My paper will attempt to critically analyze the representation of history and identity in Ruby Daniel’s memoir, Ruby of Cochin: An Indian Jewish Woman Remembers, published in 2002. It is a landmark work since it being the first memoir “written by a Jewish woman from the Indian community of Cochin” (Irene Eber). Situated within the context of Cochin Jews, Daniel attempts to interlink a series of personal lived histories with the larger national histories. Using the case study of Cochin Jews, the writer examines the hitherto socio-cultural historical representations and their underlying political agenda. Through her memoir Daniel critically addresses questions like, who benefits from claiming authentic representations of Jewish community in Kerala? What does authentic Jewish identity means? The writer tries to answer these questions by focussing upon Cochin Jewish history and the issue of identity.
Despite the fact that there were some early and contemporary literary endeavours on the Jewish community in Kerala, Daniel does not completely places her trust on them. She warns the readers that, “Most of the stories written by modern writers are the stories told by the so-called white Jews, the ones who brought this “slavery” craze and felt themselves to be superior to other Jews in Cochin” (Daniel 11). In her introduction to this work, Brabara Johnson elucidates on how the writer in her memoir contest the established notion of “freed slaves” or “meshuhrarim” in the Jewish community of Kerala and declares that the book “provides a particularly important corrective to the historical record” (Daniel xxiii). The Jewish community in India comprises of the Cochin Jews, the Bene Israel and the Baghdadis. Being the smalle...
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...ula. “Gender and the Shaping of Modern Jewish Identities”. Jewish Social Studies 8.2/3 (Winter/Spring 2002): 153-61. Web. 28. Nov. 2013.
Nissimi, Hilda. “Memory, Community, and the Mashhadi Jews During the Underground Period”. Jewish Social Studies 9.3 (Spring/Summer 2003): 76-106. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.
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Watson, Christine. “Believe Me: Acts of Witnessing in Aboriginal Women’s Autobiographical Narratives”. Journal of Australian Studies 24.64 (2000): 142-52. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.
The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the American Slavery and the Holocaust, in terms of which one was more malevolent than the other. Research indicates that “the “competition” between African-American and Jews has served to trivialize the malevolence which both has suffered” (Newton, 1999). According to L. Thomas “A separate issue that contributes to the tension between blacks and Jews refer to to the role that Jews played in the American Slave trade.”
Oxtoby, Willard Gurdon. "Jewish Traditions." World religions: western traditions. 1996. Reprint. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2011. 127-157. Print.
In this research paper I will discuss the ethnic groups of Africans in the Caribbean and Jews in Ethiopia. Jews in Ethiopia call themselves Beta Israel which means `house of Israel.' They are also known as the Falashas. Falasha means `stranger' or `immigrant' in the classical language of Ethiopia (the Ge'ez tongue). I will also describe the culture of the African people displaced into the Caribbean who identify themselves as the Rastafarians and the connections I have made between them and Judaism. I believe that these connections between Judaism and Rastafarianism are more than just similarities that can be found between any two Bible- following religions. I choose the Falashas as the topic for personal, religious and spiritual reasons. I was born into a Jewish household, rich in the traditions and customs of my Hebrew ancestors. I grew up however in the Caribbean, home of the unique culture known as the Rastafari. Throughout my life I have felt a deep connection between Judaism and Rastafarianism. In this paper I seek the origins and history of the connection that I feel in my heart. I believe that the Falashas are the bridge between these two cultures.
With the creation of Israel, Jews have all the objective accoutrements of a civilization: religion, language, customs, literature, institutions, and a territorial and political home. But what about subjective identification? Jews living in other cultures have distributed themselves along a continuum stretching from total identification with Judaism and Israel to nominal Judaism and full identification with the civilization within which they reside, the latter, however, occurr...
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...f society. The second point of view held that Jews were inherently bad and can never be salvaged despite any and all efforts made by Christians to assimilate them. These Christians felt that there was absolutely no possibility of Jews having and holding productive positions in society. All the aforementioned occurrences lead to the transformation of traditional Jewish communities, and paved the way for Jewish existence, as it is known today. It is apparent, even through the examination of recent history that there are reoccurring themes in Jewish history. The most profound and obvious theme is the question of whether Jews can be productive members of their country and at the same time remain loyal to their religion. This question was an issue that once again emerged in Nazi Germany, undoubtedly, and unfortunately, it is not the last time that question will be asked.
The seventeenth century not only marks an important era in Jewish history, the arrival of Jews in the New World, but it marks a shift in Jewish ideology as well. Traditionally, in the Old World prior to the Inquisition, Jews did not live as individuals but rather as a part of a social network or community that worshipped together, studied together, at times lived together, and had the same set of beliefs. During, and for sometime after the Inquisition, some secret Jews were part of an underground community but other secret Jews chose not to be part of any Jewish community, secret or not, out of fear. It was not until the seventeenth century that there was a conscious break in the tradition of being part of a community and some Jews chose the path of individualism, because they were dissatisfied with the confines of their current Jewish community or they were forced to abandon their community and worship individually. When Jews began to move from the Old World to the New World they were forced with the challenge of figuring out how they were supposed to practice Judaism when there was no current Jewish framework in place. When Portuguese Jews arrived in the New World they were forced to live outside of the traditional community because there was no Jewish community to greet them in New Amsterdam. In the seventeenth century, it was not the norm for a Jew to live outside of the Jewish community, but it was possible; one’s willingness or necessity to live outside of the community depended upon one’s geographical location, fear, or personal convictions.
Dubey,A.P. (2008). Modernity and the problem of cultural identity. New Delhi: Northern Book Centre Publications
For a Jew arriving in America from Europe starting anew marked a defining point. After losing six million Jews in the Holocaust, the United States of America served as one of the most secure havens for reestablishing a strong Jewish presence ...
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Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Stuttgart: Klett Sprachen, 2009. Print.
Umansky, Ellen. "Feminism in Judaism." Feminism and World Religions. Ed. Arvind Sharma and Katherine Young. Albany: SUNY Press, 1999. 179-213. Print.
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
Postcolonial authors use their literature and poetry to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which they have taken on the responsibility of representing. Surely, the reevaluation of national identity is an eventual and essential result of a country gaining independence from a colonial power, or a country emerging from a fledgling settler colony. However, to claim to be representative of that entire identity is a huge undertaking for an author trying to convey a postcolonial message. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique amalgamation of history, culture, language and tradition. Only by understanding and embracing the idea of cultural hybridity when attempting to explore the concept of national identity can any one individual, or nation, truly hope to understand or communicate the lasting effects of the colonial process.