I regularly get emails asking me whether their family is of Jewish origin or could I look up a relative. I am unable to assist you with this search. I am not a resident in Sri Lanka and also do not have links to current day activities. If you want information Chabad Sri Lanka should be able to assist you with kosher food issues etc. However, if you find any interesting information that you are prepared to share - maybe ending up in a book - I will check permissions with you - please email me!
This project has been a long one and I have had to stop work during changes to employment, country and general life sagas. I have gone back and added more details to the chapters, to be more precise, especially in sections where some of the argument is more conjecture. There are people in many quarters who don't like this kind of research - some burghers don't want to admit that there are Jewish/Jewish identified burghers. Whilst some Jewish scholars because of the whole ongoing issues of 'who' is Jewish according to orthodox Jewish law, believe that there are not enough proofs.
It is clear from doing this research for over a debate that certainly during the colonials periods (Portuguese, Dutch, English) there was not a formally organised community in the way we would understand communal activities today. There is a strong likelihood that there was some kind of meeting house.Jews did network and hold gatherings. What becomes clear that for many Jewish folk in the 1600s and 1700s who were forced the convert, or 'chose' to (ie. conversion was required for admission to university study in 1700s Holland) - that they carried a deep ambivalence about their status- some individuals going to great lengths to hide their previous heritage; others meeting up with other exiled folk to engage in underground political and religious activism. They carried with them a Jewish identity - even if it was fractured - not being fully accepted by Christians and being viewed suspiciously by Jewish communities. Policies designed to convert or kill Jews were aimed at breaking up the transmission of religious belief, religious practices; resulting in intermarriage and lost memories. This was a conscious policy by the Spanish and Portuguese of wanting to rid the world of Jews. Whilst this has not succeeded, nonetheless whole communities and lineages have been lost. So in my project I would rather speak of Jewish IDENTITY rather than Jews as such. A Jewish identity might involve a recognition of one's heritage or even more, a positive identification with Jewish ethics, and practices. These people would likely to have to go through a formal conversion process as there are too many broken links and not enough paperwork. It is time for certain sections of the Jewish community to engage in dialogue with individuals whose backgrounds have been affected by the operation of anti-antisemitism during the times of the European empires. The first step is writing up a 'history', . It maybe patchy, with some primary documentation sparse - but we do have access to secondary literature and accounts (even if distorted). Storying this is better than doing nothing - we maybe able to salvage some remnants!
N.B. IF YOU MAKE COMMENTS IN THIS BLOG, THEY ARE NOW IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND CAN BE CITED BY ANYONE.
This project has been a long one and I have had to stop work during changes to employment, country and general life sagas. I have gone back and added more details to the chapters, to be more precise, especially in sections where some of the argument is more conjecture. There are people in many quarters who don't like this kind of research - some burghers don't want to admit that there are Jewish/Jewish identified burghers. Whilst some Jewish scholars because of the whole ongoing issues of 'who' is Jewish according to orthodox Jewish law, believe that there are not enough proofs.
It is clear from doing this research for over a debate that certainly during the colonials periods (Portuguese, Dutch, English) there was not a formally organised community in the way we would understand communal activities today. There is a strong likelihood that there was some kind of meeting house.Jews did network and hold gatherings. What becomes clear that for many Jewish folk in the 1600s and 1700s who were forced the convert, or 'chose' to (ie. conversion was required for admission to university study in 1700s Holland) - that they carried a deep ambivalence about their status- some individuals going to great lengths to hide their previous heritage; others meeting up with other exiled folk to engage in underground political and religious activism. They carried with them a Jewish identity - even if it was fractured - not being fully accepted by Christians and being viewed suspiciously by Jewish communities. Policies designed to convert or kill Jews were aimed at breaking up the transmission of religious belief, religious practices; resulting in intermarriage and lost memories. This was a conscious policy by the Spanish and Portuguese of wanting to rid the world of Jews. Whilst this has not succeeded, nonetheless whole communities and lineages have been lost. So in my project I would rather speak of Jewish IDENTITY rather than Jews as such. A Jewish identity might involve a recognition of one's heritage or even more, a positive identification with Jewish ethics, and practices. These people would likely to have to go through a formal conversion process as there are too many broken links and not enough paperwork. It is time for certain sections of the Jewish community to engage in dialogue with individuals whose backgrounds have been affected by the operation of anti-antisemitism during the times of the European empires. The first step is writing up a 'history', . It maybe patchy, with some primary documentation sparse - but we do have access to secondary literature and accounts (even if distorted). Storying this is better than doing nothing - we maybe able to salvage some remnants!
N.B. IF YOU MAKE COMMENTS IN THIS BLOG, THEY ARE NOW IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND CAN BE CITED BY ANYONE.
