Responses Update

First, I would like to say thanks to all those people who emailed me on the web and directly. Your enthusiasm has been encouraging. The feedback has ranged from passing in anecdotal information about Jewish families and places to statements that there has never been a Jew in Sri Lanka … except jesus!?! I have also sent a Press release out to both Jewish and Sri Lankan web sources. I thought I would feedback some of the information – so the search and sharing continues ………. I have in most cases delated names for privacy reasons. If you are happy to be known, with or without contact details, let me know:

“ …do have one Jewish surname that I happen to know of and may help you add to your rich research - and that is the name HARMON or perhaps later changed to HERMON. I used to know a lady by the name of {…..} (nee Harmon) … (later married {……}) and they went as Dutch Burghers, who told me that they were from a Jewish family and went on to explain briefly about the Harmon name being changed to Hermon”.

“Nyanaponika Maha Thera, who was born in Hanau, Germany on July 21, 1901 as Siegmund Feniger, the only child of a Jewish family. He died 19th Oct 1994 in the Udawattekelle Forest Reserve, Kandy”.

“there must have been a significant community at one time--mostly pre 1939, I think, as on the main rd out of Colombo, to the South (Galle Rd but that bit is known as Kollupitiya Rd ) about a mile from the former central business district, is a house named "The Synagogue" from the days when it was used as such. I lived almost opposite that house from 1964 to 1973, when I came to Australia”.

“Family hearsay has it that there were Jewish families in Moratuwa”.

“Joe Simpson has posted more information on Justice Sidney Abrahams. I will upload the photo of him”.

Update 2011:
Since writing this, I have been forwarded to pictures taken in March 1966 by Zeev Raphael of the 'house' at 136 Galle Rd,Colombo 3:

“The Synagogue” ~ A house of Worship, just a house (or both) – or a Red Herring?

Fazli writes “The Synagogue – The house occupied for many years by Peter de Saram, a Retired Korale Mudaliyar at Galle Road (Sea-Side) Kollupitiya” . This is also referenced in M. Herath. (2004 ) Colonial Kollupitiya and Its Environs, Lions Club of Colombo, p 141. Is this the same building mentioned by Cecil Wikramanayake in “Jews of Old Ceylon” (reproduced as a Blog). The location appears to be similar – maybe the inscription that Cecil alluded to could tell us more. Was the building named The Synagogue because its style was believed to resemble such a building? Was it previously used for religious purposes? Walter Fischel again suggests in the Indian situation only very large Jewish communities had synagogues – most did not. So the non-existence of a religious building does not mean that there was not an observant community in SL. Any comments – can anyone photo the building and/or the inscription? Send it to me and I’ll post it up.

Drawing Inferences from work of Walter J. Fischel on the Jewish Asian Diaspora

Notes derived from 2 pieces by Fischel:

• Leading Jews in the Service of Portuguese India, The Jewish Quarterly Review, 47(1), 37 - 57, year 1956 ; and
• The Indian Archives: a Source for the History of the Jews of Asia,The Jewish Quarterly Review, 57: 192 - 209, year 1967.

Ceylon is explicitly mentioned as part of a hub of Jewish activities and settlement from 16th cent. onwards. This is significant as usually India stands in for all south asia countries. Fischel mentions that the Jewish communities of Cochin, Bombay etc "are actually the remnants of survivors of a once much wider extent of the Jewish diaspora" (195).

There is a need to guard against assuming that persons bearing certain names of Jewish resemblance as actually Jewish. Merchants working under the various companies VOC, EIC required to register their religious background, ethnic/national affiliation. Common names to look for "joodsche coopman", "judeo", "a jew", "a hebrew", "de raca judaica" etc. Fischel also notes that in the 16th century Jews were employed by the Portuguese as letter carriers, translators, agents. I wonder whether these people travelled to Ceylon or indeed were employed by the Portuguese in Ceylon in a similiar capacity?

Fischel reiterates that the study of Jews in South Asia needs to be correlated with world Jewish history. Despite the fact that the Portuguese used Goa (India) as the base for the launching of the Jesuit missionising activity/and the Inquisition - that Jews nonetheless were valued for their intercultural skills and gained prominance in public life.

Finally, notes for any research:
There is a need to examine Jewish Internal records, e.g. (a) ketuboth (marriage contracts), (b) Mazaboth (Tombstone inscriptions) and (c) Zevaoth (last Wills). Let's go rushing off to the cemetary! Any Jewish burial grounds at Borella????? Fischel indicates that examining marriage contracts have no been that fruitful as most merchants were either lifelong bachelors or 'intermarried' with local (indigenous) women and thus erased from official records.