 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2023) |
Djudios Paradesi | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of David Henriques De Castro, by Gabriel Haim Henriques De Castro (1838-1897) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Israel | 700 |
 India | 52[1] |
| Languages | |
| Initially Ladino, later Judeo-Malayalam, Tamil, now mostly Hebrew and English | |
| Religion | |
| Orthodox Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Spanish and Portuguese Jews Sephardic Jews in India De Castro family Henriques family Cochin Jews Indian Jews Desi Jews | |
 | This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. (July 2020) |
Paradesi Jews refer to Jewish immigrants to the Indian subcontinent during the 15th and 16th centuries following the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal. Paradesi means foreign in Malayalam and Tamil.[2] These Sephardic immigrants fled persecution and death by burning in the wake of the 1492 Alhambra Decree and King Manuel's 1496 decree expelling Jews from Portugal. They are sometimes referred to as "White Jews", although that usage is generally considered pejorative or discriminatory and refers to relatively recent Jewish immigrants (end of the 15th century onward), predominantly Sephardim.[3]
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Paradesi Jews were Sephardi immigrants to the Indian subcontinent from Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries[4][5] fleeing forcible conversion, persecution, and antisemitism. The Paradesi Jews of Cochin traded in spices. They are a community of Sephardic Jews settled among the larger Cochin Jewish community located in Kerala, a coastal southern state of India.[3]
Paradesi Jews of Madras (now Chennai) traded in Golconda diamonds, precious stones, and corals. They had very good relations with the rulers of Golkonda because they maintained trade connections to some foreign countries (e.g. Ottoman empire, Europe), and their language skills were useful. Although the Sephardim spoke Ladino (i.e. Judeo-Spanish), in India they learned Tamil and Konkani as well as Judeo-Malayalam from the Cochin Jews, also known as Malabar Jews.[6][full citation needed]
After India gained its independence in 1947 and Israel was established as a nation, most of the Malabar Jews made Aliyah and emigrated from Kerala to Israel in the mid-1950s. In contrast, most of the Paradesi Jews preferred to migrate to Australia and other Commonwealth countries, similar to the choices made by Anglo-Indians.[7]
- ^ Census of India 2001
- ^ Lobo, Christabel. "India's Jew Town only has a few Jews left, but traditions and landmarks remain". www.timesofisrael.com.
- ^ a b Yisra'el, Muzeon (1995). Slapak, Orpa (ed.). The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities. UPNE. p. 28. ISBN 965-278-179-7. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- ^ "VI- November 30: Commemorating the expulsion of Jews from Arab lands". Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ Hoge, Warren (5 November 2007). "Group seeks justice for 'forgotten' Jews". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- ^ Katz 2000; Koder 1973; Thomas Puthiakunnel 1973
- ^ Weil, Shalva. From Cochin to Israel, Jerusalem: Kumu Berina, 1984. (Hebrew)