Jewish Gravestones in Kanatte

Today (6th March 2007) in the heat a friend and I walked through the Kanatte (Borella) cemetery. After showing mock pictures of Jewish graves stones - I have found 4 verified Jewish graves. So much for there not being Jews in Sri Lanka!!!!!!!!! I will be entering the data on the International Jewish Cemeteries Web site. For security reasons, to prevent these graves being desecrated I will not reveal on this site complex details. I can tell you there is [surnames deleted]... (all with Hebrew inscriptions, which need to be translated) and a [surnames deleted] ... (came via China) - all are early to mid 1800's. There are others - but their status is speculative at this point in time. A fruitful day indeed!

Update 2011: here are some photos. I have not identified where they are from, not to who's graves they are for security reasons.

Inscription of the Grave above.

A Quicky - Getting there with the research

I have nearly finished my article for publication in a journal - and will make it available online once it has been submitted to a journal. Unfortunately there are issues with people copying people's work, so one has to be careful. I have not had much luck with substantiating the matter of the building called "The Synagogue" - so will have to do some archival research. I will be putting in an advert in the English paper "The Daily News" to see if I get any responses. I do have some good historical material which is strong up till the British time. The British period at this stage is filled with colonials who came and went - and not so much on a community as such. The research conditions are a little difficult as there is some tension around the Israeli issue. Sri Lanka has broken off relations with Israel in the late 1960's and has resumed them in an offshore arrangment- does anyone have any information on this. The SL govt I understand buys Israeli military hardware.