WHEN DID THE JEWS COME TO KERALA?

WHEN DID THE JEWS COME TO KERALA
There are some attempts without any inscriptional or literary evidences to establish the fact that St. Thomas converted Jews in Kerala. It is claimed without any evidence that there were Jewish settlements in Kerala from the days of King Solomonn It is true that Solomon's ships came to India but it was not for bringing Jews to settle in Kerala but for the purpose of trade. Guided by Phœnician pilots, manned by Phœnician sailors, Phœnicians and Jews sailed forth together on their distant voyages, into the southern seas. They sailed to India, to Arabia and Somaliland, and they returned with their ships laden with gold and silver, with ivory and precious stones, with apes and peacocks. It was a trading mission and Jews were not brought in the ships for staying permanently in India. In those days when the Jews were living in all comfort and luxury in their own country there was ne need for a Diaspora
Another claim of St. Thomas Christians without any basis is that they are the descendants of the Jews who came to Kerala during Diaspora. In their fanatical bid to disown their original caste of their own country and to appropriate for themselves the Jewish link they have been propagating the view that they are the progeny of the Jews of Diaspora. But the historical events of the period and the significance of Jewish Diaspora will prove their calculated attempts are nonsensical. The first Diaspora of the Jews in recorded history is the Baylonian exile. The Jewish Diaspora actually began in the year 597 BC with the seige and fall of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Known as the Babylonian Captivity, a significant portion of the population of Judea was exiled to Babylonia, not to Kodungalloor in Kerala. This is confirmed in the Bible. The prophet Ezekiel lived in exile in Babylon during the period before and after thr fall of Jreusalem in 586 B.C. Exiled Jews were escorted by soldiers and they could not escape from the crowd to come to Kodungalloor. There were two more diaspora according to scholars, and the Jews during this period went to Egypt, not to India which was a strange and far off country . So it is distortion of history to claim St. Thomas converted the Jews of Babylonian Exile when there were no Jews in Kodungalloor.The Diaspora continued with the Great Jewish Revolt, otherwise known as the First Jewish-Roman War, which began in the year 66 AD and ended in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Jews during this diaspora fled to Babylonia, Persia, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, and the United States, and not to India. What is more, St. Thomas was not anywhere in Kerala in 70 A.D. The oldest documentary evidence of a Jewish community in Kerala dates from 1000 CE, when a Jewish leader named Joseph Rabban received a set of engraved copper plates from the Hindu ruler of Cranganore. Since Rabban was treated with honor by the Raja, he was not a refugee but a rich merchant. Like the Portuguese, he would have established a factory in Kodungalloor to pursue his trade with the Mddle East. In all probability from that time onwards only Jews would have come to Kerala in different phases through links with Joseph Rabban and his successors.

Thomas of Cana was not a Jew but an Armenian merchant.After the Poruguese elevated the Christians, it was only in the 18th century, this fictitious figure Thomas of Cana was projected, without any proof, as a Jew by some Syrian Christians. This campaign to make him a Jew was started by writers of private family histories such as Niranam Granthavali. Even Portuguese ships did not bring women in their long voyages. How could Thomas of Cana bring 400 families (including women), bishops and others in shaky,unsafe, and ramshackle ships? Even the plate granted to Thomas of Cana by the Raja was not a fact but some Syrian Christians imitated what the Jew Joseph Rabban got from the Raja. This alleged plate could not be traced by Buchanan. The privileges given to Joseph Rabban were plagiarized by Syrian Christian writers in their family histories to claim superior status for themselves.

SYRIAN CHRISTIANS AND JEWISH DIASPORA

SYRIAN CHRISTIANS AND JEWISH DIASPORA
There are some attempts without any inscriptional or literary evidences  to establish the fact that St. Thomas converted Jews in Kerala. It is claimed without any evidence that there were Jewish settlements in Kerala from the days of King Solomon  It is true that Solomon's ships came to India  but it was not for bringing Jews to settle in Kerala but  for the purpose of trade.  Guided by Phœnician pilots, manned by Phœnician sailors, Phœnicians and Jews sailed forth together on their  distant voyages, into the southern seas. They sailed to India, to Arabia and Somaliland, and they returned with their ships laden with gold and silver, with ivory and precious stones, with apes and peacocks. It was a trading mission and Jews were not brought in the ships for staying permanently in India. In those days when the Jews were living in all comfort and luxury in their own country there was ne need for a Diaspora
Another claim of St. Thomas Christians without any basis is that they are the descendants of the Jews who came to Kerala during  Diaspora. In their fanatical bid to disown their original caste of their own  country  and to appropriate for themselves   the Jewish link they   have been propagating the view that they are the progeny of the Jews of Diaspora.  But the historical events  of the period and the significance of Jewish Diaspora will prove their cunning attempts are nonsensical. The first Diaspora of the Jews in recorded history is  the Baylonian exile. The Jewish Diaspora actually began in the year 597 BC with the seige and fall of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Known as the Babylonian Captivity, a significant portion of the population of Judea was deported to Babylonia, not to Kodungalloor in Kerala.  A second deportation began in 587 BC when the First Jewish Temple was destroyed. In approximately 582 BC, the Babylonian governor of Judea was assassinated and many Jews fled to Egypt and a third deportation most likely began. Many of those Jews never returned to Israel.The Diaspora continued with the Great Jewish Revolt, otherwise known as the First Jewish-Roman War, which began in the year 66 AD and ended in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Jews during this diaspora  fled to   Babylonia, Persia, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, and the United States. They did not come to India.
SHEPHERDIC JEWISH DIASPORA
After the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 ce, the Jews spread throughout the Mediterranean world. A major community eventually formed in the towns of the Iberian peninsula. The Sephardim, from the Hebrew for Iberia (“Sepharad”), played a prominent role in the culture and economy of both Muslim and Christian Spain and Portugal. But in 1492  But that same year, Spain's monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, also ordered the nation's Jews either to convert to Christianity or to leave the country under pain of death. At least 50,000 Jews--some believe as many as 300,000--were banished from Spain. Known as Sephardim from the Hebrew word for Spain , the banished settled in the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, Yemen, Italy and  they did not  flee to Kodungalloor in Kerala, India. A website of Syrian Malabar Nasrani makes a fake claim that during Shepherdic diaspora Jews from Yemen who came to Kodungalloor are the ancestors of Nasrani Christians. The foolishness of this argument is quite obvious in view of the fact that  the Shepherdic diaspora occurred because  the Jews wanted to avoid forcible conversion to Christianity. Unlike other countries, only few Jews had come to Kerala. They  (White and Black Jews) did not become Christians  but remained Jews and worshiped in their synagogues and not in Christian churches. How foolish it is to calain phony genealogy for the Syrians  from these Jews! Dr. M. Vijayalakshmi, in a paper presented at the South Indian History Congress, has, after examining the Geniza documents of the Jews,  pointed out that the Jews of Yemen  who came to Kodungalloor were involved in trade and had  depots in Kollam and Pantalyani Kollam. So they were not Christians but Jewish traders.
Why some haughty Syrian Christians are struggling hard to usurp the caste of others? Before Internet became popular, they used fake family history such as Niranam Granthavari and manipulated dance songs to expropriate Namboothiri and Jewish caste. They were not contemporary accounts but produced in the  18th century. When Kerala historians such as William Logan, Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, Keasavan Veluthat and M.G.S. Narayanan pointed out that there were no Namboothiris in the 1st century in Kerala, Syrians gradually gave up Namboothiri descent. Now the new infatuation is about Assyrian and Jewish descent. During Sapur 11' s period there were cruel persecutions. The Catholicos Shimun and some bishops were murdered. But quite surprisingly, there was no migration during this period. . Christians heroically faced Shapur's persecution and they volunteered to die as martyrs, including women. After the conquest of Persia by Muslims, there was a period of Assyrian Diaspora. Muslims severely persecuted Christians by destroying churches, murdering thousands and forcibly converting helpless Christians. Assyrian Diaspora began during this period. They left in large numbers to America, Australia, France, Germany, Israel. America became a second home for Assyrians. A significant factor during this period of Diaspora was not even a single Asyyrian Christian came to Kerala. Even 5th century B.C. migrations of the Sakhas, Bacterians and Huns are recorded in Indian History. But there is absolutely no reference to Assyrian migration. It is a new distorted invention of some Syrians. CMS Missionary diaries and Reports tell us about large scale conversion of untouchables and slaves in Kottayam, Mallappally, Mundakkayam, Kochi, Alappuzha, Kodukulanji, Chengannur, Mavelikara and other areas. At the Coonen Cross episode there were 200,000 people to take the pledge. Was it possible to get 50 Jews or 1000 Namboothiris from Mattancherry.?So they were all local castes, not Nambudhiris or Nairs.. And yet, manipulated DNA is being produced to show that a descendants of   Ezhavas converted by Norton have Jewish blood..