Jews of India

This is a video about Jews in Goa, India.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Jewish identity crisis in India

(Sunday 10 August 2008)

The Last Jews of Kerala by Edna Fernandes
(Portobello Books, £16.99)

DURING the reign of King Solomon, Jewish traders imported luxury goods to Palestine from India.

These merchant Jews made their home in Cochin, Kerala, and were welcomed by the Raj and treated as equals with other castes and religions.

One thousand years later, a second wave arrived. This set up a racial tension between the first settlers, known as the “black Jews,” and the new arrivals, the “white Jews.”

Black Jews were humiliated by white Jews, whose colouring identified them, by Hindu standards, as being “purer” than their predecessors, although their religious practices and customs were identical.

Intermarriage was forbidden, despite outside rabbinical approval. The subsequent lack of children ensured their ultimate demise.

Edna Fernandes’s book is based on interviews with the last remaining members of these two Jewish communities in Kerala.

Fernandes records their family histories and describes their ancient Jewish rituals and fatal caste divisions.