The Jews of Cochin are the oldest Jewish community in India. They are believed to have come as traders or as refugees from the siege of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago or more. There is evidence of Jewish community in Kerala dates from 1000 CE. In the early 16th century there was a new migration of Jews to Kerala, some of who were direct and indirect refugees from the Spanish and Portuguese expulsions. Others were from Iraq, Persia, Yemen, and Germany. In 1568 the Jewish newcomers, who were subsequently called Paradesis (“foreigners” in Malayalam), built a synagogue of their own next to the Maharaja’s palace in Cochin. They adopted the Malayalam language and identified enthusiastically with Kerala customs and traditions.

The Paradesis often were referred to as “white Jews” and the more ancient Malabari communities as “black Jews,” though there is not always a clear distinction between them in terms of skin color. By the 18th century there were eight synagogues in five different Kerala towns and villages. As all but Parur were located within the kingdom of Cochin, the term “Cochin Jews” was eventually applied to all Kerala Jews.

 

The Cochin Maharaja protected Jews under his rule, but the Inquisition brought terror to Conversos who fled to India in order to reclaim their Jewish identity. In 1663 the Dutch defeated the Portuguese and under Dutch rule  the status of the Jews of Malabar improved. Under British colonial rule, the Cochin Maharaja retained a semi-independent status, but the economy stagnated. Economic difficulties led a number of Cochin Jews to move to Bombay and (less frequently) Calcutta. Most of them married only Cochin Jews (though some Paradis is married Baghdadis); and when they moved to Israel they tended to settle among their relatives from Kerala.

Today there is a regular minyan only in the Paradesi Synagogue of Cochin. The 1568 synagogue, the oldest in the British Commonwealth, is beautifully maintained, even if the community’s cemetery has deteriorated. One Shabbat in July 1987, for the first time since the synagogue was built 419 years ago, there was no minyan in the fabled Paradesi Synagogue of Cochin. Since the beginning of 1987, the population, once about 300, has diminished due to immigration to Israel. The community in Kerala is now under one hundred people.