258

Judaism is one of the world’s oldest religions, but it is also one which is persecuted the most. Without sounding anti-Semitic, a plausible reason for this prejudice is the fierce religious zeal of many of its adherents and the belief that they are the only chosen people of god. With a history stretching to the time of Pharaohs, the Jews suffered at the hands of every bigot, every dictator and every psychotic ruler. The Holocaust, in which nearly six million Jews were exterminated in Europe during the Second World War is very recent episode, when compared to the long Jewish history on earth. There was only one place in the globe where they were not discriminated against, and in fact was encouraged to stay and prosper. India is the only country where the Jews were welcomed and absorbed into its multi-pointed society. Kerala is a small coastal state in the south-western periphery of India, where Jewish presence is attested even before Christ. After a prosperous life spanning three millennia, the society decided to transplant themselves to the desert soil of the new state of Israel when it was formed in 1948. This book tells the sad story of the Jews remaining in Kerala, who are members of a society whose doom is sure to materialize in the near future. There are not sufficient men and women of marriageable age and the lack of partners drive many youngsters to emigrate to Israel. The aged have decided to stay put in their homeland for the duration of their lives. Among a slew of people intent on occupying their possessions once the last one of them dies, this set of octogenarians live on peacefully in Cochin. It also tells the story of the strife and discrimination within the Jewish community itself, between Whites and Blacks. It ends with a survey on the lives of people who had taken domicile in Israel and how they feel now, after a few decades in the land where milk and honey flow. Edna Fernandes is a British writer who was born in Nairobi and grew up in London. A former foreign correspondent for the Financial Times and political correspondent for Reuters in London, her articles have been reproduced in newspapers around the world.

There were many streams of Jewish immigration to Kerala. Trade relations existed between Malabar coast and ancient Palestine under king Solomon. Descendants of such traders lived in Kerala for a long time. Their habitat was Cranganore (present-day Kodungallur) on the western coast in medieval times. Cranganore’s provenance as a major port suffered a devastating blow in 1341, when the great monsoon floods silted up the harbour and the course of the Periyar river altered to the south. Cochin (present-day Kochi) shot up in reputation as a natural harbour after this event. The Jews migrated south to Kochi, Chennamangalam and Parur. The community reveres an ancient patriarch named Joseph Rabban, who is considered the founding father of the community in Kerala. The book claims that Rabban was acknowledged to be the king of Anjuvannam village according to a copper plate granted by king Bhaskara Ravi Varma, now stored in the Mattanchery Synagogue. This is alluded to be the Jewish kingdom of Shingly. However, Anjuvannam is a trade guild as can be seen from other historical texts catering to this period and its leadership implies only that the Jewish patriarch was a merchant leader. A great exodus from Palestine took place after 70 CE, when the second temple at Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman troops as a consequence of crushing a Jewish uprising. The author claims that a section of the Jews migrated also during the destruction of the first temple in 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar.

One of man’s basic instincts seems to discriminate among his brethren. How can such an unhealthy custom develop otherwise among the Jews of Kerala, who differentiated into two groups: the white-skinned ones called Paradesi (foreigner) and the blacks being called Malabari (Keralites). Such discrimination was against the basic tenets of Judaism, scrupulous though the Whites were, in observing rituals ordained by custom. Another outrageous fact was that the Whites arrived in Cochin only in the 16^th century CE to escape the persecution in Europe ordained by the Inquisition. These were fair skinned – being Europeans – and usurped the legacy of their native born co-religionists whose skin colour and physique was exactly matching with other Keralites, since the community was living in Kerala for three millennia, and they mingled with the indigenous population. White Jews claimed the legacy of Joseph Rabban, and their clever ploys could hoodwink the Raja of Cochin and imperial administration by making false claims that the blacks were the descendants of slaves attached to merchant vessels which plied in the Arabian sea. They set in motion a form of apartheid that put the South African variety to shame. And this was when the Jewish community was widely persecuted everywhere! Intermarriage between the two communities was strictly prohibited. The Black Jews were not even allowed to pray in the main hall of the Mattanchery Synagogue, which was under the Whites’ effective control. While the Paradesis sat on benches, the Malabaris were relegated to an anteroom, where they were allowed to sit on the floor and pray! Rebellion flared up among the oppressed, under the leadership of Abraham Barak Salem, also called ‘Jewish Gandhi’ as he was a lawyer and worked in the Congress party, having close ties with Gandhi and Nehru, which prompted him to adopt non-violent passive resistance to bring about the downfall of apartheid by one Jewish community against another. When Israel was formed in 1948, it allowed brotherhood of Jews of all races, without insisting on skin tone as a qualifying parameter. This definitely ended the practice of segregation even though Fernandes narrates the story of a couple who married across the communities and had to face ostracism from their white neighbours. Kerala Jews had adopted many of the customs prevalent in their adopted homeland like wearing dhotis, use of Malayalam language, Kerala cuisine and even the use of tali, a piece of gold locket tied by the groom around his bride’s neck as a marriage ritual. The author hints that along with all these, the communities might have imbibed the spirit of untouchability which was all pervading in Hinduism, where people with pale complexion were regarded as upper-castes having superior privileges.

The book depends heavily on other books on Kerala Jewry in its narrative. True to the vocation of the author, it demonstrates narration skills inalienable to a journalist, rather than displaying profound analytical insight of a thinker. Even though an Indian, the author exhibits typical characteristics of foreign authors when describing the Indian countryside and society. Surprisingly for the readers stationed in Kerala, the author’s development of scenic background of events is not honest enough. It is as if she had prepared the description beforehand. The book describes the unloading of cargo from the backs of mules in Ernakulam market (pitiful mules bent low beneath their parcels like put-upon husbands, p.72). Considering the fact that Fernandes’ visit to the city was in 2006, this account is simply a lie, and incorporated to satisfy somebody’s mental picture of how an Indian city should look like, even in the 21^st century. Draught animals are not being used in Ernakulam for nearly five decades now. Similar is the case of the sentry at Mattanchery police station near the synagogue, who is said to be dozing off at 11 am on most days. Anyone who is familiar with the area knows that the station is a rather busy one, and there is no question of an officer sleeping in daytime in broad public view. This is another case of stereo typifying Indian ideas. The entire narrative in the book is worn out, without rising to the level of evoking feelings in readers’ minds. The custodians of the synagogue even deny permission to her to make an interview! Anyway, her visit to Israel to meet the Cochin Jews migrated there, is the only saving grace of the work. Nevatim settlement is the biggest cluster of Kerala Jews, but many are stationed in Jerusalem also. The author successfully elicits emotions of both kinds in the immigrants. All of them moved to the Jewish homeland sharing a lofty, though partisan ideal of setting up a theocratic state there. Subtle discrimination on the basis of skin colour is prevalent there too, but Kerala’s Jews know how to manage it effectively. Many of them are however disillusioned with the model of a secular society, whereas almost all of the Cochin Jews were very devoted to their faith. Added to that is the security concerns associated with everyday life in Israel. The Jews were never discriminated against in Kerala, even though we read about a few occasions in which they were the aggressors. A part of the emigrants wants to come back to India, and their experience on reaching Indian soil is touching – “Even though it’s my holy land, I was happy to be coming home. You know that smell when you step off the plane in India? That dirty diesel smell! I can’t tell you how happy I was to breathe my country into my lungs. I’m Jewish, but I’m also Indian” (p.90).

The book is recommended.

Rating: 2 Star