After centuries in India, the last Cochin Jews try to keep their history alive
KOCHI, India (AP) — As the sun set over Kochi’s historic Jew Town neighborhood, Keith Hallegua donned a gray kippah and began a solitary walk to the synagogue at the end of his cobbled street.It was Shavuot, the Jewish holiday commemorating God giving the Torah to Moses. Hallegua reached the 458-year-old Paradesi Synagogue where he knew he would pray alone — without a minyan, the quorum of 10 males required for a communal service there.Hallegua is the synagogue’s last local congregant — the only Jew left in Jew Town.Across the city at the centuries-old Kadavumbagam Synagogue, Elias “Babu” Josephai remembered the “chukkunda” — fried dough balls his grandmother used to make for Shavuot.“It wasn’t much,” he said, wiping away tears. “But at that time, it was everything.”They ache for what’s already gone and work to preserve what’s left.In the 1950s, much of the Jewish community in Kochi (historically known as…
The last remaining Cochin Jews in Kochi, India, Keith Hallegua and Elias "Babu" Josephai, are working to preserve their community's centuries-old history as their numbers dwindle. Hallegua, the sole remaining congregant of the 458-year-old Paradesi Synagogue, and Josephai, who single-handedly maintains the Kadavumbagam Synagogue, represent the final chapter of a community that once thrived peacefully in India. Most Cochin Jews immigrated to Israel in the 1950s, leaving behind a rich heritage marked by both religious freedom and internal divisions over class and colorism.
"Quite often, I walk to the synagogue and I ask HaShem (God), why have you done this?" Hallegua said. "I never hear a response."
Efforts to preserve this legacy extend beyond the Jewish community, with Hindu and Muslim neighbors, like M.C. Praveen and Thaha Ibrahim, actively involved in maintaining synagogues, museums, and traditional crafts. Josephai, who rebuilt his synagogue after vandalism with interfaith support, stated, "I believe my last breath should be inside this synagogue."
© All rights to the original article belong to the source. Din Online shows a headline, an excerpt and a link only. The objectivity rating is computed automatically and is an estimate only.
Discussion
No comments yet — be the first to comment.