#this seems like a combo of european racism & s asian casteism but idk anything abt castes so idk how right i am
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the paradesi synagogue in kochi, kerala, india. the first synagogue on the site, built by the city's longstanding malabari jewish community, was destroyed by portugese who'd colonized the area in their persecution of locals. it was rebuilt in 1568 by spanish and portugese jews who fled persecution and later expulsion, hence the name "paradesi" ("foreign" in malayalam).
these sephardic jews and a community of jews of mixed african and european descent who were formerly enslaved ("meshuchrarim", "freedmen" in hebrew) joined the malabari jewish community of kochi and somewhat integrated. they were later joined by some iraqi, persian, yemenite, afghan, and dutch sephardic jews. the middle eastern and european jews were considered "white jews" and permitted malabari jews and meshuchrarim to worship in the synagogue. however, in what seems like a combination of local caste dynamics and racism, malabari jews were not allowed full membership. meshuchrarim weren't allowed in at all, but were instead made to sit outside during services and not allowed their own place of worship or other communal rights.
as the "white jews" tended to be rather wealthy from trade, this synagogue contains multiple antiquities. they include belgian glass chandeliers on its walls, hand-painted porcelain tiles from china on its floors, and an oriental rug that was gifted by ethiopian emperor haile selassie.
#india#architecture#interior#worship#jewish#sephardic#mizrahi#abrahamic kerala#my posts#this seems like a combo of european racism & s asian casteism but idk anything abt castes so idk how right i am#imo the attitude of the paradesi sephardim sort of echoes what went on w/ portugese & st thomas christians#though they were also influenced by ''jewish racism'' (someone not being an ''authentic'' jew or 100% jewish in lineage)#also its interesting that most paradesi jews who left india went to other commonwealth countries while most malabar jews went to occupied#palestine (for the same reason indian muslims went to pakistan more or less). something something the west's unwanted refugee dumping groun#also i'm not saying the portugese didn't persecute against locals who practiced other religions just that there was a Very Specific type of#persecution st thomas christians and malabari jews faced from them#one more thing: i think most americans dont know (and western europeans like to forget) that the transatlantic slave trade went into#western europe as well. even if most w euro countries outlawed slavery before the us did#and also that ‘white’ has never had a linear definition (yemenites are very not ‘white’-looking to the average american)
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