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

by Edna Fernandes (Author)
Key Phrases: Black Jews, Jew Town, Synagogue Lane (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Two thousand years ago, a little-known group of Jews settled in Kerala, in southwestern India. Eventually, they numbered in the thousands, with eight synagogues. Fernandes explains that some of them owned large estates and plantations and enjoyed economic privilege and political influence, but for centuries, the Black Jews of Ernakulam feuded with the White Jews of Mattancherry, fighting over who arrived first in their adopted land. Today, fewer than 50 Jews are left, and only one synagogue remains. “This account,” Fernandes writes, “charts their rise and fall, from a glorious centuries-long heyday when they were the confidantes of kings, to the twentieth-century decline and twenty-first-century denouement.” Fernandes says that their fortunes were lost by a devastating nexus of apartheid, centuries of interbreeding, mental illness, and a latter-day exodus from Kerala after the creation of Israel in 1948. Fernandes, a British Indian journalist, is the author of Holy Warriors (2007).  Her new book brings to life a Jewish society little known to most of us. --George Cohen

Product Description
When a people die out, can their story survive?

Two thousand years ago, trade routes and the fall of Jerusalem took Jewish settlers seeking sanctuary across Europe and Asia. One little-known group settled in Kerala, in tropical southwestern India. Eventually numbering in the thousands, with eight synagogues, they prospered. Some came to possess vast estates and plantations, and many enjoyed economic privilege and political influence. Their comfortable lives, however, were haunted by a feud between the Black Jews of Ernakulam and the White Jews of Mattancherry. Separated by a narrow stretch of swamp and the color of their skin, they locked in a rancorous feud for centuries, divided by racism and claims and counterclaims over who arrived first in their adopted land.

Today, this once-illustrious people is in its dying days. Centuries of interbreeding and a latter-day Exodus from Kerala after Israel's creation in 1948 have shrunk the population. The Black and White Jews combined now number less than fifty, and only one synagogue remains. 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 whose community will, within the next generation, cease to exist. Yet it is also a rich tale of weddings and funerals, of loyalty to family and fierce individualism, of desperation and hope.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing (June 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602392676
• ISBN-13: 978-1602392670
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #442,039 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasurable History Lesson, December 14, 2008

By	June Bug (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Last Jews of Kerala, February 7, 2009

By	Sandra Harte (Menlo Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars an interesting story , November 30, 2008

By	Michael Lewyn (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.