Plans for the transfer to Israel of the entire Jewish community of Cochin, India, are being completed by the Jewish Agency, it was learned here today. The community, numbering about 2,000, will be transported to Israel by a chartered ship but the transfer will not take place before July, after the completion of the Iraqi airlift, which is now moving 100,000 Jews from Iraq to the Jewish state.
The Cochin Jews are known as the “black Jews.” Tradition places them in Cochin, in southern India, as far back as the Sixth Century B.C.E. The community itself celebrated 2,000 years of history two years ago at ceremonies attended by the Maharajah of Cochin.
Among the possessions of the community are numerous charters, etched on copper plates, granted by rulers of the state to early Jewish settlers. A charter issued in 490 A.D. gave the Jewish settlers rights “as long as the world and the moon last.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
