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April 14, 2006
Plurality, tolerance in India
N.Y. photo exhibit focuses on the Jewish community of Cochin.
BASYA LAYE
Inspired by his grandmother's tales of travel to faraway places
and the study of anthropology, Joshua Cogan, a documentary photographer,
travelled to Cochin, on the southwest coast of India, to photograph
the ancient but shrinking Cochini Jewish community. The photos from
his 2003 trip are now on display in the exhibit Cochin Diary: Jewish
Life in Southern India, showing at the American Sephardi Federation/Sephardic
House in New York City.
It is believed that Jews have lived in southern India since around
the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Although
there are differences of opinion as to when the community became
well established, the earliest evidence of a significant and documented
community dates to 379 CE, to a set of copper plates bestowing "princely
rights" to Joseph Rabban, a local Jewish leader, by the Indian
ruler, Sri Vanmar. At its height, the community numbered several
thousand Jewish families. Only a handful of Jews remain in the city
of Cochin today.
Speaking to a sold-out crowd on the exhibit's opening night April
3, Cogan – whose work spans Israel, Egypt, Turkey and the West
Indies – spoke about his desire to document both what remains
of Jewish life in Cochin, as well as to document the Hindu, Muslim
and Christian neighbors next to whom this ancient Jewish community
had flourished. Cochin is well known for its traditions of pluralism
and tolerance and is noted for its unique history of peaceful coexistence
between the four major religious groups that made up the bulk of
the city's population. Cogan said that the Jews of Cochin were able
to develop a rich and unique culture specifically "through
the embrace and plurality of Cochin."
In an e-mail interview with the Independent, Cogan wrote,
"Any group is formed through its cultural experience –
so, too, the Jews of Cochin were shaped by their collective experiences.
By exploring the communities that were host and companions to them,
you get a sense of how they coexisted. For me, this helped me understand
this tradition of plurality and tolerance within the communities."
The N.Y. exhibit also features selected objects from the private
collection of Dr. Kenneth Robbins, a noted authority on the history
of Indian Jews, who gave a well-received opening night lecture on
the history of the Jews of Cochin. He also explained the significance
of many of the objects he provided for the display - old synagogue
ledgers, various maps of the region, other important documents and
a video of a recent Cochini Simchat Torah celebration – which
gave historical context to Cogan's color photographs.
Describing the favored status of the Jews of the state of Kerala,
including the "princely rights" given to these Jews by
successive rajas, Robbins noted, "Kerala has been hospitable
to Jews and Judaism for over 2,000 years, and Jews have been accepted
as Jews, not just as individuals to be assimilated and lost to the
Jewish people. They were allowed to be fully Indian and fully Jewish.
The relationship between most rulers in Kerala and the Jews was
marked by unique and positive interactions and even favoritism.
This was particularly true for the relationship with the maharajas
of Cochin."
The promotional flyer for the exhibit reports that, even today,
as the Jewish population continues to shrink, with most Indian Jews
living in Israel, the "Jew Town district [of Cochin] bears
witness to how Jewish customs and Indian lifestyle mixed to create
a rich culture."
Cogan's photos – mainly portraits of residents of Cochin –
are rich and suffused with warm light. Because there are so few
Jewish Cochinis remaining, many of the photographs are not of Jews.
His Jewish subject matter includes, for example, a non-Jewish resident
of Cochin clearing brush from an old Jewish cemetery, an abandoned
synagogue and a worn Torah scroll.
One of the most impressive images is of two Muslim children lighting
Shabbat candles on the grave of a 16th-century kabbalist, revered
and still venerated by non-Jewish Cochinis – further evidence
of the cultural cross-pollination that Cogan and Robbins described.
Many of the other photos depict daily life in Cochin; a man at work
at a halal butchershop or prayer time at a Cochini mosque.
Cogan remarked to the Independent that he chose to focus on the
familiar rituals of global Jewish life "by focusing on common
humanity, touchstones that people know, mikvahs, shuls, sewing kippahs,
families, things that all people can understand." Particularly
striking is a photograph of three fishermen: a Christian, a Muslim
and a Hindu. The absence of a Jew in this photograph seems like
visual proof that two millennia of Indian Jewish civilization has
come to a close.
Reflecting on Cochin's shrinking Jewish population, Cogan said,
"As a photographer, I feel that my greatest contribution is
my anthropological training. As such, my passion is documenting
communities and most so, those that are in a state of transition
or change. One of the greatest losses we face as a species is the
loss of cultural diversity and tradition.
"Every article I read said, 'This is the last. This is the
last of the Jews of Cochin.' And what I found out is that the Jews
of Cochin didn't fade away, they just changed."
On the exhibit's opening night, Cogan and Robbins were introduced
by Ambassador Neelam Deo, the consul general of India in New York,
who spoke on the significance of cultural exchange, pluralism and
tolerance in India and the connections between Israel and India
today.
Cochin Diary runs until June 30 at the American Sephardi Federation,
15 West 16th St., in Manhattan. For more information on the
exhibit, visit www.asf.org
or www.americansephardifederation.org.
To find out more about Cogan's work, visit www.joshuacogan.com.
The exhibition is on loan from the B'nai B'rith Klutznick National
Jewish Museum.
Basya Laye is director of programs at the Foundation of
Ethnic Understanding in New York.
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