Today we made it into the inside of the synagogue in Jew Town. It was an amazing experience. I purchased a book on the Jews of Kerala, and there appears to have been two main periods of Jewish migrations to Kerala, the first was after the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem (800 BC) and the second after the destruction of the second temple (circa 90 AD). Then there were subsequent phases through the Middle Ages and up until the Second World War. It is a fascinating story. Virtually all of the Jews have departed from Kerala at this point.
As you can see from the family at the top, the first group of Jews who had been in Kerala for more than 2,000 years were called "black Jews" and had the ability to blend into the local populations and survived the Inquisition and other difficult events that came to India (yes, the Inquisition came here) with greater ease than the "white Jews" who came later to India from Europe. The last of these "white Jews" includes Mrs. Sarah Cohen, who had her picture taken with the boys, more next week.
I have been truly captivated by their presence here, I find it mysterious, odd, and engaging. The historian in me has definitely come out due to this. Tara shares my interest, and Liam continues to ask me "Why do you think that is so cool?" I attempted to answer, but I am not sure it sunk in.
The tiles on the floor of the synagogue were of a Chinese make, and the story goes that they were a gift to a local Maharaja, but a Jewish guy told the king that the tiles had been mixed with cow blood, so he gave them away to the synagogue as a gift (cow's blood is ritually impure to Hindus). Funny. You can see those tiles above.
I asked an old Jewish man if I could take my picture with him. He said, "Why?" I answered, "Out of respect for you." He seemed unconvinced and would not do it.
The synagogue bell tower that is pictured above has four faces. One face has Malayalam numbers (local to Kerala). One face has Arabic numerals. One has Hebrew numerals. The final face has Roman numerals. Truly fascinating.
