THE PASSING OF THE JEWISH ERA IN KERALA

The death of Sarah Cohen, the grand old dame of the Jewish community, at her home, opposite to the Synagogue in Mattancherry, Kochi, at the ripe age of 96, brings an end to an era of a community that came to be known as ‘Pardesi Jews’, a journey of exile of people of a community that started from Portugal, Spain, Syria and Iran; to be welcomed and allowed to settle down in one of the oldest of trading posts on this side of Arabian Sea. 

It is said that of the pardesi Jews, now resettled predominantly in Israel, Canada and Britain; amounting  to only a few hundred now, has only just two people left here at Mattancherry. It was  five people about six months ago of which two migrated to Israel and now with Sarah gone, practically ceased to exist in the historical land of Mattancherry of 6x4 kilometres dimension, which even today hosts around 35 plus different communities drawn from all over from India and abroad such as Gujratis, Marwaris, Banyas, Kutchis, Saraswat Brahmins, Angola Indians, Jains, Jews, Tamil Brahmins, Muslims of Arab descendants, local Muslims, Hindus and of course, Christians. Whereas in places of high migration such a USA, the melting of culture happens, it is a matter of an unique culture here in Mattancherry where every community, even toady, follows its distinctive traditions, lifestyle and rituals that was being followed for centuries by their forefathers. Such places seldom exist in the world today  and one would urge travelers from across the planet to visit this anthropological wonder called Mattancherry which adjoins another heritage place called Fort Cochin, thus  deriving a double treat of an experience. 

Coming back to the Jews, they retained their exclusivity and did not do any admixture. Very fair and Europeanish, they had made immense  contributions to the state of Kerala particularly on its economy, as most of them were in business of export, import and distribution. All Pardesi Jews could read write and speak Malayalam, the local language and some of them even got employed in government services, for instance, Sarah’s late husband Jacob Cohen worked for the Income tax department. Later, there came in Jews  from other parts of the world and got settled in northern part of Kerala, thus, coming to be known as Malabar Jews (almost all of them had left Kerala by now, mostly migrating to the promised land, Israel. 

History may not  be of much value to the generation today and the end of Jewish culture in Kerala may not be of much consequences to the polity of the state, particularly  when majoritarian culture is swallowing everything. However, this milestone must be viewed as very significant on social and cultural terms, for, it indeed is passing of an era!