I have a tradition to tell you stories...

I have a tradition to tell you stories about #Jewish history on Shabbat. A few days ago in Kandy (#SriLanka) I came across a military cemetery and among many different graves I found a Jewish one. It turns out that Ceylon is explicitly mentioned as part of a hub of Jewish activities and settlement from 16th century onwards. There is a brief consideration of the Jewish presence in Sri Lanka before the Portuguese conquest, shifting to a more nuanced articulation of Jewish relations under Portuguese and Dutch occupation. But the real historical discussion moves onto consider the relationship between Jewish pogroms in the 1500s – 1700s and the conquest of the Ceylon by the Portuguese, Dutch and finally the British in XVIII century. During the inquisition in Portugal and Spain around 1500, many Jews fled to Holland and the Dutch colonies to escape torture and condemnation to the stake. Many of the #Jews who went to Holland departed later for the Dutch colonies. Jews had a thriving community in Sri Lanka till the beginning of World War II. Also, till recent times, there was a Jewish Synagogue at Steuart Place in Galle. The low parapet wall of the #synagogue, almost opposite where the Hotel Oberoi now stands, had a stone built into the wall with the words “THE SYNAGOGUE” carved on it. Then came World War II and the trace of the Jews was lost. The specter of Nazism in Europe, though miles away was always close at hand, in India for instance, anti-colonial agitated in some quarters was linked to Nazi propaganda which allied itself with Muslim struggles and was expressed in the form of anti-Jewish speeches.On the cusp of Ceylon’s independence in 1948, Jews played a role in the transfer of power the indigenous peoples of Ceylon as an independent sovereign nation. After the war and independence it seems that many Jews migrated either to #Israel or as rumor has it, to Singapore.

#непутевыезаметочки

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