The Jews of Cochin

During our past two weekday sessions, I introduced the Edot students to the third edah we'll be studying this year - the Jews of India. More specifically, we'll be focusing on those 3 major waves of Jewish immigration to the southwest part of India known as the Kerala District where most Jews settled over a 2,500 year period (probably from the time of the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians). Even more specifically, we'll take a close look at the history and culture of the Jews of Cochin, the largest city in the Kerala District.

The first wave of Jews to reach the shores of India refer to themselves as the Bene Israel (Children of Israel). Non-Jewish Indians in the Kerala District began to refer to them as the Shenwar Teli - the oil pressers - since local non-Jewish mythology describes them as having brought the secrets of the olive and its oil to the area. Two successive waves of Jewish immigrants - the Paradesi Jews who were refugees from the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century and the English Jews who served as bureaucrats in the colonial Indian government during the 19th century, all referred to the Bene Israel as the "Black Jews" because of their dark olive-colored skin. As with all Jewish edot, the Jews intermarried with the local population, and began to assume physical characteristics of that population.

I shared the history and culture of the Jews of Cochin with the students, using Part 1 and Part 2  of a film produced in 1998. Most Cochini Jews immigrated to Israel during the 1950's, as described in the second part of the film, and the remaining Jews (or almost all of them) left for Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israel War, since India was then allied with the Soviet Union, which, in turn, was allied with the Arab governments fighting Israel. There was a fear that the Indian Jewish community would suffer from the results of the war, so the Israeli government helped them to make aliya (to immigrate) to Israel over the next few years. Here, in Berkeley, the Judah L. Magnes Museum sent what was then referred to as a "rescue mission" to Cochin, to save as many physical remnants of the Indian Jewish community as possible. In fact, the Indian government did not react negatively toward the Jews, and tried to convince them to remain. They did allow the Magnes Museum team to take back hundreds of ritual objects - even a 19-foot Ark of the Torah. To this day, the Magnes Museum boasts the largest collection of Indian Jewish artifacts in the country.

We also took time during our weekday sessions to work on our Purim vocabulary as part of the Hebrew Through Movement program. Below are some photos my TA's took:

Stephen, leekro megillat Esther (Stephen, read the Scroll of Esther); Danielle, l'har'eesh ra'ashan (Danielle, make noise with the grogger)

Jake, la'seem masecha shel Purim al ha'eyna'eem shel Ella (Jake, put the Purim mask on Ella's eyes)

Jake, l'hareem megillat Esther (Jake, hold up the Scroll of Esther); Jack, leek'ro megillat Esther eem masecha shel Purim al ha'eyna'eem (Jack, read the Scroll of Esther with a Purim mask on your eyes)

Camille, la'rootz mee'saveev la'shoolchan v'l'har'eesh ra'ashan (Camille, run around the table and make noise with a grogger)

Alex, la'shevet al ha'shoolchan v'l'har'eesh ra'ashan (Alex, sit on the table and make noise with a grogger)

Remember that both sessions meet at the same time this coming Sunday, for our special Purim Carnival festivities. First, all the students will meet in our classroom (Room 201), during which time we'll play a fun Purim game. Then, we'll join everyone up in the Sanctuary for the children's Purimshpiel (Purim play) directed by Joanne Peterson and a Purim parade, followed by the Carnival in the Social Hall from 10:30-12:30.  I hope to see you all there! 

CHAG PURIM SAMEACH! (HAPPY HOLIDAY OF PURIM!)