The tiny community of the Jews in Cochin China in South India announced today that it had abandoned plans for celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Great Synagogue in Kerala which had been scheduled for the winter of 1968.
The decision resulted, it was said, from the reluctance of American and European Jews to come to Indian in view of the Indian Government’s hostile attitude towards Israel. The celebration had been considered the last occasion for a gathering of the Cochin China Jews in Kerala. The community, which still numbered about 2,000 in 1951, has dwindled to less than 300 today.
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