What's Brewing?

 One of the biggest trending issues of 2021/22 is the question of 'Who is a Jew' in relation to people recently discovering their Jewish heritage. Not that this is a new event, but there seems to be an explosion of  'discovery' now that this issue is featured more in social media. In North America and Brazil there are organisations of crypto-jews undertaking research and also acting as a gathering point for individuals and families. At the Sri Lankan end, things are fairly quiet - although I have it on good information that there are about 55 individual living there who also identify as crypto-Jews. 

The issue issue confronting the Jewish world is how to reach out and support these individuals. And there's more and more coming forward everyday!

Not all these crypto-folk wish to convert, and if they did, they would likely need to go through a full conversion (esp if it is an orthodox conversion). What's really clear, is that the effects of the Inquisition still has rippling effects today, especially the Goa inquisition which was harsher than the European version. 

Judaism is a non-proslyetising religion, in otherwords, there is no need for people to convert. Instead all gentiles can avail themselves of the 7 Noahide laws:

 https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/62221/jewish/The-7-Noahide-Laws-Universal-Morality.htm

To find out more about Judaism to increase your knowledge, the My Jewish Learning is a great site 

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/

Rumour has it, my blog is causing some disquiet among the burgher community. I am not sure why? Maybe it might be as a consequence of holding firm to certain family stories, only to have them be called into question. Of course I am speculating here in a kind way. Others might suggest that some peoples' reactions could be indicative of a latent antisemiticism, i.e. "there's no Jews in my family!" My standpoint is 'facts' with evidence, although recognising that getting proofs can be difficult especially where people do not want to be found or that registration as we would understand it in the modern sense did not exist. As I am in the final stages of my book (yes, its gone on too long) I am clear that any assertions I make need a degree of substantiation that can be triangulated.

People with Affinity to Jewish People Report, Israel 2017

The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs in Israel in 2017 released a comprehensive report titled “Report of the Public Advisory Committee for Examing Israel’s Approach Regarding Worldwide Communities with Affinity to the Jewish People”.

The report is interesting first because it uses new language to describe people of Jewish descent who may not be regarded as legal Jews - communities or People with Affinity. It recognised that Israel needs to formulates some proactive policy responses to people who are the legacies of the Inquisition and forced conversions more generally.

There has been a tide towards people wanting to explore their Jewish backgrounds and identities. The report’s authors describe this desire as an “ unprecedented surge... in individuals and groups seeking to establish affinity with the Jewish people”.There could be at least 5 million people globally of Jewish descent! it’s worth having a read of this report, in very user friendly language : http://www.mda.gov.il/antisemitism/documents/eng200818.pdf

Update on Leopold Emmanuel Jacob Van Dort

I have now accumulated lots of information from a variety of source in Hebrew and Dutch and will now be making a separate chapter on this amazing man. I am holding the information back for publication, however I will mention that contrary to certain views he had both a wife and a daughter. People need to be careful about asserting that just because family research shows individuals to be baptised in the Dutch Reform Church that they were 100% Christian. People were baptised for all sorts of reasons aside from faith issues. Baptism into Christianity gave people access to legal marriage, property rights and in some cases citizenship, so there were incentives.Research has shown that many people lived with so called double identities and really struggled, many also used multiple names.

I am not a genealogy search agency, Jewish Identity research is important no matter how incomplete!

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.

Jewish war grave in Kandy Cemetery

http://www.jwire.com.au/jewish-war-grave-sir-lanka/

In Kandy, Sri Lanka’s second largest city, there is the burial site of the Private Hyman Isaacs Rosenfield who was an aircraftman first class in the Royal Air Force. Mr Rosenfield is believed to be the only Jewish servicemen buried at the Kandy cemetery.

Out of the 1,999 Commonwealth war dead in Sri Lanka, it is believed there believed to be at least three Jewish soldiers buried on the island nation including a Sergeant who served in the Royal Australian Air Force and died in April 1942. He is buried in remote eastern Sri Lanka.

The Kandy cemetery is one of the six Commonwealth war cemeteries in Sri Lanka. The cemetery has been described as one of the most beautifully landscaped Commonwealth war graves.

Mr Secord said: “It was a bittersweet visit. Very little is known about Private Rosenfield and there are several spellings of his surname in official records.”

“However, he died on February 24, 1946 – about seven months before the Japanese surrender and well after fighting had ceased in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, he was quite young – only 26; had been a volunteer and had the lowest rank in the Royal air force.”

“However, his grave is historic to Jewish ex-service activists because about eight years ago, the Manchester chapter of the United Kingdom’s Association of Jewish Servicemen and Women (AJEX) issued a world-wide call for relatives for Mr Rosenfield to come forward.”

“AJEX had discovered that his gravestone had been mistakenly identified with a cross and they needed a family member’s agreement to replace it with a Magen David.”

“It now carries the Star of David and is the only known Jewish grave in the Kandy Commonwealth war graves’ cemetery.”

New Wikipedia entry

A new entry has appeared with some usual focus, when I get a chance I will update it. There’s information on a Tamil lineage in this entry which needs to be verified.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Sri_Lanka

Prashan Rodrigo?? "The Jew who came from Nowhere" or "Diminishing Sri Lankan Royal Jews",

In 2009 I posted an item on Prashan Rodrigo who had self published a book on Jews in Sri Lanka. The books title is "The Jew who came from Nowhere" or  "Diminishing Sri Lankan Royal Jews",

I have had no responses for more information about the book or how to contact Mr Rodrigo. I do not have a copy of the book. So I am making a new appeal - if you have any further information, no matter how small - please contact me.

Book update

Plugging away slowly. Sometimes two sentences might take weeks of research and verification! I estimate that the book will run to around 77,000 words. I have spent a lot of time making sure all findings are verified for the purposes of evidence but also for use by future researchers. I have just finished the chapter on the Portuguese period which is about 5,000 words and am happy with the result.

Looking back at my essay which is online - I can see it's flaws and gaps. I know that the book will overcome these problems. The challenge also is the write for multiple audiences - the general learned public, family historians, academics, people with a knowledge of Sri Lanka (those with none), people familiar with Judaism (people totally unfamiliar) ... so hopefully there is enough for everyone.

Did you know?

Did you know that the notorious Jan Pieterszoon Coen Director General of trade policy in Asia for the VOC (Dutch East India Company) was a crypto Jew?

New Book on the Way?

Well eventually!!!! I am currently upgrading and correcting the unpublished article I wrote in 2007 (this is circulating on the web) into a book. New information and argument is being added, so if you have any new information, this is the time to email me (jewsinsrilanka@gmail.com). I am planning to have each of the time periods of colonisation constitute a separate chapter.

 I have been currently plowing though many source materials on Jews in the ancient Ceylon (Yes, many book sources will probably result in only a couple of paragraphs!). In June I will be in London and hope to access the Rothschild Archive to get more information on the (De) Worm brothers who first planted tea in Sri Lanka.

THE WHEELS TURN SLOWLY ... I am still working on the book (2015)

The usual anti semitic stuff

I am afraid I have had no news items to report in the months since July. Thanks for the comments on the posts. The good news is that I have not had to delete any obscene comments like I have had to in the past. This favourable atmosphere cannot be extended to numerous Sri Lankan media reports that I have filtered on 'Jews in Sri Lanka' which are laced with anti semitism, rehashing Jewish world conspiracy theories, anti Israeli diatribes and holocaust denials.Email me if you have any news items.