page_title: Religion in Kerala
section_title: Judaism
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Kerala / Judaism
caption_attribution_description: There aren't enough people left for a minyan, but the synagogue is still maintained for historical purposes. 03 February 2001
context_page_description: Kerala has a reputation of being, communally, one of the most religiously diverse states in India. According to 2011 Census of India figures, 54.73% of Kerala's population are Hindus, 26.56% are Muslims, 18.38% are Christians, and the remaining 0.33% follow other religions or have no religion. Various tribal people in Kerala have retained the religious beliefs of their ancestors.
  Hindus constitute the majority in all districts except Malappuram, where they are outnumbered by Muslims. In 2016, of births in the state were to Muslims, to Hindus, to Christians and 0.22% to others.
context_section_description: Judaism arrived in Kerala with spice traders, possibly as early as the 7th century BC. There is no consensus of opinion on the date of the arrival of the first Jews in India.  The tradition of the Cochin Jews maintains that after 72 AD, after the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, 10,000 Jews migrated to Kerala.
  
  The only verifiable historical evidence about the Kerala Jews goes back only to the Jewish Copper Plate Grant of Bhaskara Ravi Varman in 1000 AD. This document records the royal gift of rights and privileges to the Jewish Chief of Anjuvannam Joseph Rabban. Later in the 16th century many Jews from Portugal and Spain settled in Cochin. These Jews were called white Jews as opposed to the native black Jews.
  The Portuguese did not look favorably on the Jews.  They destroyed the Jewish settlement in kodungallur and sacked the Jewish town in Cochin and partially destroyed the famous Cochin Synagogue in 1661. However, the Dutch were more tolerant and allowed the Jews to pursue their normal life and trade in Cochin.  According to the testimony of the Dutch Jew, Mosss Pereya De Paiva, in 1686 there were 10 synagogues and nearly 500 Jewish families in Cochin.  Later Britishers too were tolerant. The Jews were protected.  After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, most Jews decided to emigrate to Israel.  Most of the emigrants to Israel between 1948 and 1955 were from the community of black Jews and brown Jews; they are known as Cochini in Israel.  Since the 1960s, only a few hundred Jews (mostly white Jews) remained in Kerala with only two synagogues open for service:  the Pardesi Synagogue in Matancherry built in 1567 and the synagogue in Parur.
caption: The Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi
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