The Jews who settled in Cochin were warmly welcomed by the rajah there. He gave them land and had a shul built for them near his palace. This area became known as “Jew Town.”
Some of the Jews from Spain and Portugal who fled the Inquisition in the 15th and 16th centuries also settled in Cochin. Since many of these refugees were merchants, Cochin was an ideal place for them. They became known as Paradesi (foreign) Jews, and their presence greatly enhanced the local economy.
When the Portuguese conquered India in the 16th century, it was the only time in history that Indian Jews suffered persecution. Thus, when the Dutch invaded India one hundred years later, they found willing and capable allies in the Cochin Jews. However, the Portuguese defeated the Dutch and then retaliated against the Jews who had openly collaborated against them. They plundered and destroyed Jewish homes and burned the shul to the ground, including the Torah scrolls, holy books, and historical records contained within. Fearing for their lives, the Cochinis fled to the hills, where they remained for nearly a year until the Dutch defeated the Portuguese and expelled them.
Since the Dutch were religiously tolerant and commercially minded, Jewish refugees from Portugal, including wealthy merchants, had already been settling throughout the Dutch Empire for generations. The Dutch East India Company, which traded between Asia and Europe, provided the Jews of Cochin, and especially the Paradesi, the opportunity to connect with other Jews throughout the empire. Eventually, Cochin became one of the most prosperous port cities on India’s Malabar Coast, rivaling the past glory of Shingly.
The Baghdadi Jews
The first Baghdadi Jewish community was started in Calcutta when Jewish merchants from Aleppo settled there at the very end of the 18th century. Their businesses were so successful that other Jewish merchants from throughout the Middle East joined them, creating a diverse Sephardic community. It wasn’t long, however, before Jewish immigrants from Iraq outnumbered the others, and so the community became known as the “Baghdadi Jews.” The community became even further diversified when thousands of Ashkenazi Jews fled the Nazis to Calcutta in the 1930s.
A second Baghdadi community developed in Bombay when many Jews fled persecution from parts of the Ottoman Empire and from Persia during the 19th and 20th centuries. While some of the latter refugees preferred to settle in Burma, most relocated to India during World War II when the Nazi-allied Japanese invaded the country.
By this time, the British had a foothold in much of the Middle East and Asia. Jews had already played an important role in British commerce as successful merchants at the ports in Iraq and the Persian Gulf, and had an even larger role in India. Similar to the Portuguese who settled in Cochin, many of the Baghdadi merchants maintained contacts throughout the Middle East, as well as with Iraqi Jews who had found refuge in Shanghai. These connections proved invaluable to Britain’s economic success in India and the community flourished.
The Baghdadi never considered themselves Indians and their loyalties stood with the British. As it became clear that India’s independence from Britain was on the horizon, many of them began moving to England and other Anglo-Saxon countries; however most moved to Israel.
Immigration to Israel
After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Jews of India began to relocate to their Jewish homeland, uprooting themselves, their families, and their businesses. For two decades, while causing a steady decline in India’s Jewish population, they settled throughout the Land of Israel. Not only were they absorbed into Israel’s diverse society, but they enhanced it with their rich cultures and unique traditions.
