#cochin jews

[bobemajses]

Cochin Paradesi Jewish family from Kerala, southern India, ca. 1880.

[gliklofhameln]

Ketubbah with birds from Ernakulam, Cochin, India, 1909

Groom: Menahem, son of Rabbi Elijah. Bride: Rebekah, daughter of Rabbi Elijah.

[microwave-gremlin]

You know the drill, reblog for a bigger sample size!

(I'm making versions of this poll for different Jewish diasporas, and I might do a denomination version, too!)

#jupi gets jewish#jumblr#jews#jew#jewish#judaism#polls#tumblr polls#poll#jews of tumblr#mixed jews#mixed#mixed race

[knittedbond]

high and reading wikipedia again but got distracted when an article source i tried to read was paywalling their archives.

"not to worry" i think. "i'll look at the wayback machine. surely they've got it cached--"

oh. okay. i wasn't aware that was something a website could do

[hariratan]

#incense #sticks #jew #jewish #drums #energy #judaism #fragrance #israel #metal #moonbin #smalljewelrybusiness #tourmalinecabochon #drummer #cochin #jews #love #music #rock #astro #kerala #crystals #travel #streetphotography #india #jewishlife #jewishmemes #cochin #rings #jewtown https://www.instagram.com/p/CotL_tby44Z/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[still-searching-for-something]

Full disclosure: I am an Ashkenazi Jew with pale skin, so I encourage any Mizrahim who see this post to comment their own views if they disagree or want to add something that I may have missed.

“Jews are white!”

I truly marvel sometimes at how many levels of stupidity are displayed in just three words. First off, the statement is wrong on the face of it—biological races don’t exist, even if the social construct of it does.

But secondly, when leftists say this, they’re completely ignorant of the 3000 years of our history which very much says we are in no way shape or form members of the “white” social category. We are white people, despite the word “ghettos” having originated as a term for the impoverished Jewish segregated areas in European cities? Nazis didn’t invent ghettos, by the way, the first mention of them dates to the early 16th century to refer to a Jewish ghetto in an Italian city state.

American Jews suffer the supermajority of religious based hate crimes in the United States, despite making up like 2% of the total population. We are having to put armed guards outside our synagogues. A quarter of hiring managers don’t want to employ Jewish people—and that’s just how many admit to that. Not a century ago, we were literally murdered for not being white enough. And now goy Americans want to come in, glance at Israel, and announce we’re white colonizers?

This whole discussion doesn’t even begin to touch on the rich history of the Mizrahim and Beta Israel and the Bene Israel and the Cochin Jews and the Kaifeng Jews. Left wing antisemites will only mention Ethiopian Jews and Mizrahim to say that they’re discriminated against by the evil White Jews in power. They ascribe no agency to them—they just infantilize Jews of Color to being two dimensional victims of evil Ashkenazi Jews.

But Israel doesn’t fit neatly into this Americanized narrative of white oppressors against brown natives. Do Mizrahim and other Jews with brown skin—who make up the majority of the population—experience racism in Israel? Yes, of course. There was a full civil rights movement in Israel over it—look up the Israeli Black Panthers. But the way their experiences are only trotted out by left wingers to score points against Israel and then hushed away again is obscene. And anyway, even Ashkenazi Jews aren’t white either—Europe has made it clear to us, over and over again, that we are not white.

In short, no, we aren’t white. Not the Jews who pass as white, nor those of us who don’t.

[beta-lactam-allergic]

The baby in the oven bit is probably propaganda but the rest is accurate. Hamas did kill babies, there's just no independent verification of a baby being burned in an oven.

The rest of this is true. Every other claim in here about Hamas & in general is true. It's only the baby being cooked in oven part that's probably misinfo. And really, you don't need the extra mile for propaganda, when just killing babies & children is already bad.

Jews were ethnically cleansed from the rest of the Middle East. Indeed the largest Jewish group in Israel aren't Ashkenazim (East European) or Sephardic (Hispanic) Jews, but the surviving Mizrahi (Middle East).

When people call for Israel to end (under the ridiculous misnomer of "decolonisation"), they don't consider that the Mizrahi don't have anywhere else to go. Nor do the Beta Israel from Ethiopia, nor do most of the others. Even amongst the Ashkenazim, there was literally a pogrom in Russia not even a month ago, Ukraine is a war zone, the descendants of Polish Jews are legally barred from ever claiming Polish citizenship & that's just off the top of my head.

Nor do they consider that all of these Jewish groups have some genetic descent from the ancient Israelites. The archaeology, genetics & history agree, ancient Israelites predate Arabs in the Southern Levant & the modern Jews are the descendants of the ancient Israelites. The Arabs who now call themselves "Palestinians" are the colonisers, not the Jews. Hamas claiming ancestral connection to the land is as laughable as an American Neo-Nazi screaming "blood & soil" in complete disregard for Native American history.

Do people fr not realize that if Israel rolled over to Hamas that a genuine ethnic cleansing and genocide would take place? Do people fr not realize this? That the middle east has been ethnically cleansing itself of Jewish people for literal fucking decades? But there's no cries of land back for the Egyptian Jews, for the Iranian Jews, the Moroccan Jews, the Algerian Jews, the Iraqi Jews, the Syrian Jews. There wasn't any cries of injustice when these Jewish communities were slaughtered and forced to flee. I have people in my community who are as least as young as in their fifties who remember having to escape some of these places.

This whole issue has been turned into an outcry for innocents, but the only way to save the most people is to wipe Hamas out first and foremost. Palestine deserves its right to self actualization/realization, but so does Israel. And I'm so fucking tired of people pretending like the actual victims of ethnic cleansing are "colonizers". There's irrefutable proof that the Jewish people have ALWAYS been in the land of Israel. The Palestinians are part of the Arabic world, who colonized the majority of the Middle East. The Jewish people having Israel is the most fucking successful land back story.

I know folks are going to sit here and say "well Israel has committed war crimes!" and tbh? Yeah, they SHOULD be condemned for that.

But Hamas has committed more. And I don't see any of y'all calling them out. No, instead y'all fucking defend them, claiming propaganda, ai, or any other kind of bs.

But they HAVE beheaded people. They open fired at a music festival filled with approximately zero IDF soliders --- aka innocents. They've raped. They baked a fucking BABY in an oven. Let me repeat that. THEY FUCKING BAKED A FUCKING BABY IN A FUCKING OVEN. Hamas are TERRORISTS. Full stop.

Either my post will go largely ignored, or it'll bring a wave of hate. Either way, that speaks fucking volumes for how much folks actually value all life. Specifically Jewish life.

[leroibobo]

kadavumbagam synagogue in kochi, kerala, india. it's also known as the "cochin blossoms synagogue" for its floral details.

malabari jews trace their origins to jews who'd come to present-day kerala from the middle east from antiquity. the synagogue was renovated in 1700, but the original dates back to the 12th-13th centuries. it was said to have been built by jews who'd fled persecution to kochi's ernakalum district. the specifics of the story vary.

after a period of abandonment beginning in the 1970s, it was restored in 2018 by local josephai "babu" elias and is now in use again. it's currently the oldest functioning synagogue in india.

[yato-dharmastato-jayah]

Hindutva literally means being Hindu or Hindu-ness.

How tf is that a negative thing?

We Hindus are proud of our heritage, culture, religious history and scholarly achievements.

How is that an evil thing?

We are decolonising and reclaiming the religious sites which were stolen from us. We are rebuilding those sites with our own money and celebrating their restoration.

How is that hurting anyone? How is that wrong?

Hindus have always believed in the sentiment of live and let live, of living together as one family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam). We have welcomed into our fold many different communities and peoples, like the Parsis (Zoroastrians) when they were persecuted and forced to leave their homeland Persia, the Jews (Bene Israelis, Baghdadis, Cochin Jews, Bnei Menashe, Bene Ephraims, etc.), the Tibetans when they were persecuted and their homeland stolen by China, even the Christians and Muslims from different parts of the world when they came to trade here. We have cohabited peacefully with people of other faiths, like Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains, who are so close to us that we intermarry frequently and don't even consider it an interfaith relationship.

Hindus, for the most part, are inherently welcoming people, open and accepting of others as long as they don't try to stifle us or impose their religious beliefs on us. We believe in being nonviolent as long as we aren't pushed into a corner, as long as we're given space to practice our religion, as long as we're not forced to bend so much that we break.

If the Hindus are attacked, if attempts are made to erase or subjugate our religion, then obviously we'll respond in kind. It's the simple concept of self defence.

In the end, I shouldn't even need to state this overtly, but obviously there are bad apples in every cart, and people from every community commit wrongs. But it doesn't define a community. We condemn such wrong acts and will continue to do so. But calling all Hindus or Hindutva itself evil because of a few bad apples is not only illogical, it reeks of prejudice and preconceived hatred. That's when it becomes Hinduphobia.

[we-left-egypt-for-this]

Thinking about the shabbes goy at my hillel again.

This kid has done so much for our community post 7-10, helping to organize petitions against hate and coordinating with our dean and uni president to make conversations happen.

I was also talking to him yesterday and he said "that first shabbat dinner became a Core memory."

That first shabbat dinner I was just hanging around at hillel, so I helped with set up. So did he. I go to a big school, and I don't know everyone, so I just assumed he was some new guy. And so I was taken aback when we were setting up tables together and he said "yea, I know I don't look very jewish."

He's east Asian. So was my friend David in Hebrew school. He was in a Jewish space, so my immediate assumption was you are jewish. And I said as much. "You don't look very Ashkie," I said, "but that doesn't mean you don't look jewish."

(I elaborated about kaifeng jews and Japanese jews and the cochin jews.)

And he was shocked, but excited. He listened to us discuss how rough things had been on campus the past week (it was Oct 13th). He asked questions. He listened.

That's what allyship is. Coming into a space, and just expecting to listen, not be heard. Choosing to learn. Face ideas that threaten your assumptions.

[magnetothemagnificent]

(apologies in advance if this is a weird or offensive question, I'm just curious about the history)

Is judaica the same across Jewish communities of all global regions? Like do Asian, African, and European Jewish people have different types and styles of judaica, or is it generally all the same? I figured being dispersed across such varied areas would cause some divergences in how different cultural artifacts would look, but my cursory google searches have been unhelpful, both in finding judaica itself and in even getting any information on non-European Jewish communities.

I know this is probably a really ignorant question, but I like learning about different cultures and the history and evolutions of their artifacts.

There absolutely are different styles of Judaica!

Jews have been dispersed around the world, and thus our art has taken on many forms.

I will say though that a lot of Jews don't identify with just "Asian", "African", or "European". We are Jews. Our identity is Jewish. We have different labels that reflect where our ancestors found themselves in the diaspora at different points in history, but the three labels "Asian", "African", or "European" are far too simplistic. Ashkenazi, Italki, and Sephardi Jews have ties to Europe; Sephardi and Mizrachi and Ethiopian Jews have ties to Africa; Sephardi, Mizrachi, Bukharan, Cochin, and Kaifeng Jews have ties to Asia; all while being widely different and diverse subgroups and traditions. (There are far more different Minhagim than the ones I mentioned, by the way, I just mentioned a few as examples.)

Anyway, as for our Judaica.....

Of course it varies! We have had thousands of years to develop different art styles and techniques, although you will find certain motifs that arise often throughout most Judaica styles, such as Stars of David, lions, crowns, pomegranates and all of the rest of the Seven Species of Israel, eyes, hands, and fish.

Since it's almost Chanukah, I'm going to use different Chanukiyot as examples of the variations. I'm by no means an art historian, these are my notes based on what I've learned and read, and from observations.

Here is a classic Eastern European Chanukiyah. Here you can see two lions holding up a depiction of the seven-branched Temple Menorah, with a crown atop. It's made of bronze. This style of Chanukiyah was very popular, and had many variations. Sometimes the Temple Menorah was replaced with other motifs, such as the Ten Commandments, a Star of David, or some other symbol.

Here is a Moroccan Chanukiyah. You can see here that it's meant to be hanged on a platform or wall. It looks like it's made of copper. Already you can see the difference between this one and the previous one. You can see it has the floral and keyhole repeating patterns that are familiar in Moroccan art, and in fact this Chanukiyah here is intended to be lit with oil wicks, not candles, like the previous one.

This Chanukiyah isn't an antique, it's a modern design, as you can see by its oblong shape and reversable nature (it's supposed to be flipped over to serve as Shabbat candlesticks, too) however, it exemplifies the beautiful Yemenite Jewish silverwork. Silversmithing was historically a Jewish profession in Yemen, as Muslims were forbidden from silversmithing. Yemenite Jews acquired a reputation for their incredible silverwork. You can see how intricate the details are, the swirling, repeating patterns and leaves.

Here is an Italian Chanukiyah, likely from the 18th century. You can see the twin lions here again, only this time they're holding a flame. This Chanukiyah is also made for oil wicks, not candles. (Oil wicks are the more traditional and older way to light the Chanukah lights.) On it is enscribed in Hebrew, "Like the flame of Mitzvah and the Torah of light". There's also different designs than on the Eastern European Chanukiyah, such as the leaves and filigree, and the domed "roof".

And finally, here is an elaborate silver Ukranian Chanukiyah from the 19th century. This was once in the Great Suburban Synagogue in Lviv, and survived Nazi occupation. This is obviously a far more elaborate design than an average household would have, as this was in display in a syngogue and was intended to be a prominent peace of art. You can see again, more lions holding up the base of the lamp, and flowers and leaves and filigree, and a bird perched on top. The original Temple Menorah was described as having bulbs and flowers, and thus many Chanukiyah designs embody this by including such motifs in their designs.

These were only a few examples I was able to hobble together, and honestly you're right, anon, there aren't many accessible resources outlining the history and variation of Judaica.

Here's some further reading about Jewish art if you're interested:

Jewish Art: A Brief History

Jewish Art in the Ancient World

Ancient and Modern Art

Goldsmiths and Silversmiths

Jewish Art in Medieval and Modern Times

And this isn't educational, but it's a really interesting article:

Jewelry and Jewish Feminism

[id in alt text]

[bobemajses]

Praying Jews in Ernakulam, Kerala, southern India, early 20th century.

[gliklofhameln]

Elijah chair, Parur, Cochin, India. Late 19th century.

[mariacallous]

In Israel, you’ll find a patchwork of different communities. Most Israeli Jews originate from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, but some come from other regions, such as India.

According to the Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv, there are about 85,000 Jews of Indian origin in Israel — so Indian Jews make up just 1.2% of Israel’s Jewish population. This small community is divided into four groups: the Bene Israel from Maharashtra, the Cochin Jews from Kerala, the Baghdadi Jews from Kolkata, and the Bnei Menache from Mizoram and Manipur.

Although I grew up in the U.S., my mother’s family is from the Cochin Jewish community in Israel. I wanted to find out more about how this community is preserving our unique Jewish traditions from the South of India.

Many of these traditions are at a risk of dying out. For example, the language of the Cochin Jewish community is called Judeo-Malayalam. Today, this dialect has only a few dozen native speakers left (you can hear it spoken in this video).

According to legend, the first Jews arrived in Cochin during the time of King Solomon. The oldest physical evidence of their presence is a set of engraved copper plates dating from around 379-1000 CE, which were given to community leader Joseph Rabban by the Chera Perumal dynasty ruler of Kerala.

Jewish sailors originally arrived in Kodungallur (Cranganore), an ancient port city known as Shingly by Jews, before shifting to Cochin following a flood in 1341. These Jews became known as the Malabari Jewish community. After the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, a group of Sephardic Jews also came to Cochin, and became known as the Paradesi (Foreign) Jews. The Malabari and Paradesi Jews historically lived separately and maintained their own traditions, although in modern times this division has become less important.

Today, the vast majority of Cochin Jews live in Israel. I spoke with several community members to learn about current projects in Israel to preserve Cochini Jewish culture.

Hadar Nehemya, a jazz musician and performer, runs a food delivery service sharing traditional Cochin Jewish recipes. Hadar learned the art of cooking from her mother, who learned it from her paternal grandmother.

Cooking her dishes from scratch and selling them at markets and for delivery, Hadar’s goal is to introduce Cochini cooking into the mainstream of Israeli culture. “Many Israelis don’t know much about Cochin Jewish culture. Maybe they met a Cochini person in the army,” she said. “But Indian food is popular in Israel, because Israelis love to visit India after they finish their army service.”

Cochin Jewish cuisine is similar to other types of South Indian cuisine, but also has influences from Iberian and Middle Eastern cooking. One example is pastel, pastries with a spicy filling that are similar to empanadas. Other staples include fish and egg curries, chicken stew, black-eyed pea stew, dosa (thin rice pancakes) and dishes cooked with coconut and mango.

Hadar’s favorite dishes to cook are idli and sambar, which are often eaten together. Idli is a type of savory rice cake, while sambar is a spiced lentil stew. Although Hadar says it’s difficult to maintain an Indian food business from an economic perspective, she’s passionate about cooking and enjoys creating homemade dishes with the right balance of spices.

Along with cooking, music is also important in Cochini culture. In most religious Jewish communities, women aren’t permitted to sing in front of men who aren’t their immediate relatives. However, this prohibition was not part of the Cochini tradition.

In the Cochin Jewish community, women have sung in Hebrew and Judeo-Malayalam for centuries. Piyyutim (liturgical poems) were sung in the synagogue or at people’s homes during holidays. Judeo-Malayalam folk songs were sung at weddings and special occasions, and the lyrics of these songs were recorded in notebooks to hand down to future generations. Later, many women also learned Zionist songs in preparation for moving to Israel. I have memories of my own grandmother singing these songs at home.

In recent years, audio recordings have been produced of Cochini songs, including a collection called “Mizmorim” (Psalms) featuring Hadar’s grandmother, Yekara Nehemya. Hadar then created her own version of one of the songs, “Yonati Ziv.”

Today, community leader Tova Aharon-Kastiel has organized a choir which meets once or twice a month at different locations. In the choir, Cochini and non-Cochini women, mostly aged 65-85, sing songs in Hebrew and Judeo-Malayalam. The older generation is eager for the younger generation to get involved, but since most younger Cochin Jews have a mixed background and are assimilated into mainstream Israeli culture, this is sometimes proving a challenge.

Still, many young Cochin Jews are eager to connect with their roots. The community maintains several Facebook groups, including one specifically geared towards the younger generation. The group description reads: “If you are a young Cochini, you surely know (at least partially) the wonderful heritage of our forefathers and mothers…  the sad truth is that this heritage is currently on its way to pass from the world.”

Shlomo Gadot is the CEO of Inuitive, a semiconductor company, and is actively involved with Cochini community projects. His nephew, Ori, runs the Facebook group for the younger generation. Shlomo says events are regularly held at the Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv for young Cochinis. “Normally the embassy gives them their office in Tel Aviv, and they invite the young Cochini people to come there and do a trivia contest,” he said. “They do it twice a year, once at Hanukkah and once at Passover.”

According to Shlomo, the embassy also has initiatives to create connections between Indian and Israeli tech companies. “Sometimes they invite people to the ambassador’s house or office to see how they can create connections between Israeli and Indian companies,” he said. “They also have a program to bring young people to India to help them get to know India better.”

Anil Abraham is one of the few Cochin Jews with recent memories of life in India. Born in Jerusalem, his family returned to India when he was 8 years old, and he lived there until age 35 before migrating back to Israel. He says he found growing up Jewish in India difficult, but rewarding. “It was very difficult to move there from Israel and learn Malayalam,” he said. “But it was amazing to be part of the community and enjoy Cochini food prepared from scratch. We used to attend prayers in the Paradesi Synagogue, because right now there are fewer than 20 Jews in Kerala.”

Today, Anil runs tours of Kerala for the Cochin Jewish community and others. “The kids travel with their parents and grandparents to India,” he said. “That’s how our traditions are passed down.”

[spacelazarwolf]

Hey.

Curious non-Jew here with a question or two.

Sorry if I’m interrupting anything.

I’m just curious.

You describe yourself as an italki Jew, what exactly is italki? I’m assuming Italian but I genuinely don’t know.

I know there are loads of different groups of Jewish peoples (Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Cochin Jews, Mizrahi Jews (some people group them in with the Sephardic Jews), Ethiopian Jews (apparently they call themselves Beta Israel?), Nigerian Jews, Karaite Jews, etc. among MANY others I haven’t mentioned).

But I’ve never heard of Italki.

Could you perhaps elaborate on it?

If it’s okay for me to ask.

I’m just curious

And I don’t wish to come across as prying.

no worries! i have a tag that i’ll put on this post where i have posts that talk about that.

[pargolettasworld]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEL-NKosKG0

Often, when you hear music from the Cochin Jewish community originally of Kerala, India*, you’re hearing a recording of songs sung by women in Malayalam that celebrate various life-cycle and religious events but aren’t actually part of the liturgy.  This actually is Cochin liturgy.  It’s a recording of a special Yom Kippur melody for the Kaddish.  There’s something very deliberate about this performance that I find highly compelling.

*Most of them up and moved to Israel.  There are a few very old Jews left in Cochin, but most of the community members were quite excited when Israel became a country and couldn’t wait to move.