Judaism in Kerala

Kadavumbhagam Synagogue, Mattancherry

The Kadavumbhagam Synagogue in Mattancherry is a Jewish place of worship located in Ernakulam district of Kerala. It was built sometime around 1549.  A couple of centuries later, it fell into neglect and became a warehouse. Today only a shell of a once glorious structure remains. Much of the intricate woodwork on the ceiling carrying motifs typical to Kerala’s style of architecture and interiors carved in teak wood including beams, lintels, doors, doorposts, steps and the second Bimah (an elevated platform or pulpit for the reading of the Torah, the holy book of the Jews) attached to the women’s section along with its screen were dismantled and taken to Israel in 1991. The Holy Ark (a niche at an end of the prayer hall where the holy book of the Jews, the Torah, is kept behind curtains) had already been shipped to Israel a few decades earlier where it was installed in an orthodox German synagogue in Moshav Nehalim. Today the interiors of the Kadavumbhagam  Synagogue are placed on display in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.