Paradesi Synagogue

The Paradesi Synagogue is the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations, located in Kochi, Kerala, inSouth India. Constructed in 1567, it is one of seven synagogues of the Malabar Yehudan or Yehudan Mappila people orCochin Jewish community in the Kingdom of Cochin. Paradesi is a word used in several Indian languages, and the literal meaning of the term is "foreigners", applied to the synagogue because it was built by Sephardic or Spanish-speaking Jews, some of them from families exiled in Aleppo, Safed and other West Asian localities. It is also referred to as theCochin Jewish Synagogue or the Mattancherry Synagogue.

Synagogue

The Paradesi Synagogue, in a corner of Jew Town, is more than a hundred years old and houses many rare antiques.  The synagogue, that woos many visitors, adds to the quaint charm of Mattancherry.

The synagogue is located in the quarter of Old Cochin known as Jew Town, and is the only one of the seven synagogues in the area still in use. The complex has four buildings. It was built adjacent to the Mattancherry Palace temple on the land given to the Malabari Yehuden or " Yehuden Mappila" community by the Raja of Kochi, Rama Varma. The Mattancherry Palace temple and the Mattancherry synagogue share a common wall.

JEW TOWN ROAD, COCHIN

The name

The word Paradesi means foreigner in many Indian languages. It refers to the White Jews -  A mixture of Jews from Kodungalloor, Middle East and Europe. 

History

The Malabari Jews or Yehudan Mappilar (also known as Cochin Jews or Yehudan Mappila ) formed a prosperous trading community of Kerala, and they controlled a major portion of world wide spice trade. In 1568, the Jews of Kerala constructed the Paradesi Synagogue adjacent to Mattancherry Palace, Cochin, now part of the Indian city of Ernakulam, on land given to them by the Raja of Kochi. The original synagogue was built in the 4th century in Kodungallur (Cranganore) when the Jews had a mercantile role in the South Indian region (now called Kerala) along the Malabar coast. When the community moved to Kochi in the 14th century, it built a new synagogue there.

The Malabari Jews' or Yehudan Mappila first synagogue in Cochin was destroyed in the 16th century by the Portuguesepersecution of the Jews and Nasrani or Suriyani Mappila or Syriac (Aramaic) Mappila people. The second, built under the protection of the Raja, in Mattancherry, in 1558, during the Portuguese rule of Cochin, is the present synagogue, which is still in use for worship and can attract a minyan. It is called Paradesi synagogue because it was built by Spanish speaking Jews; this contributed to the informal name: paradesi synagogue or "foreign" synagogue." In addition, a new Jewish group had immigrated to Kochi, Sephardim from the Iberian Peninsula. They and the Malabari Jews or Yehudan Mappila shared many aspects of their religion, and the newcomers learned the Judeo-Malayalam dialect, but the Sephardim also retained their own culture and Spanish language at least for three centuries. By 1660 the Dutch ruled the Kochi area, calling it Dutch Malabar. In later years, the Paradesi Synagogue was used primarily by the Sephardim (who were also referred to as Paradesi) and their descendants, and later European exiled Jews.

The Paradesi Synagogue had three classes of members:

• White Jews were full members. The White Jews, or Paradesi Jews, were the recent descendants of Sephardim from Spain and the Netherlands.
• Black Jews, or Malabari Jews, were allowed to worship but were not admitted to full membership. These Cochin Jews were the original Jewish settlers of Cochin.
• Meshuchrarim, a group of freed slaves and their descendants brought by the Sepahardim, they had no communal rights and no synagogue of their own. They sat on the floor or on the steps outside. In the first half of the 20th century, Abraham Barak Salem, a meshuchrar, successfully campaigned against this discrimination.

Objects of antiquity

priceless-10th-century-copper-plates-describing-privileges

The Paradesi Synagogue has the Scrolls of the Law, several gold crowns received as gifts, many Belgian glass chandeliers, and a brass-railed pulpit. It houses the 10th-century copper plates of privileges given to Joseph Rabban, the earliest known Cochin Jew. These two plates were inscribed in Tamil by the ruler of theMalabar Coast. The floor of the synagogue is composed of hundreds of Chinese, 18th-century, hand-painted porcelain tiles, each of which is unique. A hand-knotted oriental rug was a gift from Haile Selassie, the last Ethiopian emperor. The synagogue has an 18th-century clock tower, which, along with other parts of the complex, was restored between 1998 and 1999 under the direction of the World Monuments Fund. A tablet from the 1344 synagogue in Kochangadi in Kochi was installed on the outer wall of the Paradesi synagogue. The inscription states that the structure was built in 5105 (in the Hebrew Calendar) as "an abode for the spirit of God."

Ceremonies

Due to the dwindling number of Jews in Kochi, it is difficult to complete a minyan - the number of men needed to sustain a synagogue). The service is conducted only when the quorum of ten male members is met.

Visiting time

The synagogue is open every day except Fridays, Saturdays and Jewish holidays. 
Timings: forenoon - 10 am to 12 noon; afternoon - 3 pm to 5 pm.
Visitors are expected to enter the synagogue barefoot.

DIRECTIONS

100 metres from Dutch Palace

28 min (9.9 km)

23 min without traffic

* S Railway Station Rd, Ernakulam South

Ernakulam, Kerala 682016, India

* Take Chittoor Rd to Sahodaran Ayyappan Rd inValanjambalam

* Follow Sahodaran Ayyappan Rd to Ravipuram Rd

* Turn left onto Ravipuram Rd

* Continue on Mahatma Gandhi Rd. Take Vikranth-Venduruthy Bridge, Old NH 47 and Aroor - Thoppumpady Rd to Synagogue Ln inKappalandimukku

* Jewish Synagogue

Synagogue Lane, Jew Town, Kappalandimukku, Mattancherry, Kochi, Kerala 682002, India

For navigational help click here

courtesy: wikipwdia, google