What happened to the ark of the Kadavumbagam synagogue of Mattancherry after Jews left for Israel? The Kadavumbagam 'Torah Ark' of Mattancherry was installed inside the synagogue in 1940s after its previous ark was damaged by humidity. As the Kadavumbagam Jews left India in 1955 and the synagogue became disuse, this newly installed ark which was said to be a replica of the pre-1940 Heichal, was sent to Israel sometime between 1955 and 1957. The exact order of events once the Ark reached Israel is not very clear. It is generally believed that the Cochin Jews failed to claim the Ark from the customs in Haifa Port, and as a result it was allocated to a German Jewish orthodox community in Moshav Nehalim in central Israel. A different version is that they were not in a position to build a synagogue immediately on arrival to Israel, and therefore the Ark was donated willingly to the Nehalim community. For those who want to see the original ark of Kadavumbagam synagogue, here is a photograph taken in 1984 from the Moshav, published in 'the Jews of India-a story of three communities' (1995), Orpa Slapak ed., p.56.
The journey of the 'Kadavumbagam Synagogue' of Mattancherry to Jerusalem picked momentum when the local rope merchant who bought the synagogue sold it to an antique dealer. The new buyer decided to refurbish the synagogue's interior by putting the wooden structures made of teak for sale. The news was immediately brought to the Israel Museum's attention by Israel Roi and Doris Rau. In 1991, the synagogue’s wooden ceiling panels, women’s gallery and screen, steps, doors, rosettes, beams, lintels and doorpost were purchased by an English Jewish couple, Della and Fred Worms from London, who had the items carefully removed and sent to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The whole consignment was shipped in a 40-foot container and weighed a total of seven tonnes! The painstaking restoration included acclimatization in a climate-controlled storeroom and even creation of a 'little Kerala' with high humidity in a relatively dry Jerusalem! Worms covered the full expense of purchase, dismantling, shipping and erecting the synagogue in Jerusalem.
The project took almost five years before the reconstructed synagogue was displayed as a permanent exhibit in Israel museum in 1996. Fred Worms remembers in a Jerusalem Post article (9th May, 2011) here on how he arrived at a decision to bring the Kadavumbagam synagogue to Israel. It was his birthday gift to the legendary Jerusalem Mayor (1965 to 1993), Teddy Kollek. “I asked him what he wanted for his 75th birthday, and he said, ‘I want to pray in a synagogue in Cochin',said Worms. “Teddy, I didn’t know you were religious, but okay, I’ll pay for your first-class fare to Cochin,’ I told him. ‘No, I want the Cochin synagogue to come to Israel,’ Teddy said, so that’s how we ended up bringing the Kadavumbagam synagogue to the Israel Museum.”
The project took almost five years before the reconstructed synagogue was displayed as a permanent exhibit in Israel museum in 1996. Fred Worms remembers in a Jerusalem Post article (9th May, 2011) here on how he arrived at a decision to bring the Kadavumbagam synagogue to Israel. It was his birthday gift to the legendary Jerusalem Mayor (1965 to 1993), Teddy Kollek. “I asked him what he wanted for his 75th birthday, and he said, ‘I want to pray in a synagogue in Cochin',said Worms. “Teddy, I didn’t know you were religious, but okay, I’ll pay for your first-class fare to Cochin,’ I told him. ‘No, I want the Cochin synagogue to come to Israel,’ Teddy said, so that’s how we ended up bringing the Kadavumbagam synagogue to the Israel Museum.”
Just to have an idea about the restoration efforts behind the project, read this interesting blog entry from ‘Let us tour Eretz Yisrael’: ‘In 1990 Fred and Bellah Worms from London acquired the Synagogue and gave it to the Israel Museum. The couple arranged the dismantling of the Beit Knesset. The ordinate celling weighs seven tons, each of its beams weighing about seven hundred kilos. To install it in the Israel Museum the concrete roof of the museum was removed and the enormous beams were put in place one by one by a crane. But before they could install the wood it had to be acclimatized to the Jerusalem weather conditions so that it should not crack or disintegrate. As the humidity in Kerala is extremely high and that of Yerushalayim is very dry, a special little 'India' with an Indian climate, was created in the Israel Museum. Strands of dry pieces of plants from India were placed around the chamber and monitoring instruments insured high humidity. Slowly over a period of five years the humidity and temp was lowered, thus allowing the wood to get used to its new home. At the end of the five year period the layers paint that had been applied by the community in India, were gently peeled off, enabling one to view the original painted wood’.
Although, the Kadavumbhagom synagogue's interior was brought to Israel in 1991 from Mattancherry, its Torah Ark and Bima could not be included in the Israel museum's collection. The original Kadavumbhagom Ark had been already taken to Israel, to Moshav Nehalim in 1950s. The Nehalim community was reluctant to part with theirs and so the museum had to think of an alternative. Meanwhile, the Parur Synagogue became an option, because the synagogue was closed since 1988 when the last of 'Parur Jews' left for Israel and it's Torah Ark and podium were available. The Israel Museum therefore bought the Torah Ark (1891) and the Bima (podium) of the abandoned Parur synagogue and brought to Jerusalem in 1995. Thus, Israel Museum has a 'Parur Ark' of 1891 and Moshav Nehalim has the original 'Kadavumbagam Ark' from 1940s, although the later is presumably a replica of a more ancient ark! Here is a nice high resolution photograph of the Parur Ark preserved in the Israel museum, fetched from online.
Although, the Kadavumbhagom synagogue's interior was brought to Israel in 1991 from Mattancherry, its Torah Ark and Bima could not be included in the Israel museum's collection. The original Kadavumbhagom Ark had been already taken to Israel, to Moshav Nehalim in 1950s. The Nehalim community was reluctant to part with theirs and so the museum had to think of an alternative. Meanwhile, the Parur Synagogue became an option, because the synagogue was closed since 1988 when the last of 'Parur Jews' left for Israel and it's Torah Ark and podium were available. The Israel Museum therefore bought the Torah Ark (1891) and the Bima (podium) of the abandoned Parur synagogue and brought to Jerusalem in 1995. Thus, Israel Museum has a 'Parur Ark' of 1891 and Moshav Nehalim has the original 'Kadavumbagam Ark' from 1940s, although the later is presumably a replica of a more ancient ark! Here is a nice high resolution photograph of the Parur Ark preserved in the Israel museum, fetched from online.
Ark of the Parur Synagogue (1891), Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photo courtesy, littmann613.blogspot.com.
The ark of Parur is carved with a seven-branched menorah flanked by two olive trees as described in the vision of Zechariah (4:2-3). Enlarge the photograph and look at the top of the ark for the Zechariah symbols. The pattern was most probably copied from the 1619 built Chendamangalam synagogue. Zechariah’s vision is a common subject for decorating artifacts among Kerala Jews and I would be discussing more about this while Chendamangalam synagogue will be uploaded. The museum gives the size of the ark as 550 x 880 x 520 cm. More photographs of the ark can be retrieved from here, here and here.
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