The term "Early Jewish Christians" is often used in discussing the Early History of Christianity, see also Early Christianity and History of early Christianity. Jesus, his Twelve Apostles, the Elders, his family, and essentially all of his early followers were Jewish or Jewish Proselytes [1]. Hence the 3,000 converts on Pentecost (Sivan 6), following the death and resurrection of Jesus (Nisan 14 or 15), described in Acts of the Apostles 2, were all Jews and Proselytes. Samaritans were not Jewish (Judean), but are still identified with the tribes of Israel and also numbered among the early followers, as is the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8)[2]. Traditionally the Roman Centurion Cornelius is considered the first Gentile convert[3], as recorded in Acts 10, albeit he too is a "God-fearer" proselyte who participated in a Jewish synagogue. The major division prior to that time was between Hellenistic and non-Hellenistic Jews or Koine Greek (Acts 6) and Aramaic (Acts 1:19) speakers. The conversion and acceptance of the Gentile Cornelius can be described in terms of the Judaic teaching which describes strangers becoming part of the community (Isaiah 56:3-7). Acts does not use the term "Jewish Christians", rather those led by James the Just, Simon Peter, and John the Apostle, the "Pillars of the Church", were called followers of "The Way".[4] Later groups, or perhaps the same group by different names[5], were the Ebionites and Elkasites.

The "Christian" appellation was first applied to the followers after Paul of Tarsus started preaching at Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). Paul made explicit in Galatians 1:7 that he did not discuss with the "Pillars of the Church" after he had received his revelation to be an apostle (1:15-16), that he saw no one except Cephas (Peter) and James, when he was in Jerusalem three years after the revelation (1:18-24) and implies he did not explain his gospel to them until 14 years later (2:1-2) in a subsequent trip to Jerusalem[6] The division between those who followed Mosaic law and were were circumcised and those who were not circumcised was highlighted in his Epistle to the Galatians 2:7-9:

"On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised." (NRSV)
These terms (circumcised/uncircumcised) are generally interpreted to mean Jews and Greeks respectively, who were predominant in the region; however this is an oversimplification as 1st century Iudaea Province also had some Jews who no longer circumcised (sometimes called Hellenized Jews), and some Greeks (called Proselytes or Judaizers) and others such as Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Arabs who did. See also Abrahamic religion and Circumcision controversy in early Christianity#Jewish background.

Jesus is frequently called the "Nazarene" (Matthew 2:23; Mark 10:47; 14:67; 16:6; Luke 24:19; John 18:5; 18:7; 19:19; Acts 2:22; 3:6; 4:10; 6:14; 22:8. Named after him, the followers of Paul are the Nazarenes (Acts 24:5, Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 9:1).

The Council of Jerusalem, according to Acts 15, determined that circumcision was not required of Gentile converts, only avoidance of "pollution of idols, fornication, things strangled, and blood" (KJV, Acts 15:20). The basis for these prohibitions is unclear, Acts 15:21 states only: "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day", the implication being that they are based on the Law of Moses. Many, beginning with Augustine of Hippo[7] consider them to be based on the Noahide Laws, while some modern scholars[8] reject the connection to Noahide Law (Genesis 9) and instead see Lev 17-18 as the basis. Also unclear is whether this meant that this Law in some way applied to them or merely that the requirements were imposed to facilitate common participation in the Christian community by Gentiles who would be in constant relation with the Jewish Christians who would be constantly reminded of their obligation to follow the Law. See also Biblical law in Christianity and Expounding of the Law.

The early Jewish Christians included those who believed non-Jews must become Jews and adopt Jewish customs. They were derogatively called Judaizers, and even Paul used this term[9] against Jesus's student Peter in public according to Young's Literal Translation of Gal 2:14:

“ But when I saw that they are not walking uprightly to the truth of the good news, I said to Peter before all, `If thou, being a Jew, in the manner of the nations dost live, and not in the manner of the Jews, how the nations dost thou compel to Judaize? ”
However, Barnabas, Paul's partner up till then, sided with Peter (Gal 2:13, Acts 15:39-40). Catholic Encyclopedia: Judaizers: The Incident at Antioch claims: "St. Paul's account of the incident leaves no doubt that St. Peter saw the justice of the rebuke." however, L. Michael White's From Jesus to Christianity[10] claims: "The blowup with Peter was a total failure of political bravado, and Paul soon left Antioch as persona non grata, never again to return." See also Pauline Christianity. Scholar James D. G. Dunn, who coined the phrase New Perspective on Paul, has proposed that Peter was the bridge-man (i.e. the pontifex maximus) between the two other "prominent leading figures" of early Christianity: Paul and James the Just.[11]

Marcion in the 2nd century, called the "most dangerous" heretic, rejected the Twelve Apostles, and interpreted a Jesus who rejected the Law of Moses using 10 Pauline Epistles and the Gospel of Luke. For example, his version of Luke 23:2 [1]: "We found this fellow [Jesus] perverting the nation and destroying the law and the prophets". Irenaeus in turn rejected Marcion and praised the Twelve Apostles in his Against Heresies 3.12.12:[2]

"...being brought over to the doctrine of Simon Magus, they have apostatized in their opinions from Him who is God, and imagined that they have themselves discovered more than the apostles, by finding out another god; and [maintained] that the apostles preached the Gospel still somewhat under the influence of Jewish opinions, but that they themselves are purer [in doctrine], and more intelligent, than the apostles."
According to Eusebius' History of the Church 4.5.3-4: the first 15 Bishops of Jerusalem were "of the circumcision". The Romans destroyed the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem in year 135 during the Bar Kokhba Revolt. However, that doesn't necessarily mean an end to Jewish Christianity, any more than Valerian's Massacre of 258, (when he killed all Christian bishops, presbyters, and deacons, including Pope Sixtus II and Antipope Novatian and Cyprian of Carthage), meant an end to Roman Christianity.


Circumcision controversy

Circumcision controversy in early Christianity
A common interpretation of the circumcision controversy of the New Testament was that it was over the issue of whether Gentiles could enter the Church directly or ought to first convert to Judaism. However, the Halakha of Rabbinic Judaism was still under development at this time, as the Jewish Encyclopedia article on Jesus[12] notes: "Jesus, however, does not appear to have taken into account the fact that the Halakha was at this period just becoming crystallized, and that much variation existed as to its definite form; the disputes of the Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai were occurring about the time of his maturity." This controversy was fought largely between opposing groups of Christians who were themselves ethnically Jewish. According to this interpretation, those who felt that conversion to Judaism was a prerequisite for Church membership were eventually condemned by Paul as "Judaizing teachers".

The source of this interpretation is unknown; however, it appears related to Supersessionism or Hyperdispensationalism (see also New Perspective on Paul). In addition, modern Christians, such as Ethiopian Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox still practice circumcision while not considering it a part of conversion to Judaism, nor do they consider themselves to be Jews or Jewish Christians. In 1st century Pharisaic Judaism there was controversy over the significance of circumcision, for example between Hillel the Elder and Shammai (see also Circumcision in the Bible #In rabbinic literature). Roman Catholicism condemned circumcision for its members in 1442, at the Council of Florence[3].


Surviving communities whose origins reflect both Judaism and early Christianity

The Nasrani or Syrian Malabar Nasrani community in Kerala, India is conscious of their Jewish origins. However, they have lost many of their Jewish traditions due to western influences. The Nasrani are also known as Syrian Christians or St. Thomas Christians. This is because they follow the traditions of Syriac Christianity and claim descent from the early converts by St. Thomas the Apostle. Today, they belong to various denominations of Christianity but they have kept their unique identity within each of these denominations. (Refer to St. Thomas Christians).

Two of the existing communities that still maintain their Jewish traditions are the Knananites and the Fallasha. The Knanaya, who are an endogamous sub-ethnic group among the Syrian Malabar Nasrani are the descendants of early Jewish Christian settlers who arrived in Kerala in A.D 345. Although affiliated with a variety of Roman Catholic and Oriental Orthodox denominations, they have remained a cohesive community, shunning intermarriage with outsiders (but not with fellow-Knanaya of other denominations). The Fallasha of Ethiopia likewise reflect a Hebrew tradition that was outside the influence of much of the conflicts and conquests of the Hebrews of Israel and Judea.


Contemporary Jewish Christians

There are at least two varieties of syncretisms between Judaism and Christianity: syncretisms that emphasize Christianity (Jewish Christians) and syncretisms focusing on Judaism (Messianic Jews). "Jewish Christians" is sometimes used as a contemporary term in respect of persons who are ethnically Jewish but who have become part of a "mainstream" Christian group which is not predominantly based on an appeal to Jewish ethnicity or the Law of Moses. This term is used as a contrast to Messianic Jews, many of whom are ethnic Jews who have converted to a religion in which Christian belief (usually evangelical) is generally grafted onto Jewish ritual which would, to outsiders at least, typically resemble Judaism more than Christianity.

The term could thus be used, for example, of Arnold Fruchtenbaum, the founder of Ariel Ministries. Another group which could be described as Jewish Christians is "Jews for Jesus".


Modern Jewish Christians and Messianic Jews

There are important similarities and differences between "Jewish Christians" (or "Hebrew Christians") and "Messianic Jews". Jewish Christians identify themselves primarily as Christians. They are mostly members of Protestant and Catholic congregations, usually are not strict about observing Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) or the Sabbath, and are generally assimilated culturally into the Christian mainstream, although they retain a strong sense of their Jewish identity which they, like Messianic Jews, strongly desire to pass on to their children. In Israel, there is a growing population of Orthodox Christians who are of Jewish descent and conduct their worship mostly in Hebrew (the most prominent language in Israel, as well as the official language). Messianic Jews consider their primary identity to be "Jewish" and belief in Jesus to be the logical conclusion of their "Jewishness". They try to structure their worship according to Jewish norms, they circumcise their sons and (mostly) abstain from non-kosher foods, and (often) observe the Sabbath. Many (but by no means all) do not use the label "Christian" to describe themselves. The boundary between the two movements is blurred, but the differences between the two movements are such that it may not be fair.


The Jewish Christian Community in India

India has a legacy of three distinct ancient Jewish groups: the Bene Israel, the Cochin Jews, also called the Malabar Jews, and the White Jews from Europe. Each group practiced important elements of Judaism and had active synagogues. The Sephardic rites predominate among Indian Jews. More recent Jewish immigration to India includes the Baghdadi Jews, Bnei Menashe, and Bene Ephraim.

Jewish merchants from Europe traveled to India in the medieval period for purposes of trade, but it is not clear whether they formed permanent settlements in south Asia. Our first reliable evidence of Jews living in India comes from the early 11th century. It is certain that the first Jewish settlements were centered along the western coast. Abraham ibn Daud's 12th century reference to Jews of India is unfortunately vague and we do not have further references to Indian Jews until several centuries later.

Migrations in the 16th and 17th centuries created important settlements of Jews from Persia, Afghanistan and Characin (Central Asia) in northern India and Kashmir. By the late 18th century, Bombay became the largest Jewish community in India. Bene Israel Jews lived in Bombay, as did Iraqi and Persian Jews.

Bene Israel Jews

The Bene Israel ("Sons of Israel") lived primarily in the cities of Bombay (now Mumbai), Pune, Karachi (now in Pakistan), and Ahmadabad. The native language of the Bene Israel was Judeo-Marathi. They arrived in India nearly 2,100 years ago after a shipwreck stranded seven Jewish families from Judea at Navagaon near Alibag, just south of Mumbai.

Bene Israel Synagogue

The Bene Israel claim to be descended from Jews who escaped persecution in the Galilee in the 2nd century B.C.E. The Bene Israel resembled the non-Jewish Maratha people in appearance and customs, which indicates intermarriage between Jews and Indians. The Bene Israel, however, maintained the practices of Jewish dietary laws, circumcision, and observation of Sabbath as a day of rest.

The Bene Israel say their ancestors were oil pressers in the Galilee and earned the nickname "Saturday oil-pressers" because they abstained from work on Saturday, which is the Jewish Shabbat, a day of rest. In the 18th century, they were "discovered" by traders from Baghdad. At that time, the Bene Israel were practicing just a few outward forms of Judaism (which is how they were recognized), but had no scholars of their own. Teachers from Baghdad and Cochin taught them mainstream Judaism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the 1830s, there was an estimated 6,000 Bene Israeli Jews living in India, and nearly 10,000 at the turn of the century. At their peak in 1948, the Bene Israel numbered 20,000. Since then, most of the Bene Israel Jews have migrated to Israel, and under 5,000 remain today.

Bene Israel

In 1964, the Rabbinate of Israel declared that the Bene Israel are "full Jews in every respect."

The Bene Israel community claimed to be descendents of the Kohanim, the ancient Israelite priests, which claims descent from Aaron, the brother of Moses. In 2002, a DNA test confimed that the Bene Israel share the same heredity as the Kohanim.

Jews of Cochin

The first Jews to come to India were the Jews in Cochin in southern India (today, its the port city of Kochi) were the so-called "Black Jews," who traditionally spoke the Judeo-Malayalam tongue, native to the state of Kerala. Some say that these "Black Jews" settled in the Malabar coast during the times of King Solomon of Israel, and after the Kingdom of Israel split into two. The Pardesi Jews, also called the "White Jews" settled later, coming to India from western European nations such as Holland and Spain, and spoke the ancient Sephardic language of Ladino. A notable settlement of Spanish and Portuguese Jews starting in the 15th century was Goa, but this settlement eventually disappeared. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Cochin had an influx of Jewish settlers from the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain.

Pardesi Synagogue Cochin

The Jews of Cochin traditionally say that they came to Cranganore (an ancient port near Cochin in south-west India) after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. They had, in effect, their own principality for many centuries until a chieftainship dispute broke out between two brothers in the 15th century. The dispute led neighboring princes to dispossess them. In 1524, the Moors, backed by the ruler of Calicut (today called Kozhikode) attacked the Jews of Cranganore on the pretext that they were tampering with the pepper trade. Most Jews fled to Cochin and went under the protection of the Hindu Raja there. He granted them a site for their own town that later acquired the name "Jew Town" (by which it is still known).

Unfortunately for the Jews of Cochin, the Portuguese occupied Cochin in this same period and indulged in persecution of the Jews until the Dutch displaced them in 1660. The Dutch Protestants were tolerant, and the Jews prospered. In 1795, Cochin passed into the British sphere of influence. In the 19th century, Cochin Jews lived in the towns of Cochin, Ernakulam, Aluva, and North Paravur.

Most of Cochin's Jews have emigrated (principally to Israel), intermarried, or converted, and now there are believed to be only 13 elderly Indian-born Jews, from seven families, still living in Kochi. There are currently 53 practicing Cochin Jews in Kerala, along with three synagogues. The Pardesi Synagogue in Kochi, built in 1568, is the only one still open and is a protected heritage site. Many fear that the Jews of Cochin will soon wither away.



Jewish cemetery in Cochin

Jews of Calcutta

Near the end of the 18th century, a third group of Indian Jews appeared. They are the middle-eastern Jews who came to India through trade. They established a trading network stretching from Aleppo to Baghdad to Basra to Surat/Bombay to Calcutta to Rangoon to Singapore to Hong Kong and eventually as far as Kobe, Japan. There were strong family bonds amongst the traders in all these places.

Typical is the founder of the Calcutta community, Shalom Aharon Ovadiah HaCohen. He was born in Aleppo in 1762 and left in 1789. He arrived in Surat in 1792 and established himself there. He traded as far as Zanzibar. In 1798 he moved to Calcutta. In 1805 he was joined by his nephew, Moses Simon Duek HaCohen, who married his eldest daughter Lunah. Soon the community was swelled by other traders and Baghdadis outnumbered those from Aleppo.



Beth El Synagogue Calcutta

Under British rule, the Jews of India achieved their maximum population and wealth, and the Calcutta community continued to grow and prosper and trade amongst all the cities of the Far East and to the rest of the world. The Indians were very tolerant and the Jews of Calcutta felt completely at home. Their numbers reached a peak of about 5,000 during World War II when they were swelled by refugees fleeing the Japanese advance into Burma.
The first generations of Calcutta Jews spoke Judeo-Arabic at home, but by the 1890s English was the language of choice. After WWII, the rise of Indian nationalism made Jews feel less comfortable because they were identified with the English by the Indians. India's Jewish population declined dramatically starting in the 1940s with heavy immigration to Israel, England and the United States. This is where most Indian Jews live today.

The Jews of Calcutta now number about 2,150, of whom 150 are European and the remainder natives of Asiatic Turkey, Persia, and southern Arabia.

Baghdadi Jews

The Baghdadi Jewish community, so-called because they are descents of Iraqi Jewish immigrants who came to that country during the British Raj, not only includes Jews from the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad, but from other areas of Iraq, as well as Jews from Syrian, Yemenite, Persian, and Turkish origin. The community developed as a result of Jews fleeing religious persecution in Muslim lands to the northwest of India during the British imperial era. Unlike other Jewish communities in India whose oral tradition attest to a presence in India going back as long as 2000 years, the Baghdadi communities were established relatively recently (in the past few centuries).

The Baghdadis have completely assimilated into Indian society. A contributing factor for their assimilation was their physical features and resemblance to the East Indians. The Baghdadis originally came to India from Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan, so they had dark olive skin and black, dark brown hair, that gave them that distinct Middle Eastern appearance and an Indian resemblance.

Bnei Menashe

The Bnei Menashe community consists of close to 9,000 members of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo tribe, which lives in the northeast Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram, near the border of Myanmar (formally Burma). Linguistically, they are Tibeto-Burmans. For generations they kept Jewish traditions, claiming to be descended from the Tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel that were exiled by the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C.E. and have since disappeared.

In the 19th century, the tribe's members were converted to Christianity, but in the 1970s, some of the community began practicing Judaism again and set themselves apart from the rest of the tribe, after Pentecostalist called Chalianthanga or Mela Chala (the name varies) from the Buallawn village dreamt that God instructed him to direct his people to return to their pre-Christian religion, which he determined to be Judaism, and to return to their original homeland, Israel.

Flag of Bnei Menashe

The group was named Bnei Menashe by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, who heard about the tribe in 1979 and traveled to their village in India several times in the 1980s, because they believe that the legendary Kuki-Mizo ancestor Manmasi is one and the same with Menassah, son of Joseph. Rabbi Avichail's organization, called Amishav (Hebrew for "my people return") dedicated himself to converting the Bnei Menashe in the Orthodox tradition, and eventually bring them to settle in Israel.

In July 2005, the Bnei Menashe community built their first mikvah, or a Jewish ritual bath, in Mizoram under the supervision of Israeli rabbis in order to begin the conversion process. Shortly after, a similar mikvah was built in Manipur. In mid-2005, with the help of Shavei Israel, an organization founded by Avichail's friend, journalist Michael Fruend, and the local council of Kiryat Arba, the Bnei Menashe opened its first community center in Israel.

In March 2005, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, one of Israel's two chief rabbis, decided to recognize the members of India's Bnei Menashe community as descendants of the ancient Israelites due to their exceptional devotion to Judaism. In the past two decades, some 1,700 Bnei Menashe have emigrated to Israel.

Indian religious figures in the Mizo-Kuki churches in Mizoram, as well as Indian government officials, later expressed concern about the plan to convert the Bnei Menashe and bring them to Israel so the effort was since suspended, although members of Bnei Menashe continued to arrive in Israel in 2006 and 2007.

Bene Ephraim

The Bene Ephraim (in Hebrew, "Sons of Ephraim") are a small group of Jews, sometimes called the Telugu Jews because they speak Telugu, a Dravidian national language of India, who reside in the south-eastern province of Andhra Pradesh, whose recorded observance of Judaism, like that of the Bnei Menashe, is quite recent, going back only to 1981. In the 19th century, the Bene Ephraim were converted to Christianity by Baptist missionaries.

Since 1981, about fifty families around Kottareddipalem and Ongole (capital of the nearby district of Prakasham) have begun to study and teach Torah, learn Hebrew, and sought recognition from other Jewish communities around the world. The community has been visited over the years by several groups of rabbis, who have thus far not seen fit to extend the same recognition to this community as that recently extended to the Bnei Menashe.

In 1992, the first Bene Ephraim synagogue opened in Kottareddipalem, called The House of the Children of Yakob, founded by former Christian preacher Shmuel Yakobi, who first encountered Judaism in the 1980's on a trip to Jerusalem. Yakobi also founded an independent open university offering correspondence courses in Torah and Hebraic Studies, calling the community the Council of Eastern Jewry.

Cochin is a handy name for a cluster of islands and towns sprinkled with shady lagoons, tropical forests and canals winding past houses on stilts. This is a multicultural land where, in addition to the Jewish sights, one can see Portuguese churches, Dutch architecture, mosques, Hindu temples and a British village green.
Like India in general, Cochin is warm and friendly, with an ancient and multifaceted Jewish community that, tradition relates, is as old as the Diaspora. It is a city whose indigenous inhabitants have welcomed, befriended and protected Jews for centuries.
Located in the tropical state of Kerala and alternately referred to as Venice of the East and queen of the Arabian Sea, Cochin is one the 3 largest ports on India's west coast and one of the finest natural harbors in the world. The markets are filled with the scent of spices and the shouts of vendors; the docks are lined with merchants' houses and cargo ships and the countryside is sprinkled with shady lagoons and wooded islands. The crystal-blue sky and tropical foliage, the pastel houses, the bright raw silk of the clothes and the ever-present smiles blend into one exquisite rainbow.

History

One legend holds that the Jews first settled in India during the time of King Solomon, when there was trade in teak, ivory, spices and peacocks between the Land of Israel and the Malabar Coast, where Cochin is located. Others put their arrival at the time of the Assyrian exile in 722 B.C.E., the Babylonian exile in 586 or after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE No reliable evidence exists, but most contemporary scholars fix the date at some time during the early Middle Ages. It is the bible that contains the first mention of Jews in connection with India. The Book of Esther, which dates from the second century B.C.E., cites decrees enacted by Ahasuerus relating to the Jews dispersed throughout the provinces of his empire from Hodu to Kush. Hodu is Hebrew for India; Kush is Ethiopia. Talmudic and midrashic literature also mention spices, perfumes, plants, animals, textiles, gems and crockery which either bear names of Indian origin or are indigenous to the country. The earliest documentation of permanent Jewish settlements is on two copper plates now stored in Cochin's main synagogue. Engraved in the ancient Tamil language, they detail the privileges granted a certain Joseph Rabban by Bhaskara Ravi Varma, the fourth-century Hindu ruler of Malabar. According to the inscription, the ruler awarded the Jews the village of Anjuvannam, meaning "five castes," as the Jews were believed to be the lords of the five castes of artisans. The plates also state that Anjuvannam shall remain in the possession of the descendants of these Jews "so long as the world and moon exist."
Twelfth-century Jewish, Christian and Muslim travelers described Jewish settlements around Cochin. The main community was in Cranganore, north of Cochin. For a time the Jews of the Malabar Coast served as a way station to the Jewish community in China. In 1167 Benjamin of Tudela wrote of 1,000 Jews on the Malabar Coast "who are black like their neighbors and are good men, observers of the law, and possess the Torah of Moses, the Prophets, and some little knowledge of the Talmud and the halakha."
The Jews prospered in Anjuvannam for more than a thousand years after the grant of the copper plates. Then, with the extinction of the line of Rabban, dissension arose between two brothers of a noble family for the chieftanship of the principality The younger brother has supporters killed many on those who came under his elder brother, and neighboring princes intervened and dispossessed the Jews. In 1341 the brothers fled to Cochin with their followers and established the Kochangadi synagogue there.
In 1524, on the pretext that the Jews were tampering with the pepper trade, the Moors attacked the remaining Jews of Anjuvannam, burning their homes and synagogues. The destruction was so complete that when the Portuguese arrived a few years later they found only destitute Jews, who continued to eke out a miserable existence for 40 more years. Finally, the remaining Jews deserted their ancient settlement and fled to Cochin.
As the Portuguese made inroads along the coast more Jews arrived in Cochin, which remained under Indian protection. Spanish and Portuguese exiles came after the Inquisition, and others arrived fleeing persecution in the Middle East. In 1560 the Portuguese set up an office of the Inquisition in Goa, halfway between Bombay and Cochin, and even more Jews sought the protection of Cheraman Parumal, the raja of Cochin, soon labeled the "King of the Jews" by the Portuguese authorities.
The Jews could not have survived under Portuguese rule (1502-1663) had it not been for Parumal. In 1565 he gave them a strip of land next to his palace and in 1568 permitted them to build a synagogue not 30 yards from his temple. He appointed a hereditary mudaliar (chief) from among the Jews and invested the position with special privileges and jurisdiction in all internal matters in the Jewish community. This office continued in force under subsequent rajas and even under Dutch and British rule. The Hallegua family, which still holds the title, continues to be influential in Cochin.

Community

At the community's peak in the 1940's there were approximately 2,500 Jews in the state of Kerala-in Ernakulum, Parur, Chennamangalam and Mala, all near Cochin City-and 300 in Jew Town. Today, few of the country's remaining 5,500 Jews live in Cochin- 22, to be exact-and many predict that the predominantly elderly community will be gone within 25 years. When India established its independence in 1947, the combination of uncertainty and the Zionist vision prompted most of Cochin's Jews to make aliya. Many worried the country would become socialist. Those who stayed behind were the wealthiest; they did not want to risk losing their fortunes in the move and are today left with the burden of sustaining the community.
The Cochin Jews were historically divided into two major communities-the so- called Black Jews, or Malabaris (85 percent of Cochinis), who regard themselves as the descendants of the original settlers, and the White Jews, or Paradesim (14 percent), descendants of immigrants from various Middle East and European countries. There are also a few Brown Jews, or Meshuhurarum, who are descended from emancipated slaves. They became spice merchants, business owners and professionals and spoke the local language-Malayalam-as well as English. The community has never had a rabbi of its own and was rarely visited by one. Any synagogue elder is eligible to lead prayers, and the men take turns.
The Jews have adopted and modified many of their host country's customs. Colorful oil lamps hang from synagogue ceilings in keeping with Hindu tradition; all synagogues are entered barefoot and for hardala flowers are sniffed and then tucked into a pocket, signifying Shabbat's end.
Although Jews, like Christians, are outside India's caste system, they developed a strict code of their own, which for centuries dictated that the three communities and their subgroups could not live together, socialize or intermarry. The divisions between Jews began to break down after 1948, when large scale emigration forced everyone together. The majority of Jewish marriages are still arranged; married couples and their children live with the husband's parents. Jewish women now wear bindis, the small marks in the middle of their foreheads that at one time signified a woman's marital status but are now merely a fashion statement.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of the Indian Jewish experience is the complete absence of discrimination by a host majority. The secret of India's tolerance is the Hindu belief which confers legitimacy on a wide diversity of cultural and religious groups even as it forbids movement from one group to another.

Sights

Today Jew Town, in the Mattancherry section and a short walk from the ferry, is one street long. Jews used to occupy virtually all the houses on Jew Town Road, where they sold fruits, vegetables and spices or worked as oil pressers or carpenters. The spice markets are still located on the narrow street, but most of the homes and businesses belong to non-Jews. Out of seven synagogues that once graced this street, only the Paradesi is still open.
Entering Jew Town Road where it intersects with Jew Cemetery Road is like entering another world. Merchants call out from open-air shops, men squat in doorways or congregate in the middle of the street to smoke their pipes and gossip, friendly and curious children follow visitors, chattering endlessly, and three wheeled motorized taxis and bicycles thread their way through the scene.
Anchoring one end of Jew Town, at the end of Jew Cemetery Road, is the Jewish burial place, with stone sepulchers aboveground and inscriptions in Hebrew and Malayalam. From there, a walk through several blocks will bring you to the Magen David decorated, wrought-iron gates of the Paradesi synagogue. Along the way one can identify buildings that once housed synagogues and prayer halls-as well as Jewish homes and storefronts-by the still-visible stars and Hebrew inscriptions and decorations.
Built on land given the Cranganore exiles by the raja and reconstructed after the Portuguese bombardment in 1662, the Paradesi is the oldest synagogue in the former British Empire. White-walled and tile-roofed, with an inner courtyard lined with ancient Hebrew-inscribed gravestones, it was embellished in the mid eighteenth century by Ezekiel Rahabi, the Dutch East India Company's principal merchant and diplomat in Malabar, who built a Dutch-style clock tower with three faces: Hebrew numerals facing the synagogue, Roman numerals facing the palace and Indian numerals facing the harbor. Rahabi also had the floor paved with hand painted porcelain tiles, each with a different weeping willow pattern, brought from Canton. The synagogue also contains silver- and gold decorated Torah scrolls; an Oriental carpet in front of the Ark (a gift from Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie), two brass columns commemorating pillars that stood in the Temple, two bimot (one in the women's section, a feature unique to the Jews of Kerala) and Torah crowns of solid gold set with gems given to the Cochini Jews by neighboring rajas. The most striking feature, however, is the forest of lights hanging from the ceiling-silver, brass and glass oil-burning lamps and Belgian crystal chandeliers. In addition, the Paradesi houses 10 paintings which depict the history of the Jews of Kerala, as well as the 1,600-year-old copper plates-deposited in an iron box called a pandeal and carefully guarded by the elders-which are shown to visitors on request.
The Paradesi celebrated its four hundredth anniversary in 1968; Prime Minister Indira Ghandi attended the festivities and the Indian government issued a commemorative postage stamp for the occasion. The synagogue, which has been declared a protected monument, is open Sunday through Friday, 10 to noon and 3 to 5 P.M., in addition to Shabbat and Jewish holidays. The Indian government's corporal guard remains on watch over the sights of Jew Town and have promised to do so until eternity.

Side Trips

Across the harbor from Cochin is Ernakulam, which once had a thriving Jewish community. The Thekumbagum synagogue, on Jew Street (Market Road), was built in 1580. Today the building is empty but eerily beautiful as it awaits dismantling and shipping to Israel. The Kadavumbagham synagogue, also on Jew Street a short distance away, is reputed to have been built in 1200. Rebuilt in 1554, it was closed in 1972, when its Torah scrolls were sent to the Cochini synagogue near Beersheba. Today the building, which still has an intact ark and Hindu-style ceiling lamps, houses a plant nursery.

General Sights

If you travel by Indian Air (Tel: 352065) you will arrive on Willingdon Island, created from material dredged while deepening Cochin Port. Regular ferry services offer inexpensive backwater cruises. At Vypeen Island, which faces the sea, fishermen still use ancient Oriental-style nets. Gundu Island, at five acres the smallest around Cochin, houses a coir (coconut fiber) factory which produces beautifully made doormats. At Bolghatty Island, the most beautiful of the lot, is the Bolghatty Palace. Built by the Dutch in 1744, it later became the seat of the governor between 1797 and 1948 when the British ruled India. Today it has been converted into the Bolghatty Palace Hotel (350003) There are many sights of interest closer to Jew Town on Mattancherry. The Paradesi synagogue and watchtower are separated by a stone wall from the former palace and private Pazhayannur Sri Krishna Temple of the Maharajah of Cochin. The palace, built by the Portuguese and given to the Cochin raja in 1555, was renovated by the Dutch in 1663. Today known as the Dutch Palace, it is a public museum, while the temple complex is open to all Hindus. According to a congregant, "While worshipping in the synagogue, we often hear their music and prayers, and they can hear us, too." Kerala is home to about 30 miles of backwaters that snake the length and breadth of the state. Alappuzha, "the rice bowl of Kerala," is in the heart of it all. It is interspersed with 65 canals and 12 villages set among paddy fields and is a wonderful place to take a boat tour (Kerala Tourism Development Corp.,353-234)

Reading

The Last Jews of Cochin: Jewish Identity in Hindu India (University of South Carolina Press), co-authored by Nathan Katz and Ellen Goldberg, chronicles the generations of Cochin's unique Jewish community which once flourished in a predominantly Hindu society and then declined into near extinction. Baumgartner's Bombay (Knopf), by Anita Desai, is a touching novel about German Jewish refugees in India. Gay Courter's novel Flowers in the Blood (Dutton), set partly in Cochin, provides a rich portrait of a prominent Jewish family from Calcutta.

Recomendations

A knowledgeable guide is a must, and there is only one Jewish travel agency in India that takes visitors on a tour of the Jewish places of interest in Cochin, Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta. Tov Tours, B-9, New Empire Premises, Kondivita St., Bombay 400 059 (tel: 6300750), also specializes in taking non-Jewish Indians to Israel. Owner Clement Aaron, a member of Bombay's Benei Israel community, navigates the teeming streets of India describing Indian and Jewish customs and patiently answering questions. In addition, the India Government Tourist Office, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10112, is an excellent resource (212-586-4901)
Never forget that Cochin is 10 degrees north of the equator and hot. The best time to visit is during the winter, especially in December when the weather is pleasantly resort-like. The Taj Mahal Hotel on Willingdon Island is first class, with a spacious lawn right on the water . There are no kosher restaurants in Cochin. Although immunizations are not required they are strongly recommended. In addition, bottled water is a must, and tourists find it convenient to carry tissues and premoistened towelettes.
Many bring along dozens of pens, the brighter the better, as the more rural it gets the more the children plead for them, and the radiance of each smile is well worth the price of the pen. People welcome visitors with such sincerity and joy it is impossible not to afford a small part of Cochin a permanent place in one's heart.


ndian Jews are a religious minority of India. Judaism was one of the first non-Dharmic religions to arrive in India in recorded history. The better-established ancient communities have assimilated a large number of local traditions through cultural diffusion. The Jewish population in India is hard to estimate since each Jewish community is distinct with different origins; some arrived during the time of the Kingdom of Judah, others are seen by some as descendants of Israel's Lost Ten Tribes. Of the total Jewish population in India, about half live in Manipur and Mizoram and a quarter live in the city of Mumbai. Unlike many parts of the world, Jews have historically lived in India without anti-Semitism from Indians (though they were victims of anti-Semitism by the Portuguese[1] and their Inquisition during their colonial rule in Goa). Jews have held important positions under Indian princes in the past and even after independence from British Rule, have risen to very high positions in government, military and industry.

In addition to Jewish expatriates and recent immigrants, there are five native Jewish communities in India:

The Cochin Jews arrived in India 2,500 years ago and settled down in Cochin, Kerala as traders.
The Bene Israel arrived in the state of Maharashtra 2,100 years ago.
The Baghdadi Jews arrived in the city Mumbai from Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, and Arab countries about 250 years ago.
The Bnei Menashe are Mizo and Kuki tribesmen in Manipur and Mizoram who claim descent from the tribe of Menasseh.
The Bene Ephraim (also called "Telugu Jews") are a small group who speak Telugu; their observance of Judaism dates to 1981.



Cochin Jews

The oldest of the three longest-established Jewish communities, traders from Judea and Israel arrived in the city of Cochin, in what is now Kerala, 2,500 years ago. According to recordings by Jews, the date of the first arrival is given at 562 BC. Assimilated with the local population, the community built synagogues and colonies there. The synagogue in Cochin, is a protected heritage site and is a popular tourist destination although it actually does not belong to the Cochin Jews, but rather to Pardesi Jews. There are currently 53 practicing Cochin Jews left in Kerala, about 8000 now practice in Israel.

There are said to be 3 categories of Jews in Cochin; "white", "brown" and "black". They all claim to be exiles from Palestine from the year 70 C.E.[2] It is believed that the "black" Jews (menucharim) came after the Islamist conquest of Persia in the 7th century and that the "white" Jews came from their expulsion from Spain in 1492 C.E.[3]


Bene Israel

Bene Israel
The Bene Israel arrived 2,100 years ago after a shipwreck stranded seven Jewish families from Judea at Navagaon near Alibag, just south of Mumbai.[citation needed] The families multiplied and integrated with the local Maharashtrian population adopting their language (Marathi), dress and food. They were nicknamed the shanivār telī ("Saturday oil-pressers") by the local population as they abstained from work on Saturdays which is Judaism's Shabbat. The Bene Israel claim a lineage to the Cohanim, which claims descent from Aaron, the brother of Moses. In 2002, a DNA test confirmed that the Bene Israel share the same heredity as the Cohanim.[4]


Baghdadi Jews


Knesset Eliyahoo, a 150 year old Jewish Synagogue in Fort, Mumbai, India
Despite the name, the Baghdadi Jews are not exclusively of Iraqi origin: many came from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen as well. These Jews emigrated to India around 250 years ago and settled in the city of Mumbai. They were traders and quickly became one of the highest earning communities in the city. As philanthropists, some of them donated their wealth to public structures. The David Sassoon Docks and a Sassoon Library are some of the famous landmarks still standing today.

As well as Mumbai, Baghdadi Jews spread to other parts of India, with an important community in Kolkata. Scions of this community did well in trade (particularly jute, but also tea) and, in later years, contributed officers to the army. One, Lt-Gen J. F. R. Jacob PVSM, becoming state governor of, first, Goa and then Punjaband administrator of Chandigarh.




Bnei Menashe

An estimated 9,000 people in the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur started practicing halachic Judaism in the 1970s, being the descendants of the Tribe of Manasseh. They have since been recognized by Israel as a lost tribe, and most have left, or plan to leave India and emigrate to Israel after undergoing a conversion to Orthodox Judaism. However, India, under pressure from Christian Missionaries, has since halted conversions to Judaism and exodus to Israel. [5]


Bene Ephraim

Bene Ephraim
The Bene Ephraim are a small group of Telugu-speaking Jews in eastern Andhra Pradesh whose recorded observance of Judaism, like that of the Bnei Menashe, is quite recent, dating only to 1981.


Delhi Jewry


Judah Hyam Synagogue-The Centre of Jewish Life in Delhi
Judaism in Delhi is primarily focused on the expatriate community who work in Delhi, as well Israeli diplomats and a small local community. Jewish life in Delhi centers around the Judah Hyam synagogue, which has services run by Ezekiel Isaac Malekar. In Paharganj, Chabad has set up a synagogue and religious center in a backpacker area regularly visited by Israeli tourists.


Jewish Community of Mumbai




The Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi
Jews in India typically have not intermarried with gentiles. In recent years, however, Indian Jewish Rabbis such as Ezekiel Isaac Malekar have presided over inter-faith marriage.[1] The majority of Indian Jews have "made aliyah" (migrated) to Israel since the creation of the modern state in 1948. A total of 75,000 Indian Jews now live in Israel (1.1% of the nation's total population).

Synagogues in India

The Jews of India waited centuries to build their first synagogues, praying in temporary structures or private houses. The buildings that were eventually built vary greatly in their scale, style, and visual orientation. Some, particularly those belonging to the Baghdadi Jews based in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Pune, are grand and built in various Western styles using fine materials and elaborate detail. Constructed by the Baghdadi Jewish community who first came from Iraq, Iran, and a handful of other Near Eastern countries and settled in India permanently beginning in the eighteenth century is a neo-Baroque synagogue in the Fort section of Mumbai, a Renaissance revival one in central Kolkata and, in English tradition, a neo-Gothic structure in fine condition sitting within an open site in the Camp area of Pune.


Baghdadi synagogues

Baghdadi synagogues, some built with the support of the Sassoon family, all have particularly large Holy Arks where the Sefer Torahs are stored. From the Ark's outside, the doors appear to cover a standard-sized cabinet typical to most synagogues around the world. Once the doors are opened in Indian Baghdadi synagogues, however, a sizeable walk-in room is revealed that is ample enough to store as many as one hundred Torahs.


Bene Israel synagogues


Magen Abraham Synagogue in Ahmedabad
Synagogues used by the Bene Israel Jews who settled in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Pune in the very late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries tend to be smaller. Since the Bene Israel Jews were by far the largest of the three groups of Indian Jews, they built the most synagogues. The first dates from 1796 in Mumbai, although this building, Shaar HaRahamim, was rebuilt in the mid-nineteenth century. The architecture of most Bene Israel synagogues is rarely stylistically pure and hence hard to define or label, although there are examples of buildings built in the 1930s by the Bene Israel communities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad that are pure Art Deco. A few, particularly those built by the Bene Israel Jews in the coastal Konkan Region of Maharashtra during the 19th century, are interesting blendings of colonial influences, vernacular building traditions, and Jewish liturgical requirements. At one time more than a dozen synagogues existed in these small coastal communities where communities of Jews lived, including at Pen, Alibag, Panvel and Mhasala, but today many are closed or marginally operating due to the much dwindled Jewish population.


Cochin synagogues


The Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi

Synagogues have rarely conformed to stylistic rules anywhere in the world or, as a building type, been resolved in unique or recognisable terms. Most of the buildings in India are no exception. In contrast are the synagogues built by the Cochin Jews of south-western India. Influenced by Indian building traditions coupled with the influences of visiting traders and imperialists over the centuries, the Cochn synagogues constitute wonderful examples of the vernacular thachusasthra design of kerala. Until the 16th century and the arrival of the Portuguese in India, roofs of local buildings were often bamboo framed and covered with thatched palm leaves -- this technique still seen in Kerala’s villages. The roof system would have been set on mud walls or atop simple masonry walls that were finished in smooth veneers. In time, this construction technique was replaced with wood framed roofs (often teak) covered with flat terracotta tiles together supported by thick laterite stone walls (a local material) veneered in chunam, a polished lime plaster. The local components were thus fused with foreign building techniques introduced by outsiders, namely the Portuguese and later the Dutch. These influences also impacted synagogue architecture and were combined with the Jewish ritual and liturgical requirements.

Cochin synagogues are unique in the world in that they feature two bimahs. The primary one can be found within the sanctuary's main level where men have always sat. The second, used during holidays and special events, is found on the gallery level adjacent to the space dedicated for women's seating.

Found within all Indian synagogues is a central bimah (platform where the religious service is led), a Sephardic Jewish tradition. Other features of Indian synagogues are free-standing wooden benches, a profusion of hanging glass and metal oil lanterns, large shuttered windows with clerestories, a chair for the circumscion ceremony and one for the prophet Elijah, and separate seating areas for men and women.


Synagogues in the State of Maharashtra

The State of Maharashtra, which includes Mumbai (Bombay), its suburbs of Thana and Kurla, and the neighbouring Konkan region (a string of small towns and villages a day trip outside of the city) is where the largest number of synagogues were built. There are also two synagogues in Pune, one in New Delhi, one in Ahmedabad, and four in Kolkota (Calcutta). Not all of these structures are open today. Kerala, in far south-western India, has six remaining buildings. Only one, in Kochi's (Cochin's) Jew Town, is a functioning house of prayer. It dates from 1568, although portions of the compound of parts were added later or altered over the years.


The synagogue in Chennamangalam

Following a seventeenth century plan devised by a local and tolerant leader in the town of Chennamangalam, four religious structures were built: a church, mosque, Hindu temple, and another Cochin synagogue. All still stand today, altogether rebuilt or much altered. By the turn of this century, this synagogue, which sat unused for many years with no Jews to use it, was in dire need of attention. In 2005, the Indian Department of Archaeology with funds mainly from the Department of Tourism restored the small white-washed structure. An international team made up of Professor Jay Waronker of the USA, Dr. Shalva Weil of Israel, and Ms. Marian Sofaer of the USA were responsible for the planning of a permanent exhibition in the spaces of the synagogues. These highlight the history and architecture of the Chennamangalam Jewish community and other Cochin Jews. The museum, which opened in February 2006, is open daily, except Sunday.[1]

The current Jewish population is likely less than 4,500. Number of Cochin Jews remain in India is approximately 50, Baghdadi Jews number no more than a few hundred, and the balance are Bene Israel.

                                                       May Almighty God Bless You all

Fr. Johnson Punchakonam