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!)

Special Purim Posters

Purim is just a week and a half away, and our Edot students are definitely getting into the mood of the holiday. Last week they prepared hamantashen, and yesterday we reviewed the basics of the Purim story as told in Megillat Esther - the Book of Esther. Then, in line with our Edot curriculum (studying about Jewish Diaspora communities), I  introduced the students to the existence of over 60 other similar close escapes of Jewish communities referred to as "Special Purims."

Most historians do not believe that the events retold in Megillat Esther actually occurred. The literary form of the story is a familiar one - similar to fairy tales in some ways. It's a revenge story whose main characters reflect Babylonian influence: Mordechai's name reflects that of Marduk, the chief Babylonian god, while Esther's name reflects that of Marduk's consort, Astarte. The tale told in the Book of Esther is the only one in the Hebrew Bible which does not take place even partially in the Land of Israel, and in which God's name is not mentioned even once. It is also the only book of the Hebrew Bible for which a copy has never been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Special Purims, on the other hand, have actually occurred (documented by both the Jewish communities involved as well as outside sources) and, in most cases, are still celebrated by the descendants of the communities involved. They took place in Jewish communities in almost every part of the world. For example, the Miracle of the Bomb took place in 1796 in the northern Italian city of Fossano, when a young Napoleon Bonaparte led French forces against the city. The city was losing its battle against the French. The Christians in the city were beginning to suspect that the Jewish community was conspiring with the enemy, since most of the cannonballs flew over the city's wall (against which the Jewish ghetto was built), and into the center of the city where the cathedral and Christians were located. On top of that, it was late March, a time when Christians began to accuse Jews of murdering young Christian children to use their blood for the Passover wine and matza. A frenzied mob gathered to attack the Jews who were hiding in the second-story synagogue in the ghetto. Just as they were about to break through the sanctuary's doors, a bomb burst through the synagogue wall and fell between them and the sanctuary door. The bomb never exploded, but it frightened them so, that they ran away in fear. Soon after, Napoleon and his troops entered the city and dismantled the ghetto, allowing the Jews to live in the city safely and securely under a new French government. To celebrate this "Miracle of the Bomb," Jews of Fossano never repaired the hole in the synagogue wall. Instead, they created a window from it, and wrote "The Miracle of the Bomb" in gilded letters over the top of the window, where it can still be seen today. The events were recorded on a scroll, which is read each year by community members on the second day of Hol Ha'moed (the second of the 4 days between the first two days of Passover and the final two days), the day the "miracle" occurred. 

The students in each session were divided into 5 groups, each of which was assigned to create a poster depicting a "Special Purim" - what happened and how the "miraculous" rescue has been celebrated by the community ever since.

Information about each of the assignments was given inside a folder given to each group

Reading about the events of the assigned Special Purim

Discussing the design of the "Purim of the Poisoned Sword" poster

Checking out materials available to use for the posters

"Curtain Purim" begins to take shape...

...as does the "Day of the Miracle" poster

Follow the arrows to learn about the "Purim of Shiraz" (Persia)

"Purim of the Poisoned Sword" (Germany)

"Purim of Fettmilch" (Germany)

"Purim of Sharif" (Tripoli, North Africa)

"Curtain Purim" (Prague)

"Purim of Saragossa" (Spain)

"Day of the Miracle" (Tiberias, Israel)

"Miracle of the Bomb" (Italy)

"Purim of the Bandits" (Turkey)

All these posters can be seen on the bulletin board in the hallway outside of Room 202

 

Between the two sessions, sixth graders from the Y'tzira track led us in a Creative T'fila service which they had designed the previous Wednesday under the guidance of Rabbi Miller. The theme they decided upon was "Disneyland!" A very special part of the service they led was the "Mi She'beirach" prayer, which they all came up to introduce and lead. This is the prayer we sing to ask for a speedy recovery, "a renewal of body and spirit," for those who are ill. We are always thinking about members of our own community who are not able to join us because of illness - yesterday we dedicated the prayer to Naomi, a Y'tzira student fighting leukemia, who just recently underwent a bone marrow transplant, as well as to Josh, my co-teacher and 7th grade teacher, who has also been diagnosed with leukemia and will be undergoing a bone marrow transplant in the near future. We wish them both a full recovery and want them to know we are thinking of them and miss them very much. Below are two brief videos that I shot during the introduction to the song, and of the song itself (sorry for the poor camera and audio quality!). Our voices may not be professional, but that should not take away from our heartfelt wishes reflected in the song!

 

Preparing Hamantashen

The Purim holiday is coming up quickly (it begins Wednesday evening, March 4th this year), so it's time to prepare lots and lots of hamantashen. And that's exactly what our 5th and 6th graders did during the first half hour of this past Tuesday and Wednesday sessions, during our monthly Hebrew cooking session. The focus of this session is to review and introduce commonly used Hebrew vocabulary related to cooking and baking, as well as to introduce traditional Jewish and Israeli recipes associated with specific Jewish holidays. It also provides us with half an hour of Hebrew Through Movement vocabulary review as we give directions for each recipe.

Since we only have the half hour to prepare the recipe, I mixed the dough ahead of time at home. The dough for this easy hamantashen recipe is made from a 15-oz. box of prepared moist yellow cake mix, one cup of regular flour, two eggs and two tablespoons of water. For the gluten-free recipe, I found a gluten-free yellow cake mix and used gluten-free flour with a 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum added in, along with the eggs and water.

When the students entered the classroom and sat at their tables, they found a ball of dough sitting on a small amount of flour and a rolling pin which I dusted ahead of time with flour, since the dough is rather sticky.

Reisheet kol, l'galgel et ha'batzek  (First of all, roll the dough) (to 1/8" thickness)

Achshav, leech'rot eegooleem me'ha'batzek... (Now, cut circles from the dough...) (using the 3" diameter rims of plastic cups)

...az la'seem et ha'eegooleem al ha'tavneet. (...then put the circles on the baking sheet.)

L'galgel et ha'batzek, ad sh'eyn yoter. (Roll the dough 'til there's none left.)

La'seem kapeet shel reeba b'emtza kol eegool. (Put a teaspoon of preserves - we used strawberry - in the middle of each circle.)

Achshav, l'kapel v'l'tzavet shalosh peenot shel ha'ooga. (Now, fold and pinch three corners of the cookie.)

Be sure to keep pinching the corners until they stick together!

Achshav zeh moochan la'seem ba'tanoor l'asara dakot. (Now it's ready to put in the oven for 10 minutes.)

U'va'sof, l'nakot et ha'shoolchan leefnei la'lechet l't'feela. (And finally, clean the table before going to t'feela.)

Practicing to become a master hamantashen maker can be a very enjoyable process...

... as you can tell from the expressions on the student faces!!!

The final results are definitely worth the effort!

 If you are a lover of hamantashen, I suggest you attend LAFTY's annual Purim Carnival on Sunday, March 1st, where truly amazing hamantashen will be available for sale.  See you there!