After completing their army service, young adults in Israel take “the big excursion to the East,” whether it’s to “discover themselves” in ashrams, sleep on the beach in Goa, or smoke pot all day away from their parents’ prying eyes. One of the reasons Israelis believe they know everything there is to know about India is because of this tradition (the other being the fact that Israelis think they know all about everything). However, many Israelis are unaware that Jews have a long history in India dating back to antiquity.
While diverse communities of Jews live in different parts of India, the Cochin Jews in South India are the oldest, dating back to ancient times. During the Middle Ages, the Hindu Raja granted these Jews their region in the southern Indian port city of Cochin (now known as Kochi), and they lived happily in what is now the state of Kerala. Even though they were never persecuted, most of them went to Israel in the 1950s and early 1960s. The majority of them settled in moshavim across the country, while others relocated to different cities. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Cochin Jews lived in Israel in the 1960s. There are now very few Jews in Cochin, while the Israeli Jewish population, which has grown due to intermarriage, numbers between 7,000 and 8,000 people.
Source: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/food/articles/cochin-indian-cuisine
