The Jews of Cochin, like the other Jewish communities in India — Bene Israelis of Maharashtra (settled in Mumbai) and Baghdadi Jews — started moving to Israel, the so-called ‘Promised Land', in the early 1950s with great hope. Initially, they faced heavy odds in terms of language, culture, and climate, besides geographical isolation and racial discrimination. And the integration process has been very slow, when compared with other immigrant communities.
The book examines the state of the community from different angles — economic mobility, ethnic consciousness, societal interface, inter-ethnic relations, and so on. It argues that the issue of Cochin Jews' ethnic identity and solidarity has to be understood in the context of the community's relationship with the mainstream Israelis, on the one hand, and the way the Israelis view the Indian immigrants in general, on the other. In conclusion, the author says the Cochin Jews are a “socially marginalised” community in Israel and their case is a “visible expression of the oppressive policies of the ‘ethnocratic state'.”
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