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Dr. Johannes Corley, of Rutgers University, spoke about the Jews of India at Temple Beth-El in Somerset Jan. 18.

Corley is the coordinator of the residue and analytical chemistry for the IR-4 Project at Rutgers University.

Corley said Jews of India have a rich culture that dates back hundreds of years. He said the three types of Jews in India are: the Cochin who arrived 1,500 years ago, the Iraqi Jews who primarily came from the Middle East 300 to 400 years ago, and the Bene Israel.

"Each of these communities had their own synagogue," Corley said.

One thing that all three types of Jews had in common was that their main trading component was oil, he said.

Corley said Jews arrived in India because they were fleeing persecution in Babylonia, then they went to Egypt, and then went further south, took a boat, and made their way to India.

"Somehow, we're not sure when or where they took a boat, but all the stories told was they took a boat and it shipwrecked," he said.

Only 14 -- seven men and seven women -- survived the shipwreck.

He said when the Cochin Jews began to settle in India, families took the last names of the villages that they lived in.

"My last name is Corley, meaning my ancestors come from the village Corley," he said.

When Jews first came to India they forgot almost everything about Judaism, Corley said.

"In fact, Judaism didn't exist in those days, in those days they were called Hebrews," he said.

However, some of the Cochin Jews were religious, he said.

"We kept the Sabbath; we did not go out on the Sabbath," Corley said. "We circumcised our male boys on the eighth day. We kept the Passover."

Corley said they celebrated Rosh Hashanah, but called it Navid Son, which meant the "new cycle". Also, Hanukkah didn't exist.

"They had their own ritual slaughterers, but they never ate beef," he said.

The majority of the Jews in India are the native ones, or the Bene Israel, he said.

Corley said ancient stories said the Bene Israel were Jews of India and assimilated very little.

Corley said the largest synagogue in India, the Magen David Synagogue, is in Mumbai, and was built by the Baghdadi Jews; the oldest Orthodox shul in India is Shaar Harahamin.

"The relationship between the Cochin Jews and the Bene Israel was very good," Corley said.

The Bene Israel built Sukkahs using wood and coconut leaves, he said.

Also, the Bene Israel koshered their dishes for Passover and for Hanukkah, instead of lighting the shamash first on the menorah, they lit it last, he said.

One major part of the Bene Israel culture was getting married, he said. The bride wears green the night before the wedding, which symbolizes fertility, Corley said. Also, at each Bene Israel wedding, the bride wears gold, which was passed down from mother to daughter. The groomsmen bring all of the gifts and gold to the bride prior to the wedding and if he accepts them, they get married, Corley said. Also, at the wedding the bride and groom are showered with rice and all of the women wear red.

Anti-Semitism never existed in India, Corley said. "Never till recently were Jews targeted there," he said, referring to the November attacks in Mumbai, which were "a total shock" to the Bene Israel.

Corley said growing up in Bombay was very similar to growing up in New York. Corley went to Catholic school as a young adult, however that never stopped him from being Jewish, he said.

"We don't talk about religion, because people don't know what the Jewish religion is in India," he said. "Culturally, we keep our Jewish religious beliefs, but at the same time we have adopted a lot of Indian tradition."

Today, there are a lot more western Jewish customs and traditions observed in India, he said.

"We belong to all parts of society," he said. "The only thing we haven't attained is prime minister."

Norma Fischler, of Somerset, said Corley gave them a taste and a sense of what the Jewish community in India is truly like.

"I thought the talk was very enlightening," Elliott Sacks, of Somerset, said.

Sacks said he learned a great deal of history about the Jews of India and how it relates to Judaism that we observe in America today.