Judeo-Malayalam Tales

Judeo-Malayalam Tales

One Sabbath afternoon, while slipping to deep sleep in his house near the open door, great grandfather Haim had a wonderful dream about heaven. 

He was chased by some policemen. As he ran in fear, his cap flew off. He managed to grab the cap and squished it inside his pocket. He quickly took a diversion and jumped into a graveyard. There appeared an old man. 

The old man inquired the reason for Haim's fear. The old man looked behind Haim and said there's no one behind you. Quickly Haim turned back and realized that the old man was right.
 "What is your religion?" asked the old man. "I am a Jew", said Haim. The old man continued "Is it so..then where's your cap?". 

Haim pulled out his cap out of the pocket and wore it. The old man with affirmation took him in front of some closed rooms.As the rooms opened one by one, they saw everything that happened during the period of Jerusalem Temple and all that was happening in the heaven at that time. 

Then they heard some sawing sound from a place surrounded by huge walls. The old man explained, the diamond sheets to be used in the building of the Third Temple are being cut. It was cut by young girls who died before they reached their adolescence.

From there they moved towards the banks of Jordan river. Haim saw his old friend Murdai fishing in the river. Murdai had died in Cochin long ago. The great-grandfather Haim asked Murdai "How did u reach here?". Murdai replied, "wherever you die, you too will reach here". As he said this, the old man disappeared.

Suddenly, a mynah flew over Haims's head, a kind of mynah that was never seen before in Cochin. He caught hold of it and came back into the afternoon of Cochin Jew Town.  Holding this wondrous bird in his hands affectionately, Haim described the paradise he saw, to everyone.

Adapted from: 

Ruby of Cochin, An Indian Jewish women remembers, 1995

&

Remains of a Dream: The Jewish Saga of Kerala by Sreekala Sivasankaran