Paradesi Jews
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| Amira Abraham (writer) • Elijah Samuels |
| Total population |
|---|
| 8500 (estimated) |
| Regions with significant populations |
 India
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| Languages |
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Initially Ladino, later Judeo-Malayalam, now mostly Hebrew |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
Paradesi Jews (Malayalam: പരദേശി യെഹൂദന്, Paradēśi Yehūdan) are a community of Sephardic Jews settled among the larger Cochin Jewish community located in Kerala, a coastal southern state. They were followers of Halakhic Judaism and are known in Kerala as Juda Mappilas.
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[edit] History
Paradesi Jews, who were integrated in the Cochin Jewish population, were originally Sephardic immigrants from southern Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries who fled persecution in the wake of the Alhambra Decree expelling Jews from Spain. They are sometimes referred to as White Jews, although that usage is generally considered pejorative or discriminatory and refers to relatively recent Jewish immigrants (15th century onward), predominantly Sephardim and Mizrahim.
The Paradesi were endogamous to their own group during their settlement in Kerala, similar to the Knanaya people. Many those who left and married the local population established the Nasarani community. This tradition began to break in the late 1940s.
The primary original language of the Paradesim was Ladino, which contributed a number of loanwords to Judeo-Malayalam, the pre-existing Jewish language of the Kerala Jewish community.
The last female Paradesi Jew of child-bearing age, Yaheh Hallegua, is the ticket-seller at the Paradesi Synagogue.[1]
[edit] Persecution by Portuguese
They were persecuted by the Portuguese in their attempt to convert them to Catholicism. Many were forced to practice their faith in private. The inquisition targeted the Nasarani community as well, who had close ties to the Paradesi.
[edit] References
- ^ Abram, David (in English). The Rough Guide to Kerala (2nd ed.). London, United Kingdom: Penguin Books. p. 181. ISBN 9781848365414.
[edit] External links
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