The Last Jews of Kerala: The Two Thousand Year History of India's Forgotten Jewish Community

This book is an account of that portion of the Jewish diaspora that wound up on the southwest coast of India, in Kerala. King Solomon sent traders there before the Christian era, and later, after the destruction of the temples, additional Jews wound up on its shores. These early settlers, probably heavily male, intermarried with the dark-skinned local women. Their descendants, retaining dark coloration, are known as "black Jews". One early settler made a great impression on the local Raja and was granted special privileges, almost on a par with being royal. Another wave of immigrants followed the Inquisition, and remained segregated, protecting their racial purity as white-skinned people, or "white Jews", disdaining their darker brethren and refused to intermarry or use the same synagogues. The advantage of being in Kerala was the high level of religious tolerance, for Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Christians lived and still live in amity. When the State of Israel was founded, some Indian Jews, from Kerala as well as from Bombay and Calcutta and elsewhere, went to Israel; most stayed, gradually getting used to the very different conditions. A few who went from Kerala to Israel were uncomfortable in Israel, mostly because of the perpetual fear of the Arab enemies but also because of the hustle and bustle, and some of these returned to Kerala where one's neighbors were, at least, not physically hostile. The exodus to Israel plus the refusal of the white Jews to intermarry has led to a greatly shrunken Jewish population in Kerala and in India in general. The handful of "white Jews" will not survive for their are no children nor prospects of any. The larger number of "black Jews" in Kerala might survive in that place but depend on finding Jews from elsewhere, e.g. Bombay, if such urban sophisticates are willing to re-settle in the "backwater" of Kerala. The rather conservative Jews of India do not like to consider marrying outside the faith. The author did not discuss the Israeli religious ruling that a Jew is the offspring of a Jewish mother. The author suspects that the black Jewish community was founded by immigrant males and local, non-Jewish females. I kept wishing for some Y-chromosome and mitochrondrial DNA analyses of these populations! The book is an excellent depiction of the fate of a small population group who refuses to out-breed.

Very interesting historical background of a much visited but little understood community. The author spent time with the remaining Jews and understood the dynamics of this ancient community.The author keeps the reader engrossed.

While some authors make you feel inferior by not knowing the background of the topic and others can make the most interesting story, dry and boring. Ms. Fernandes overcomes both challenges with flying colors. Her approach to the topic gave this story legs. The story starts when she arrives in Kerala to interview the residents, whose families go back several centuries to several millenia. Later we meet former Kerala Jews, who left to start new lives in Israel. Her glimpses into the personalities of those who have experienced India first hand is the ultimate treasure. We learn that Kerala Jews will soon be a note in the history books, due to the internal struggles between the original settlers (black Jews), who can trace their heritage and relocation back to King Solomon and those whose relatives immigrated to flee the Spanish Inquisition, the (white Jews); that due to the white Jews money and prejudice as well as their ability to control the means by which the history of Kerala Jews has been reaccounted (they maintained separatism and refusal to allow interracial marriages), which ultimately has ended a legacy and a lifestyle. It is a sad note on history that even a shared culture (Judaism), could not overcome human nature. My only criticism of the book, we never know why the author pursued this topic and only came to have knowledge that her own heritage was Indian near the very end of the book, (her last name is Spanish and she mentions early on that she is a native of Great Britain). I read the Advance Reading Copy so perhaps this was addressed in the published books.

The author visited a small, declining Jewish community in Southern India- a community that once had thousands of Jews and now has less than a hundred. Why did the community decline? The author focuses heavily on dissension between the "White Jews" (who came to India after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492) and the "Black Jews" (who had lived in India longer and who physically resemble other Indians rather than Europeans). Until the mid-20th century, the White Jews refused to intermarry (or even to have much to do with) the Black Jews, causing Jews to leave India in search of mates. But many other non-Israeli communities have declined as well, so it seems unlikely that such dissension was as important as the author thinks. Probably the major factor causing the decline of South Indian Jewry was the pull of the state of Israel; as the author concedes, "the primary reason to go was to return to the land of their forefathers." In addition, India's early socialist governments were hostile to large-scale enterpreneurship, nationalizing major businesses (often owned by Jews) and restricting foreign trade (another area which Jews were concentrated in). Although these policies were not intentionally anti-Jewish, they nevertheless made the Jewish community poorer and thus more willing to leave. The most interesting essays are those at the end, describing how Indian Jews have adjusted to Israel. Some fit in quite well; others are unhappy (and in some cases have even returned home) due to the fast pace of life, terrorism and warfare in Israel.