History of the Jews in Sri Lanka
Jews in Sri Lanka have had a presence on the island nation since at
least the 9th century. In
the 10th century, Abu Zeid
al Hasan, an ArabMuslim traveller from Siraf, Persia, stated that there were ‘a great number of Jews’ in Serendib, as Sri Lanka was known to the Arabs.[1]In the 12th century, Benjamin of
Tudela, a Sephardi
Jew (Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent) who was a medieval adventurer
from Navarre, Spain, reported that there were 3,000 Jews in Sri
Lanka.[2]
These early Jews in Sri Lanka either assimilated into the local population
over the centuries, or, upon the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 16th century, were forced to
abandon their faith and identity (leading to an assimilation in more recent
centuries) or slaughtered in an extension of the Portuguese
Inquisition.
Neither practising Jews, nor people who preserved a knowledge of being
descendants of Jews, appear to have survived from that early period, although
Jewish lineages may be present. Holders of the "de Fonseka" surname in Sri Lanka
may be the mixed descendants of "de
Fonseca" surnamed people, which is commonly associated with Sephardi Jewish
origins.[edit]Famous Jews in Sri
Lanka
The people listed below were Jews, or descendants of Jews, who migrated to
the island in the modern times, some of whom remained.
- Sir Sidney Abrahams, British born Chief Justice.
- Rhoda Miller de Silva, American born journalist and Communist (sister of Howard Fast).
- Jeanne Hoban Moonesinghe, British born journalist, Trade Unionist and Trotskyist (Jewish maternal grandfather)
- Edith Gyömrői Ludowyk, Hungarian-born psychoanalyst, feminist and historian of Buddhism.
- Ven Nyanaponika Thera, (Siegmund Feniger ) German-born Sri-Lanka-ordained TheravadaBuddhist monk, co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society
- Anne Ranasinghe, German-born poet.
- Hedi Stadlen Keuneman, Austrian born musician and Communist.
- Bella Sidney Woolf, British born author, writer of the first pocket guide book to Sri Lanka, wife of Wilfrid Thomas Southorn, sister of Leonard Woolf.
- Leonard Woolf, British born political theorist, author and civil servant, husband of Virginia Woolf.
- Gabriel Worms, German born planter, candidate for the Legislative Council of Ceylon, brother of Maurice Worms, nephew of Nathan Meyer Rothschild.
- Maurice Worms, German born planter, established Rothschild Estate in Sri Lanka, brought first Tea plants to Sri Lanka from China, brother of Gabriel Worms, nephew of Nathan Meyer Rothschild.[3]
