On the sect of Bene Israel in India
- Title
- On the sect of Bene Israel in India
- Author
- Morais, Sabato
- Date Created
- 1 May 1890
- Format
- 13 pages on 5 sheets
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 13, Folder 6
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3bk1788p/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3bk1788p
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx13FF6.xml
- content
-
S. MORAIS,
546 N. Fifth St.
Philadelphia,
86
On the sect of Bene Israel in India
May/90
My address to day will simply be a piece of historical in--formation, which I presume is new to most of my hearers. But before beginning with it, I think it necessary to say that I have been officially urged by an officially letter during this week, to make complaints of the conduct of some who attend worship in our Synagogue. I am assured by the writer that their practice to come and go at pleasure, to speak talk audibly loud to sing out of time & out of tune, but specially the habit of a number of children to move restlessly and noisily while the religious exercises are being performed, cause annoyance to those who wish to join quietly in the prayers and listen to the discourse. To The congregation know that to find fault is as distasteful to me as it must be to the persons who have occasioned the reproof, therefore I shall will not dwell upon it. Hoping that my few well meant words will effect a needful correction; begging all to assist me in imparting dignity to the Divine services, I shall proceed to speak on a subject that may prove of some interest.
In the East Indies--now under the sole dominion of Great Britain, a religious sect has existed for dating many centuries back. The name which it bears, and the practices
to which that its members adhere to are strong evidences of its de--scent. It is closely Jewish; not by adoption like the Falashas of Abyssinia, whose features show an foreign traces of an origin foreign to our race, but by direct lineage extraction descent; for I learn that ages and the adoption acceptance of foreign the manners and customs prevalent among the aborigines, have not essentially al--tered the Jewish looks of those distant brethren of ours. But how did it happen that in old times, the remote days of antiquity, a colony of our people settled in so far off a Asiatic country? This question has been answered in various ways, but just as unsatisfactorily as that which regards the Jews who an--ciently took up their homes in China. The "Bene Israel," or children of Israel, as the original oldest Hebrews in India like prefer to call themselves, have their own story to tell. We will hear it. They say: "Our ancestors came here about eighteen hundred years ago to avoid per--secution. But misfortune followed their steps, for the ships in which they had sailed were wrecked on the Indian ocean, and only seven men and seven women were saved. Homeless and destitute, the few survivors would surely have died of hunger and sicknesses, if they had not found procured a living and a shelter in by hard work toil. They took to farming and principally
to olive pressing, and because they would never labor do servile work on the Sabbath, they went by the name of Shanvár Telis (which means in the Hindu language "the saturday ol oilmen"). Now; as every one can see, this account is exceedingly meagre and open to doubts, still the further testimony of history proves that the Bene Israel have in all reality an identical descent extraction with us ours, though we may not be able to discover the why and when they left the land of our fathers, nor trace their line of travel from Palestine to a spot of whose very existence they scarcely could have had a knowledge notion. They Irrespective of their strong Jewish type, denoting their lineage, they have uniformly preserved rites and ceremonies ordained in the Mosaic code. They have had always in common with us the New Year [Hebrew] in Tishri, and the day of atonement [Hebrew] on the 10th of that month, and the Passover [Hebrew] in Nissan. None needs wonder that in the lapse of so many ages, they forgot some of the holidays; that they misplaced or misunderstood others, and could not recall the ceremonials connected with, nor even the names of those which they did keep, but
which they knew only in the language they ordinarily spoke. The Hebrew had become entirely dead to them, and as they were cut off altogether from every associa--tion with their coreligionists in Western Asia, or Europe in Rome, nothing but a miracle could have prevented a difficult result. Do we not ourselves perceive how mischievously the decline of Hebrew learning acts on our observances? How Do I not but too often find that some of the young generation would find it have difficulty to in pronouncing the Biblical titles of the festivals of the Lord, not to say that they would be are unable to recite the simplest sentence out of our Scriptures? It cannot be therefore only a matter of surprise to us that what we deliberately bring about by wilful neglect, circumstances beyond human control occasioned among the Bene Israel of Hindustan. They During hundreds of years they received no teaching whatever in the Law. and traditions The mere tradition of their origin hindered their merging into gentilism. To their praise it must be said that a great factor in their distinct preservation--the same which often in our history has operated before to our advantage, as the Rabbis express it [Hebrew] I mean a great factor was the obedience of the women to ordinances handed down by the ancestors. It is stated that in the year
900 of the Christian era, a certain David Rahabi journeyed from Cochin of Malabar in search of the Bene Israel. He was prompted by a strong wish to better the mental and spiritual condition of his forlorn coreligionists. Having heard of them, he determined to become their instructor and guide. Arrived at their settlements, the good man noticed that the Bene Israel retained but a faint recollection of the Torah; that they performed many of its rules mechanically, simply as olden inherited habits, whose the sense of which they could not give; that they possessed no ritual whatever, but that on all occasions they repeated over and over again [Hebrew] or our declaration of faith; and that such was the whole extent of their knowledge of acquaintance with Holy Writ and its language. David Rahabi felt convinced that the Bene Israel were in reality what they called themselves, still to try them, he brought one day to some of their women diffe--rent fishes which he asked them to cook prepare in the same dish. The women looked, and having detected
a number that had no fins and scales, they refused to comply with the request, saying that they had never mixed the permitted pure with the prohibited impure. Strength--ened in his views, as to the genuineness of the descent of the people he was anxious to elevate, the zealous Jew of Malabar went about teaching, and chose three youths whom he trained in Hebrew reading. He let the continual monotonous recital of the Shemag be dropped, and showed how to conduct a regular wor--ship. Unfortunately, his generous tuition soon ceased. Either out of jealousy of his influence over the Bene Israel, or for other motives unexplained, an Indian Chief murdered David Rahabi, and the Bene Israel were left to under the leadership of the three he had measurably taught. They watched over the improvements which he had introduced, but they these had not taken sufficient root to remain inalterable unaltered. As one generation succed--ed another, steadfastness of principles yielded to tempt--ations, and marriages out of the Jewish pale were productive of sore evils; for the offspring of such misalliances fell into heathenish habits. Nevertheless, the majority kept firm and Providentially a number of Jews from Malabar,
possessing more than an ordinary acquaintance with versed in our sacred learning, arrived at different intervals in different settlements and [?] spread there the knowledge of the Scriptures, according to the text. The records from which I have gathered my information, makes special mention, with high praise, of a Rabbi Solomon Salem Shurrabi, whose personal exertions in Bombay to reform improve his bre--theren, were unremitting and attended with noble results. He is described as a man of commanding appearance and intelligent looks, a man esteemed by all and listened to deferent--ially. To He served his congregation twenty years for a tifle, not to let them feel under obligation, while earning his daily livelihood as a book-binder, and still utilizing every moment in favor behalf of his people in multifarious capacities, as readers and preacher at the Synagogue and as officiating minister in various other religious rites and ceremonies. Familiar with the Hindustani and Marathi languages, he had no difficulty in communicating useful learning to those who had forgotten the Hebrew and the precepts promulgated in it. When Solomon Salem Shurrabi died in 1856, he left a void which was not filled, but which widened
greatly, because Christian missionaries took ad--vantage of the absence of his powerful influence, to in--sinuate themselves into the favor of the weaklings and the wordly. Promises of temporal promotions are apt to silence in the ambitious, the voice of conscience. The Bene Israel are mostly poor mechanics, or olive pressers,--Saturday oilmen--Shanvar Telis, small like their ancestors, hired of narrow trusts of land, earn--ing in all their callings very small wages. Many of them have arisen in the army and wear decorations won by their bravery. It is also stated that during the Sepoy outbreak in 1851 and 58, Jews in the military ranks distinguished themselves for their loyalty to the English government, and one Moosageen or Moses Israel, a commissioned officer, was personally set upon and his family threatened with imminent danger, be--cause he would not join in the meeting. But if, as soldiers, some have reached distinction attained eminence, in the ordinary walks of life, the Bene Israel remain in a very humble condition. Hence the offers which that the Church makes to converts, are snares into which the unwary may be easily caught, and they are entrapped.
Education; broad education, is a mighty impulse to self-respect compelling social progress. If, for instance, the Bene Israel of Bombay for instance were not hampered in every way by municipal rules against attaining a lofty degree of religious and secular learning, if the facilities to exercise their natural faculties were placed within their reach, they might frown down the evil counsels wily schemes of pro--pagandists. It certainly was worth the while of the public spirited and good hearted in among the Hebrews, to try to bring into play the lever of human elevation. Accordingly In 1875 a modest school was started and supported by voluntary contributions. But too un--equal to the wants of a large constantly increasing attendance that institution was. It might have been closed alto--gether for by reason of insufficient means, had not an organization in England, and a philanthropic family in India, readily come to the rescue. The Anglo-Jewish association sought after by the school President--Mr Hyam Samuel Kehimker--and the Sassoons--the Montefiores of the East Indies, were kind and liberal on all occasions, responded to the appeal. In 1881 a larger and fitter school was opened,
and the testimony of prominent Jews and Christians who grace it with their presence each year at the examination season, and express to the students words of encouraging gratulations, holds out the hope of the intellectual preservation of those distant bre-theren in our fold. In a pamphlet which I lately forwarded to my address, the aforenamed Hyam Samuel Kehimker writes: "The charities of many European, American, and Asiatic mil--lionaires are truly catholic and princely, and the Bene Israel community consisting of about 10,000 souls earnestly look for patronage which will tend to elevate the intellectual, social, and moral condition of this isolated and neglected branch of Israel, steeped as it is in the ocean of ignorance both secular and religious." The pleading is strong, and should evoke a response even from those who do not reckon their riches by the million, but I will not urge it, for wide as my sympathies are, embracing the whole house of Jacob, wherever Providence destined its members to scatter, still I feel, with
the Rabbis that those nearest to us have a primary claim to our benevolence [Hebrew] [Hebrew]. I need not say to my hearers, how a generous spirit must now be evinced towards the exaltation of the lowly of Israel in the city of Philadelphia.
(This address was concluded with a few words of exhortations to a Bar Mitzvah) - Identifier
- p3bk1788p
- identifier
- SMBx13FF6
Part of On the sect of Bene Israel in India
Morais, Sabato, “On the sect of Bene Israel in India”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 16, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/91398