The Last Jews of Kerala

The Two Thousand Year History of India's Forgotten Jewish Community

Edna Fernandes

• Éditeur: Skyhorse Publishing
• Année: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781626369351
• Sujet: History
• Sous-sujet: Jewish History

"This fascinating, melancholy report on the decline and fall of a once-grand community tells a sad tale [of] fatal divisions and rivalries" ( Independent, UK). Two thousand years ago, the fall of Jerusalem sent Jewish settlers across Europe and Asia. One little-known group settled in Kerala, in tropical southwestern India. As the community prospered, some came to possess vast estates and plantations, and many enjoyed economic privilege and political influence. Yet their comfortable lives were haunted by a feud between the Black Jews of Ernakulam and the White Jews of Mattancherry. Divided by racism and a narrow stretch of swamp, they remained locked in rancorous conflict for centuries. Today, this once-illustrious people is in its dying days, with the combined population of Black and White Jews numbering less than fifty. On the threshold of extinction, the two remaining Jewish communities of Kerala have come to realize that their destiny, and their undoing, is the same. The Last Jews of Kerala narrates the rise and fall of the Black Jews and the White Jews over the centuries and within the context of the grand history of the Jewish people. It is the story of the twilight days of a people. Yet it is also a rich tale of weddings and funerals, of loyalty to family and fierce individualism, of desperation and hope.