The Cochin Mizrahi

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'In India I was a Jew, in Israel I am an Indian.' These words of a Cochin Jew, now an Israeli citizen, sum up the collective experience of a miniscule minority that had lived for centuries in India before its departure to the 'promised land' in far-off Palestine. The Cochin Jews had been an indelible part of the Subcontinent, though no one knows exactly when or how the community came to inhabit the Malabar coast. According to legend, the Cochin Jews came to the Subcontinent from Israel during the reign of King Solomon, during the 10th century BC. It is also possible that this community was made up of ethnic Southasians who adopted Judaism – though in order to adhere to the popular narrative, this review will stick to the premise that the Jews of Cochin migrated to the region.

A very religious community whose existence revolved around the synagogue, the Jews of Cochin did slowly incorporate many local Hindu Malayali customs. Still, it generally kept a low profile. Testimony to the fact that these people led peaceful, if uneventful, lives is that the state of Israel has officially acknowledged India to be one of the few countries without any record of anti-Semitism, though Jews have lived within the country's modern borders for almost two millennia.

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