Last month “The New York Times” carried an article by its special correspondent Michael T. Kaufman describing the life of the small number of Jews who are still living in Cochin, India.
The article entitled, “In Malabar, a Vivid Tapestry of the World’s Faiths” (Dec. 19, 1980) brought back to me memories of my visit to Cochin seven years ago.
Traditions and legends abound about the first arrival of the Jews in Southern India. According to some, Jews first reached the coast of South-Western India with King Solomon’s fleet. According to others, the ancestors of Malabar Jewry were exiles from the kingdoms of Judah and Israel or refugees who fled Judea after the destruction of the Second Temple.
Though it is impossible to establish the date for the beginnings of the Jewish settlement in southern India, one thing is certain: the Jewish community on the Malabar Coast is very old indeed.
For several centuries the Jewish seemed to have lived in an independent principality of their own in Cranganore. To this day the Jews of Cochin have preserved, engraved on copper plates, a charter issued by the Hindu ruler of Malabar to one Josef Rabban, the leader of the Jews, granting him a principality and certain princely privileges.
After the decline of the principality, the Jews emigrated over a period of several decades to neighboring Cochin. The ultimate factor responsible for this emigration was the destruction of Cranganore by the Portuguese.
The emigrants were received in a most friendly manner by the Rajah of Cochin who granted them a large strip of land near his palace.
Being good soldiers, the Jews formed a brigade of their own in the Rajah’s forces. It was said that Rajah never attacked his enemies on a Saturday, because he knew that the Jews would not fight on their Sabbath and he would not go to war without his best soldiers.
During the rule of the Dutch, who took Cochin from the Portuguese, and under the subsequent British occupation, the Rajahs who remained in control of the internal affairs of the principality, continued their friendly and benevolent attitude towards the Jews. The Rajahs rule came to an end some time after India gained independence. The political change did not affect the situation of the Jews.
In the beginning of the 16th century Jews and Marranos from Spain and Portugal joined the original Jewish settlers in Cochin. Later Jews from other countries arrived.
The Jews of Malabar were not a monolithic group, but formed two distinct communities, The White and Black Jews. While relations between the Jews and Hindus and other religious and ethnic groups in the region were most friendly, the relationship between the light-skinned and dark-skinned Jews was for centuries not a very happy one. The White Jews looked down upon the Black Jews, regarding them as descendants of slaves who had adopted Judaism. The Black Jews, on the other hand, considered themselves as the original Malabar Jews, the descendants of the Jews who formed the Jewish principality in Cranganore, and regarded the White Jews as relatively late arrivals in southern India. The two communities did not intermarry, had separate houses of worship and did not count each other in their respective Minyanim.
In addition to the two groups there also were the Meshuhrarim (freedmen). These were the descendants of the offspring of unions between Cochin Jews and their slave concubines. There were “white” and “black” Meshuhrarim. They were attached to the white and black communities, respectively, and occupied a status inferior to that of other members of their groups.
Until about 30 years ago there were circa 2500 Jews in Malabar, only one hundred and fifty of whom were white. All the white Jews lived in Jew Town, a long street on the site originally granted to the Jews by the Rajah of Cochin. The Black Jews lived in Jew town in Cochin as well as in other localities in the region, such as Ernakulam, Chenotta, Parur and Mallah.
In the 1950’s the great majority of the Black Jews left for Israel. Many of White Jews, too, emigrated to Israel and other countries.
When I visited India, only fifty-five White Jews and ten Black Jews were left in Cochin. There were a few Black Jews in other localities.
In his article Mr. Kaufman mentions Satto Koder, the seventy-three year old “head of the dwindling community”. He is certainly identical with Shabdai Samuel Koder, the leader of Cochin’s White Jews, whom I had met long before I went to India. He was in the U. S. for a short visit in the summer of 1963 and at that time I had a long talk with him about Cochin Jewry and its customs.
Mr. Koder served for many years as a member of the now abolished Cochin Legislative Council. When the Council was established by the British in 1925, Mr. Koder’s father was named representative of the Jews. He served for several terms. After his resignation, his son took his seat.
The respect the Council showed to its Jewish member can be seen from the fact that it postponed an important session from Saturday to Monday in order to enable the Jewish member to particpate.
I had read much about Cochin Jewry, but this was the first time I actually met a member of the community Mr. Koder told me to his successful efforts to improve the relations between white and black Jews. I was greatly impressed with his personality.
In the summer of 1973 I visited India with my wife and our youngest son Chaggai.
In 1948 there had been about 29,000 Jews in India. 20,000 of these were “Bene Israel,” who lived mostly in Bombay and in the Bombay region. 6500 were”Baghdadi” Jews—descendants of Jews who had come to India from Syria and Iraq—who had their own communities in Bombay and Calcutta. 2500 Jews, the Black and White Jews of Southern India, lived on the Malabar Coast.
In the years that followed the number of Jews in India decreased sharply due to emigration, mostly to Israel. However, in 1973 there was still a sizable Jewish community in Bombay consisting of six thousand Bene Israel and about two hundred Baghdadi Jews.
We stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel, one of India’s most famous hotels. Overlooking the Bay of Bombay, it combines western comfort with eastern exotic splendor.
The hotel which was built more than seventy years ago, has served as host to rulers and prices and to leaders in the arts and sciences. In recent years it was augmented by a twenty-two story annex called the Taj International.
The twin-hotel with its 650 rooms and suites and a variety of restaurants, a shopping arcade and many other facilities, is a meeting place of world travelers and members of India’s high society. It is a luxury city by itself. Hosts of employees clad in multicolored uniforms man its stately portals and lavishly furnished lounges and hallways.
We met there a number of Jews from Europe and the U.S. Who had come to India on business.
“I estimate that half of the Americans who stay at the Taj Mahal Hotel are Jews,” a man in the know told us. “There are many, however, who don’t want to reveal their Jewish identity, but there is a way to find out.”
“Tell the orchestra to play ‘Jerusalem the Golden’ or the tune of Kol Nidre and then mix with the guests and ask them whether they know the song or the tune. Naturally they would know.”
We visited the two synagogues of the Baghdadi community, the Magen David and the Keneseth Eliyah, which were built in 1861 and 1888, respectively. These large, magnificent sanctuaries were both built by the Sassoon family.
The Sir Jacob Sasson School, near the Magen David Synagogue, originally served the children of the “Baghdadi” community. When we were there most of the students were “Bene Israel.” There were also some non-Jewish Indians enrolled in the school.
The Magen David which has an impressive four-column facade and a high clock tower, bears the name of David S. Sassoon, the almost legendary Jewish merchant price of India.
David Sassoon, who was born in Baghdad, came to Bombay in 1832. He founded a trading firm which grew into a commercial empire spanning many countries. He and his sons became known as the “Rothschilds of the East.”
David Sassoon established synagogues and a variety of Jewish institutions in India and in other countries in the East. He was also a great benefactor of the Indian people.
Several memorials were erected in his honor.
In Bombay I visited the David S. Sassoon Public Library. In its antechamber is a life-size statue of the great philanthropist.
On our first Sabbath in the city we were invited to a grand Kiddush by Freddy Sopher, a Baghdadi Jew, whom we had met at the Kneseth Eliya Synagogue. Sopher, who was of great assistance to us during our stay in Bombay, as well as others told me about the veneration in which David Sassoon is still held by the Indians.
David Sassoon died in 1864 at the age of 72 and is buried in a mausoleum in Poona, in the Bombay region, which was his summer residence. He built in Poona the Ohel David Synagogue and a large general hospital which to this day bears his name.
After India gained independence, the Indian authorities removed the names of Englishmen and other foreigners from streets and public institutions. Anew Delhi official who obviously knows nothing about David Sassoon reproved the Poona Municipality for not changing the name of the David S. Sassoon Hospital. “We will not change this name. Sassoon was not an oppressor of the Indian people, he was our benefactor,” the municipality replied.
Some years before we visited India, an elaborate ceremony in honor of David Sassoon was held at his graveside with participation of leaders of the Indian government. I do not recall what was the occasion. It was probably in 1963 when the Poona hospital celebrated its centenary. I was told that though the Jewish population of Poona had diminished considerably the hospital still maintained a section for Jewish patients.
Many Baghdadi Jews were employed by the Sassoons. They were extremely well treated. The employees would receive bonuses on the occasion of the Jewish holidays. It was a dark day for the Baghdadi community in Bombay when in the 1940’s the news became known that the last Sassoons who were active in India—many members of the family have settled in England—were selling their businesses.
The Sassoons have left India, but their good deeds have remained. The synagogues and institutions they established continue to serve the Jews of India and so do the charitable trusts they set up.
We spent several days in Bombay. Almost every day was packed with sightseeing and encounters with interesting people. We visited not only the Baghdadi Jews, but also the Bene Israel in their synagogues and homes.
From Bombay we travelled north to Udaipur, Jaipur and finally to New Delhi. At that time one Jew was living in Jaipur—a physician from Austria. He was not in the city when we were there. In New Delhi is a small Jewish community, consisting mostly of Bene Israel.
However, before heading north, I decided to fly to Southern India to visit the remaining Jews of the Malabar Coast.
“Take me to Jew Town,” I told the taxi driver who took me from the airport to the city of Cochin.
“Where to?” the driver asked me when we arrived in Jew Town, the long street where the Jews have lived since they came to Cochin in the sixteenth century.
“Mr. Koder’s house,” I replied. Shabdai Koder was the only Cochin Jew I knew.
When we arrived at the destination a young man, wearing a white cap, came out to greet me. He was Sammy Koder. He told me that his uncle, Shabdai Koder, was sick in the hospital. When he heard that I had come from afar to learn about Cochin Jewry, he asked me to be his guest. The short time I spent in Cochin, I stayed at the home of young Koder and his family. He showed me around the city and introduced me to members of the community.
After I had rested a little at Koder’s home, we both went to the “Paradesi Synagogue” for the evening services. There was a small Minyan consisting of Black and White Jews.
Thirty years ago there still were in the city of Cochin 800 Black Jews and almost 150 White Jews. As I already mentioned in an earlier article, in 1973, when I visited there, only 55 White Jews and 10 Black Jews were left.
In 1950 there were three synagogues in the city. All were situated in Jew Town. Two belonged to the Black Jews, and one, the “Paradesi Synagogue,” to the White Jews.
After the emigration of the Black Jews to Israel their synagogues were closed. One was turned into a storehouse. The other was torn down. The home of young Koder was built on its site.
The “Paradesi Synagogue” was built in 1568. Later a clock tower was added to the building. Each of the dials of the clocks has numerals in a different script, including Hebrew and Malayalam.
Though its exterior is simple, the interior of the synagogue is very impressive. The Torah ark is lavishly decorated. There are seven Torah scrolls. All are kept in beautiful golden or silver cases. Sumptuous chandeliers hang from the ceiling. The floor is covered with hand pained blue and white tiles, each of which has a different design. The tiles are said to have been brought from China.
Like other synagogues in Southern India, this synagogue also has two reader’s desks: one in the center of the sanctuary and another one in the middle of the gallery.
The services and the reading of the Torah are mostly performed at the center desk. On certain days and at certain prayers the stand in the gallery is used.
In 1968 the “Paradesi Synagogue” celebrated its four hundredth anniversary. It was a great event, not only for the Jews of the country, but for all South Indian religious communities which have been living in harmony with each other. The festivities lasted several days. Seminars discussing the life, languages and influence of South India’s various communities, were held. They were addressed by scholars from India as well as from abroad. There was also an exhibition of books, manuscripts, documents, ceremonial objects, jewelry, costumes and antique furniture illustrating the life of Malabar Jewry. Government leaders, headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, participated in the celebration.
Mrs. Gandhi, in her opening speech, lauded the Jewish community of India for the notable services it had rendered and continued to render to India in many fields. “It has contributed men of distinction to business and industry, to the civil services and the armed forces, and to the world of scholarship,” the Prime Minister said.
At the end of her speech Mrs. Gandhi wished the Jews “Mazal Tov” on the occasion.
I was told by the Koder family, that Mr. Shabdai Koder later asked the Prime Minister where she had picked up the words “Mazal Tov.” Mrs. Gandhi replied: “In New York, I went to see Fiddler on the Roof.”
On the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of the synagogue, the Indian postal services issued a stamp showing the synagogue’s interior. They issued also a first day cover which bears a picture of part of Jew Town with the synagogue in the background.
In the “Paradesi Synagogue” I was shown the ancient copper plates on which is engraved the charter granted hundreds of years ago by the Hindu rulers of the Malabar Coast to the Jews of Cranganore and to their leader Yosef Rabban.
The Jews of Cochin have also preserved the cornerstone of a synagogue built in Southern India in the year 1345. The stone can be seen in the courtyard of the Paradesi Synagogue.
A stone from the synagogue of the Black Jews, which was torn down after the emigration of the Cochin Black Jews to Israel, has also been placed there.
In the synagogue and again later at the home of young Koder, I was told about some of the unique customs of Malabar Jewry.
Young Koder wore a white cap because he was in the year of mourning after one of his parents. White is the color of mourning for men. Women mourners wear either white or black.
An interesting note on the custom of Malabar Jews to wear white in mourning is found in Rabbi Shemtob Gaguin’s Hebrew book, “The Jews of Cochin” (London, 1953).
Malabar Jews have a special Simhat Torah custom, which, as far as I know, is not observed by any other Jewish community. I first learned about it from Mr. Shabdai Koder, when he visited New York in 1963, and later heard about it again in Cochin.
In addition to the usual custom of having seven Hakafoth at the evening and morning services of Simhat Torah, the Jews of the Malabar Coast have three Hakafot also in the afternoon at the Minha service. There is, in fact, nothing unusual about having Hakafoth in the afternoon. The late Abraham Yaari in his book, “Toledot Simhat Torah” (Mosad Harav Kook, 1964, p. 281) enumerates various communities which observed this custom. What is unique about the custom of the Malabar Jews is that the Hakafot do not take place in the synagogue. The procession is held outside, the scrolls being borne around the building.
I should like to note here that for Malabar Jews the most important Aliya to the Torah is neither “Shlishi”, not “Shishi”, but “Shevii”.
I was told much about the marriage ceremonies of Malabar Jewry. Later, when reading more on the subject, I learned that the song “Ehad Mi Yede’a” (“Who knows one”), which we sing at the Passover Seder, is sung in Cochin at weddings.
In addition to visiting the Paradesi Synagogue, I saw the building of the former synagogue of the Black Jews, which was turned into a storehouse. I also visited the cemetery, which is situated in a street off Jew Town, appropriately called “Jews Cemetery Lane.”
The celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the “Paradesi Synagogue” in 1963 was a great demonstration of the mutual tolerance and cooperation which existed among the various religious communities of Southern India. References were made to the inter-religious friendship which characterized the life in that part of the country. One speaker even made an appeal to the Jews who remained in Cochin not to leave India, which had been their home for centuries and where they had enjoyed so much tolerance and hospitality.
I glimpsed something of the mutual tolerance and brotherhood of members of different faiths on my first evening at the home of young Koder.
A Muslim was then visiting the house. He stayed for about an hour, conversing a little with members of the family but remaining silent much of the time. When he left, I was told that he was an intimate friend of Mrs. Koder’s parents.
Mrs. Simha Koder is a descendant of the Rahabi family, which was prominent in the commercial life of Southern India and also made contributions to the literature of Cochin Jewry.
One of Mrs. Koder’s ancestors, Ezekiel Rahabi (1694-1771) was the “chief merchant” of the Dutch East India Company. He negotiated trade agreements with the local rulers and carried out diplomatic missions on behalf of the company. Like other rich Jewish merchants, he had his own ships. He was a great public benefactor. He built the clock tower of the “Paradesi Synagogue” and it was he who covered the floor of the synagogue with the blue and white hand-painted tiles. Ezekiel Rahabi left us a descripton of the history, life and customs of Malabar Jewry. He composed it in answer to thirteen questions submitted to him by a Dutch Jewish banker and merchant.
David, a son of Ezekiel Rahabi, wrote works on the Hebrew calendar and on the Hebrew prayer book and translated from Hebrew into Malayalam.
Mrs. Simha Koder’s father, Meir Ezekiel Rahabi, a physician by profession and his wife settled in Israel. Before they left Cochin they asked their Muslim friend to look after their daughter, son-in-law and their children. The Muslim friend promised to do so, and in fulfillment of his promise, he visited the young Koders daily and spent an amount of time with them.
Though I was very tired, I did not sleep much during the night I spent in Cochin. I was awakened very early by the shrieks of the exotic animals that lived in the tropical garden of young Koder’s home.
Because of the small size of the community, there was no morning Minyan on weekdays. I, therefore, said my prayers in the room which my hosts had put at my disposal. After breakfast, I left to see the city.
I visited the palace of the former Rajah of Cochin. During the periods of occupation of Southern India by the Portuguese, the Dutch and finally the British, the Rajahs, the native rulers, remained in charge of the internal affairs of the principalities. The Rajahs’ rule came to an end some time after India gained independence more than 30 years ago.
Since then some of the Rajahs’ palaces in various parts of India were turned into hotels. Modern hotel equipment and furniture and works of art from the possessions of the Rajahs have been combined to offer the tourist comfort as well as luxury. Two of the hotels in which we stayed, Udaipur’s Lake Place Hotel, so called because it is set in the blue waters of the Pichola Lake and can only be reached by boat, and Jaipur’s Rambagh Palace Hotel, were formerly palaces of Rajahs.
Other palaces, such as the one of the Rajah of Cochin, became museums open to the public. The palace in Cochin has been left as it was when the Rajahs still ruled. There is much to see. If one has the time one can spend a whole day looking at the sumptuous furniture, the exquisite paintings and the personal belongings of the Rajahs. Also shown are the rickshaws in which they were borne by their servants.
The Rajahs of Cochin were very enlightened and tolerant rulers and under their administration the Jews could freely exercise their religion.
“The Jews of Cochin under the Portuguese rule, could not have survived the intolerance and pressure of the Portuguese and the Inquisition, which was established in Goa in 1560, had it not been for the protection, benevolence and liberty granted to them by the Rajah of Cochin and his Royal House,” the historian Dr. Walter Fischel wrote.
“Evidence points to the undeniable fact that from the very beginning of the settlement on the Malabar Coast, the Jewish communities found in the native Hindu Rajah a friend and protector.”
Dr. Fischel further stated:
“Though a vassal state of the Portuguese, since the Portuguese conquest in 1500, the Rajah welcomed the new Jewish immigrants who had come from Cranganore, from Spain or Portugal or other parts of the Jewish Diaspora, allotted to them sufficient ground to build their homes and synagogues—even in proximity of his own palace in Matancherry, now known as Jew Town, and granted them complete religious and cultural autonomy.”
The continued benevolent attitude of the Rajahs of Cochin for the Jews can best be seen from a letter written to the Jews of Cochin by Lord Curzon, British Viceroy of India, who visited the Pardesi Synagogue in 1900:
“I rejoice to think the under the enlightened administration of his Highness the Rajah of Cochin you now profit by a toleration simlar to that which you would enjoy were you resident in the dominions of the British Sovereign.”
Walter Fischel, whom I mentioned before, was a historian of renown. Born in Germany, he was for many years on the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later taught in the U.S. He wrote extensively about the Jewish communities in the East, including a book about the Jews of India. In this book he described, on the basis of documents, the eminent role played in India in the last centuries by court Jews and Jewish merchant princes.
Fischel died in California in July 1973 at the age of 71. It was in the following month that I arrived in India. The Jews of Cochin were already aware of the historian’s death.
“Do you know that Prof. Fischel is no more?” I was asked by young Koder and others. The historian was very popular with the Jews of Cochin who knew him from his visits and research there. Fischel also participated in the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the “Pardesi Synagogue”, lecturing on the history and achievement of Cochin Jewry.
The recent “New York Times” article by Michael Kaufman on the Jews of Cochin, to which I referred earlier in this article, makes mention of Jacob Cohen, a printer, the caretaker of the synagogue and provider of kosher chickens”. I met Jackie Cohen at the “Pardesi Synagogue” and acquired from him a copy of the “Commemoration Volume”, a book about the four hundredth anniversary celebration of the synagogue, first day envelopes of the stamp issued on the occasion, and a souvenir spoon of the synagogue anniversary.
Jackie Cohen told me that he was in great need of “Gidden” to be able to mend torn Torah scrolls. Some time after I returned to New York, I sent him what he required with Prof. Johanna Spector, a well-known musicologist, who is greatly interested in the music of the Jews of Cochin and has been doing research in India.
On our arrival in Ernakulam we went straight to Mr. E. Elias, one of the few Jews remaining in the city. He was, apparently, in charge of the communal property left behind. We visited him at this store in the spice market. What a market! Southern India is the classical land of spices. Nations once went to war over the spice trade from India. At the entrance to Mr. Elias store I noticed a sign in English to the effect that the business was closed on Saturdays.
Mr. Elias explained that there had been two synagogues in Ernakulam. Both were now closed as there was no Minyan in the city. One synagogue was completely empty because its furnishings had been removed. The other was still furnished, but the Torah scrolls had been shipped to Israel.
We went with Mr. Elias to “Jews Street”, the area where the Jews had lived and where the two synagogues were situated. He showed us the empty synagogue building and opened the other synagogue for us.
Like all other synagogues in Southern India, the synagogue also had two reader’s desks: One in the middle of the sanctuary and another one in the center of the gallery. This arrangement is probably unique in the Jewish world. Rabbi Shemtob Gaguin in his Hebrew book, “The Jews of Cochin” (1953) remarks that he had read about an old synagogue in Bursa, Anatolia, which was built in a similar style.
While looking around the large synagogue, I noticed on one of the benches a small handwritten volume of Hebrew devotional poetry and a thin booklet, stenciled from a handwritten original, containing some laws for the observance of Chanukah and the Hebrew version of the “Megillath Antiochus” (Scroll of Antiochus). With the permission of Mr. Elias I took them as a souvenir of my visit to Ernakulam.
From the stenciled booklet I learned that Cochin Jews observed a custom which is nowadays almost forgotten and practiced by only a few Oriental Jewish communities, namely the reading of the “Scroll of Antiochus” to celebrate Chanukah. According to the title page of the booklet, the scroll was read—in Cochin—on the Sabbath before Chanukah.
The “Scroll of Antiochus”, a popular account of the Hasmonean wars, was originally written in Aramaic. It is very old as it is already mentioned in Geonic literature. The custom of reading it was at one time quite widespread. Rabbi Isaiah Ben Mali Di Trani (the Elder), a thirteenth century Italian rabbi felt impelled to caution those who read the scroll not to recite a blessing, because its reading was not obligatory at all.
According to its title page, the stencilled booklet, containing the “Scroll of Antiochus”, was published in Parur in 5689 (1929) by “Yefe Nof” publishers.
Parur in Southern India had a small community of Black Jews. I have no way of knowing whether “Yefe Nof” published produced additional literature of whether the “Scroll of Antiochus” was the only product to come off their primitive press.
After spending some time in Ernakulam we drove back to Cochin. As I intended to return to Bombay that day I took leave of my hosts, young Koder and his family, and of the other Jews, all of whom had been very kind to me during my short visit. I was not able to see Mr. Shabdai Koder, the leader of the Cochin Jews, because he was, as I mentioned earlier, ill in the hospital, but I visted his store in Fort cochin.
Mr. Koder is the owner of a chain of department stores in Southern India. He is also the honorary Consul of the Netherlands in Cochin. A sign to this effect can be seen at the entrance to his store in Fort Cochin.
Hindus are strict vegetarians. On the flight back to Bombay, the stewardess of “Indian Airlines” (this is the domestic line; India’s international airline is called “Air India”), announcing that food was about to be served, offered a choice between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. She explained, probably for the benefit of foreigners on the plane. That non-vegetarian food meant vegetables with eggs. I didn’t order anything. I was content with looking at the souvenirs I had brought with me from the Malabar Coast and recalling the pleasant hours I had spent with the remaining Jews there.
This was more than seven years ago. In the meantime the community has shrunk even more. I was recently told that young Koder and his family are now living in Israel. How long will the community continue to exist?
Michael Kaufman reported in his recent article in the “New York times” the “Pardesi Synagogue” will be maintained as a national monument.
“The tourists will continue to come, Kaufman writes, and they will stare at the remarkable clock tower with its three sets of hands pointing in three directions: One side with Hebrew symbols, one with Arabic numbers and the third with symbols in the indigenous Malayalam language.”
The “Pardesi Synagogue” will probably be the only major monument in India recalling the long history of Jewish settlement on the Malabar Coast.
Cochin Jewry will live on in Israel! There will also be preserved the memory of the community’s life in India. The late Prof. Walter put it succinctly in his address at the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the “Pardesi Synagogue”:
The very presence of so many Jews from Cochin in Israel may be a guarantee that cochin and all other seats of Jewish life in South India, throughout the centuries, will not be forgotten and will remain inscribed and enshrined in the memory of Jewish history.”
By: Tovia Preschel
Jewish Press
January 16, 1981- February 27, 1981