Dear Steve,
Prior to our departure I wrote that "in the natural, our task might be described as hunting for a needle in a haystack; or even perhaps taking a shot in the dark." We set out on this journey believing that the Lord would uniquely lead each step. Even more than we realized, what we posed to do, in the natural, within the time we scheduled was more than just ambitious, it probably wasn't even realistic.
Yet, due to being convinced this mission was born in the heart of God, in retrospect, the Lord has exceeded our expectations. Praying frequently and taking time to discern developments, we have had many wonderful surprises as the Lord has arranged the pieces of this mosaic in a way we could have never done on our own.
We have traveled to three cities within India: Pune, Goa and Mumbai. We've visited synagogues, ancient Jewish quarters, interviewed rabbis, pastors, nuns, heads of local ministries, a journalist, community leaders, Christian and Jewish-Christian lay people, along with Indian nationals of both Catholic and Jewish heritage. We've been exposed to the history of the Jews in India; reviewed local books with insights into the time of the inquisition in India and visited the ruins of what some feel may be India's original synagogue in Goa, destroyed during the inquisition.
As I share just a few of the highlights, let me say that some things we have sought have not yet materialized; while others have far surpassed what we expected. However, an incredible foundation has been laid for the "next steps." In it all, God has been faithful. We also are so very grateful for your undergirding in prayer, as indeed, through faith and patience we are inheriting the promises (Hebrews 6:12).
The Process
Closing the gap on a word received from God, such as the guidance for this mission, is and has been a process. Our broad guidance, to search for the lost sheep of the House of Israel in India, included a more specific task of seeking Indian nationals of Jewish heritage descended from ones who fled persecution during the inquisition.
On a personal basis, my Israeli Ethiopian partner for this mission has wanted to close the gap on his family origins. The book of Esther notes a connection between Ethiopia and India. My partner has long suspected that his Ethiopian lineage may be traced to roots in India.
The survival of the hidden Jews during inquisition generations was based on their true identities being carefully masked. Gaining the trust of their modern-day descendents bears the same challenge with a definite relationship-building need.
After flying out of Denver and a six-hour layover in Newark, we left on a 15 hour flight to Mumbai. A referral made after our arrival in India put us in touch with a local pastor, whose heart seemed to leap as we shared our mission. Our first meeting with him was delayed several hours first due to his young son getting sick and then his old car breaking down, as he traveled across town to meet with us. After on-site repairs, this brother finally picked us up.
We then found ourselves in Mumbai rush hour, with an extended snarl of traffic in the midst of a tangle of vehicles, going nowhere fast, all trying to out-honk one another, seemingly intent on adding layers to the delays of our inauspicious start. It was roughly 8:30 p.m. that first day before we finally sat down for a meal and were able to make plans with this gracious brother.
The next morning, having hired a car and driver, we still didn't know whether the turbulence at home for this pastor was going to allow him to accompany us to Pune. To our joy, he did and we headed off on the three hour drive through terrain that we heard looked much like Ethiopia.
The Quest Begins
Our visit in Pune began at one of the city's two synagogues. Since the terrorist attack on the Jewish Chabad Center in Mumbai in 2008, entrance is screened and synagogues are guarded by armed Army security. Having called ahead of time, we were warmly welcomed by the rabbi. He explained that he had an active congregation of about 50 families, since most of the Jewish population in Pune had made aliyah, immigration to Israel, almost 50 years prior. This synagogue was on a street aptly named "Israel Lane" in the center of Pune's original Jewish neighborhood.
Our next visit was with a Jewish believer whose roots she could trace back to her Jewish grandfather in Karachi before the Indian/Pakistani partition. After her grandmother died, her grandfather was unable to give proper care to his nine children, so he put them in an orphanage where they were raised as Christians.
She called her cousin who soon joined us with her 88 year old father. As one of the children raised in the Karachi orphanage; he interestingly now lived in Pune's Jewish neighborhood on "Israel Lane." This kindly old man told us the story of his childhood. Yet when my partner spoke to him about his "Jewish" roots, he seemed to react fearfully, saying "no, no I am a Christian." Yet his flat was in the center of the Jewish quarter in Pune.
Their family tradition held they were descended from the Tribe of Benjamin. We heard about a menora passed down from her grandmother. She also shared her lifelong dream of making aliyah to Israel.
The next morning, our local pastor and friend traveling with us, who had grown up in Pune, astutely asked a guard at a complex of flats if there were any Jewish families still living there. This inquiry led to our introducing ourselves to an 84 year old Jewish woman whose son happened to be visiting from Great Britain. They proudly told us of being descended from the tribe of Judah.
They also explained the origins of the Jews in India. After the destruction of the second temple, there had been a shipwreck off the coast of Alibar, north of Goa. The nine surviving families had developed a trade of pressed oil and became known as the Shanivar: the Saturday oil people. We concluded this unplanned warm exchange by singing the Shema with them. A meeting with her younger brother, who was not only one of the former presidents of Pune's two synagogues, but a respected community leader in the city.
This man was a recently retired professor, as well as having been an Air Force pilot for India years prior. He and his Indian-Jewish wife, a double-certified MD, retained a role and status in the upper strata of Indian society. While strongly Jewish in their identities, their roots were clearly as Indian citizens, with no desire to make aliyah.
Going for More Clues
With strong indications that the area of Goa would hold clues to the answers we sought, we left Pune and headed for Goa. The Portuguese settlement at Goa is reputed to be the original locale where those fleeing to India from the Portuguese inquisition had come.
Our driver, who I glibly described as having an Esther anointing ("if I perish, I perish"), expertly navigated our 12 hour drive to Goa through hair-pin curves over mountain passes with 1500 foot drop-offs at speeds that defied gravity, passing trucks and other cars on curves with a bravado that we are glad is now just a memory. The arid hills around Pune gave way to a more tropical environment with monkeys, ox carts and water buffalo adding to the uniquely colored lorries, cars and three-wheeled motor-scooter taxis which were sprinkled along the route.
One of our first meetings in Goa was at a convent. Having dropped our bags at Goa's YMCA, we left to investigate Catholic resources about those we were seeking. Our drive was interrupted as we heard a whine in the engine indicating a bad belt. Within a few minutes we were stranded. Gratefully, instead of this happening at 11 p.m. the night before on a remote mountain road, it happened in front of a car dealership.
Unexpected Rescue
With the driver working on getting our vehicle back into working order, we were then "rescued" by a cheerful nun in a white habit, who arrived in a taxi to pick us up. The five nuns who manage the convent, along with a local kindergarten of 200, greeted us warmly. Our time yielded no tangible clues, but we left with the sense that the sister in charge would be back in touch after making inquiries.
Our Goa meetings concluded the next day with us being taken to an ancient ruin in Old Goa by a Norwegian brother who is married to an Indian national and has lived in India the last 11 years. He operates the local Goa Chamber of Commerce and also has an outreach to both Indian gypsies and the many Israeli soldiers who frequent Goa after concluding their army service. He reflected a deep passion for Goa inquisition history and shared in our desire to discover the hidden or crypto-Jews.
He was particularly keen about my partner's Ethiopian roots. The ancient ruin we visited, that many feel once was a synagogue in Old Goa, includes Ethiopian Orthodox symbols.
Discerning the Pivotal Questions
Having authored three texts on research-based planning, I know there is a stage in any investigation in which the insights gleaned begin to uncover more pivotal questions. From all the input received to this point, more questions are starting to arise. Jewish history is indelibly entwined into Indian history. The Jews shipwrecked on the Western coast grew into a vital part of Indian society. The apostle Thomas came to India during the first century and established the roots of Christianity in the Kerala area of the western coast. The first settlement of the Portuguese preceded the inquisition, but only by a generation. Then with the inquisition in Portugal came more Jews who joined what was already a strong Jewish community in Goa.
It was at that point, that history becomes vague. There already had been vibrant Jewish communities extending along the western coastline from Alibar to Goa to Kerala. Into this setting came the hidden Jews fleeing the inquisition, whose true identities were despised by both Jews and Catholics. The outgrowth of the first century church established by Thomas was another long established part of India's infrastructure in this region at the time. This was this area's mix of European settlers in the mid-1500s, which was followed by what locally is referred to as the Goa inquisition. So, the questions begin.
Thomas, one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus, was a Jew. His church would likely have reflected the strong Jewish roots of the first century church. The question remains whether the post-Constantine church of the fourth century, with its expunging of the original Jewish roots to the church, had made its way to India and reshaped the Thomas Church prior to the settlement of the Portuguese around 1500.
Today there remains little indigenous Jewish population in Goa. With the incredible level of Jewish activity along India's western coast; followed by the influx of the hidden Jews immigrating to Goa: where did all the Jews of that time go? What happened to the hidden Jews? The mystery has led one we spoke with to conclude that the Goa inquisition was all-encompassing and akin to its own holocaust. Without discounting the impact of the inquisition, historical patterns of Jewish persecution more likely support the premise of flight and relocation over the 250 years in question.
Lost Sheep of the House of Israel
Assuming that to be the case, what is the lineage of the fearful 88 year old Jewish Christian we met, who was raised as a Christian in Karachi and then settled in the Jewish quarter in Pune? What about the Jewish believer Yerush whose grandmother passed down a menora? With two of the families interviewed knowing the tribes of Israel of their heritage, is it not likely that we have made initial connections with lost sheep of the house of Israel?
This is proving to just be the start. Indeed, there will be more steps to our quest. The importance of these issues has spilled over to the Indian brethren who have helped and collaborated with us; and to you with your prayers. Likewise, the invitation has already been extended to return with the God's economy program. Our pastor/guide, as General Secretary for his denomination in India is eagerly embracing the mantle to make this happen, along sharing our next steps in discovering the anusim of India.
This has been a most unusual journey. Unlike most I've been on, we've been without any internet access until just before departing and were unable to give you any glimmers of our progress, or to ask for interim prayer support. Yet it's been enough.
Jesus said, "That which is hidden will be revealed and that which is covered will be made known." God's faithfulness with your prayers has already uncovered a great deal; indicating there to be much more. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart.
Gratefully in His service,
Morris Ruddick
Global Initiatives Foundation
http://www.strategic-initiatives.org/
Added note by Love For His People: Morris spoke recently at a conference in Charlotte, NC. Here is Part 1 of that message. (Parts 2 and 3 also available.) Morris Ruddick Speaks on the Jewish Gift
Prior to our departure I wrote that "in the natural, our task might be described as hunting for a needle in a haystack; or even perhaps taking a shot in the dark." We set out on this journey believing that the Lord would uniquely lead each step. Even more than we realized, what we posed to do, in the natural, within the time we scheduled was more than just ambitious, it probably wasn't even realistic.
Yet, due to being convinced this mission was born in the heart of God, in retrospect, the Lord has exceeded our expectations. Praying frequently and taking time to discern developments, we have had many wonderful surprises as the Lord has arranged the pieces of this mosaic in a way we could have never done on our own.
We have traveled to three cities within India: Pune, Goa and Mumbai. We've visited synagogues, ancient Jewish quarters, interviewed rabbis, pastors, nuns, heads of local ministries, a journalist, community leaders, Christian and Jewish-Christian lay people, along with Indian nationals of both Catholic and Jewish heritage. We've been exposed to the history of the Jews in India; reviewed local books with insights into the time of the inquisition in India and visited the ruins of what some feel may be India's original synagogue in Goa, destroyed during the inquisition.
As I share just a few of the highlights, let me say that some things we have sought have not yet materialized; while others have far surpassed what we expected. However, an incredible foundation has been laid for the "next steps." In it all, God has been faithful. We also are so very grateful for your undergirding in prayer, as indeed, through faith and patience we are inheriting the promises (Hebrews 6:12).
The Process
Closing the gap on a word received from God, such as the guidance for this mission, is and has been a process. Our broad guidance, to search for the lost sheep of the House of Israel in India, included a more specific task of seeking Indian nationals of Jewish heritage descended from ones who fled persecution during the inquisition.
On a personal basis, my Israeli Ethiopian partner for this mission has wanted to close the gap on his family origins. The book of Esther notes a connection between Ethiopia and India. My partner has long suspected that his Ethiopian lineage may be traced to roots in India.
The survival of the hidden Jews during inquisition generations was based on their true identities being carefully masked. Gaining the trust of their modern-day descendents bears the same challenge with a definite relationship-building need.
After flying out of Denver and a six-hour layover in Newark, we left on a 15 hour flight to Mumbai. A referral made after our arrival in India put us in touch with a local pastor, whose heart seemed to leap as we shared our mission. Our first meeting with him was delayed several hours first due to his young son getting sick and then his old car breaking down, as he traveled across town to meet with us. After on-site repairs, this brother finally picked us up.
We then found ourselves in Mumbai rush hour, with an extended snarl of traffic in the midst of a tangle of vehicles, going nowhere fast, all trying to out-honk one another, seemingly intent on adding layers to the delays of our inauspicious start. It was roughly 8:30 p.m. that first day before we finally sat down for a meal and were able to make plans with this gracious brother.
The next morning, having hired a car and driver, we still didn't know whether the turbulence at home for this pastor was going to allow him to accompany us to Pune. To our joy, he did and we headed off on the three hour drive through terrain that we heard looked much like Ethiopia.
The Quest Begins
Our visit in Pune began at one of the city's two synagogues. Since the terrorist attack on the Jewish Chabad Center in Mumbai in 2008, entrance is screened and synagogues are guarded by armed Army security. Having called ahead of time, we were warmly welcomed by the rabbi. He explained that he had an active congregation of about 50 families, since most of the Jewish population in Pune had made aliyah, immigration to Israel, almost 50 years prior. This synagogue was on a street aptly named "Israel Lane" in the center of Pune's original Jewish neighborhood.
Our next visit was with a Jewish believer whose roots she could trace back to her Jewish grandfather in Karachi before the Indian/Pakistani partition. After her grandmother died, her grandfather was unable to give proper care to his nine children, so he put them in an orphanage where they were raised as Christians.
She called her cousin who soon joined us with her 88 year old father. As one of the children raised in the Karachi orphanage; he interestingly now lived in Pune's Jewish neighborhood on "Israel Lane." This kindly old man told us the story of his childhood. Yet when my partner spoke to him about his "Jewish" roots, he seemed to react fearfully, saying "no, no I am a Christian." Yet his flat was in the center of the Jewish quarter in Pune.
Their family tradition held they were descended from the Tribe of Benjamin. We heard about a menora passed down from her grandmother. She also shared her lifelong dream of making aliyah to Israel.
The next morning, our local pastor and friend traveling with us, who had grown up in Pune, astutely asked a guard at a complex of flats if there were any Jewish families still living there. This inquiry led to our introducing ourselves to an 84 year old Jewish woman whose son happened to be visiting from Great Britain. They proudly told us of being descended from the tribe of Judah.
They also explained the origins of the Jews in India. After the destruction of the second temple, there had been a shipwreck off the coast of Alibar, north of Goa. The nine surviving families had developed a trade of pressed oil and became known as the Shanivar: the Saturday oil people. We concluded this unplanned warm exchange by singing the Shema with them. A meeting with her younger brother, who was not only one of the former presidents of Pune's two synagogues, but a respected community leader in the city.
This man was a recently retired professor, as well as having been an Air Force pilot for India years prior. He and his Indian-Jewish wife, a double-certified MD, retained a role and status in the upper strata of Indian society. While strongly Jewish in their identities, their roots were clearly as Indian citizens, with no desire to make aliyah.
Going for More Clues
With strong indications that the area of Goa would hold clues to the answers we sought, we left Pune and headed for Goa. The Portuguese settlement at Goa is reputed to be the original locale where those fleeing to India from the Portuguese inquisition had come.
Our driver, who I glibly described as having an Esther anointing ("if I perish, I perish"), expertly navigated our 12 hour drive to Goa through hair-pin curves over mountain passes with 1500 foot drop-offs at speeds that defied gravity, passing trucks and other cars on curves with a bravado that we are glad is now just a memory. The arid hills around Pune gave way to a more tropical environment with monkeys, ox carts and water buffalo adding to the uniquely colored lorries, cars and three-wheeled motor-scooter taxis which were sprinkled along the route.
One of our first meetings in Goa was at a convent. Having dropped our bags at Goa's YMCA, we left to investigate Catholic resources about those we were seeking. Our drive was interrupted as we heard a whine in the engine indicating a bad belt. Within a few minutes we were stranded. Gratefully, instead of this happening at 11 p.m. the night before on a remote mountain road, it happened in front of a car dealership.
Unexpected Rescue
With the driver working on getting our vehicle back into working order, we were then "rescued" by a cheerful nun in a white habit, who arrived in a taxi to pick us up. The five nuns who manage the convent, along with a local kindergarten of 200, greeted us warmly. Our time yielded no tangible clues, but we left with the sense that the sister in charge would be back in touch after making inquiries.
Our Goa meetings concluded the next day with us being taken to an ancient ruin in Old Goa by a Norwegian brother who is married to an Indian national and has lived in India the last 11 years. He operates the local Goa Chamber of Commerce and also has an outreach to both Indian gypsies and the many Israeli soldiers who frequent Goa after concluding their army service. He reflected a deep passion for Goa inquisition history and shared in our desire to discover the hidden or crypto-Jews.
He was particularly keen about my partner's Ethiopian roots. The ancient ruin we visited, that many feel once was a synagogue in Old Goa, includes Ethiopian Orthodox symbols.
Discerning the Pivotal Questions
Having authored three texts on research-based planning, I know there is a stage in any investigation in which the insights gleaned begin to uncover more pivotal questions. From all the input received to this point, more questions are starting to arise. Jewish history is indelibly entwined into Indian history. The Jews shipwrecked on the Western coast grew into a vital part of Indian society. The apostle Thomas came to India during the first century and established the roots of Christianity in the Kerala area of the western coast. The first settlement of the Portuguese preceded the inquisition, but only by a generation. Then with the inquisition in Portugal came more Jews who joined what was already a strong Jewish community in Goa.
It was at that point, that history becomes vague. There already had been vibrant Jewish communities extending along the western coastline from Alibar to Goa to Kerala. Into this setting came the hidden Jews fleeing the inquisition, whose true identities were despised by both Jews and Catholics. The outgrowth of the first century church established by Thomas was another long established part of India's infrastructure in this region at the time. This was this area's mix of European settlers in the mid-1500s, which was followed by what locally is referred to as the Goa inquisition. So, the questions begin.
Thomas, one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus, was a Jew. His church would likely have reflected the strong Jewish roots of the first century church. The question remains whether the post-Constantine church of the fourth century, with its expunging of the original Jewish roots to the church, had made its way to India and reshaped the Thomas Church prior to the settlement of the Portuguese around 1500.
Today there remains little indigenous Jewish population in Goa. With the incredible level of Jewish activity along India's western coast; followed by the influx of the hidden Jews immigrating to Goa: where did all the Jews of that time go? What happened to the hidden Jews? The mystery has led one we spoke with to conclude that the Goa inquisition was all-encompassing and akin to its own holocaust. Without discounting the impact of the inquisition, historical patterns of Jewish persecution more likely support the premise of flight and relocation over the 250 years in question.
Lost Sheep of the House of Israel
Assuming that to be the case, what is the lineage of the fearful 88 year old Jewish Christian we met, who was raised as a Christian in Karachi and then settled in the Jewish quarter in Pune? What about the Jewish believer Yerush whose grandmother passed down a menora? With two of the families interviewed knowing the tribes of Israel of their heritage, is it not likely that we have made initial connections with lost sheep of the house of Israel?
This is proving to just be the start. Indeed, there will be more steps to our quest. The importance of these issues has spilled over to the Indian brethren who have helped and collaborated with us; and to you with your prayers. Likewise, the invitation has already been extended to return with the God's economy program. Our pastor/guide, as General Secretary for his denomination in India is eagerly embracing the mantle to make this happen, along sharing our next steps in discovering the anusim of India.
This has been a most unusual journey. Unlike most I've been on, we've been without any internet access until just before departing and were unable to give you any glimmers of our progress, or to ask for interim prayer support. Yet it's been enough.
Jesus said, "That which is hidden will be revealed and that which is covered will be made known." God's faithfulness with your prayers has already uncovered a great deal; indicating there to be much more. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart.
Gratefully in His service,
Morris Ruddick
Global Initiatives Foundation
http://www.strategic-initiatives.org/
Added note by Love For His People: Morris spoke recently at a conference in Charlotte, NC. Here is Part 1 of that message. (Parts 2 and 3 also available.) Morris Ruddick Speaks on the Jewish Gift
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Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA