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{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Jewish Gandhi
| name = Dr. Abraham Barak Salem
| honorific_suffix = അബ്രഹാം ബാരാക് സേലം
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| birth_date = 1882
| birth_place = Jew Town, Kingdom of Cochin, British India
| death_date = 1967 (aged 85 yrs)
| death_place = [[Mattancherry]], [[Kochi]], [[Kerala]], India
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| burial_place = Paradesi Cemetery, Jew Town, Kochi
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| nationality = Indian
| citizenship = Indian
| education = Maharaja's College, Ernakulam
| alma_mater = Presidency College Madras, Chennai
| occupation = Lawyer<br>
Politician
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| known_for = Advocate, Municipal Chairman, Mattancherry,

Member of Legislative council, Cochin.

Executive Committee member of The Peoples of the Indian States Conference

Delegate to the Indian National Congress session at Lahore (1929)

First Labour Leader in Cochin.

Founder of Indo-Palestine Co.

Visited Palestine & Israel as the representative of the Cochin Jewish Community to fight for Aliya.

Vice-president of Malabar Jews association (1932-47).

Secretary of Cochin Zionist Association.
| notable_works = The Eternal Light (1929)
| style =
| spouse = Ruth Salem
| partner = 
| children = Malkah Salem

Mino Salem

Balpher Salem

Raymond Salem

Gamliel Salem
| parents = 
| mother = Belukka Salem
| father = Barrak Salem
| relatives = Avraham Salem (Grandfather)

Itzhak Salem (Cousin)

Japeth Salem
| family = Salem
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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2016}}
'''Abraham ben Barak Salem''' aka '''A.B Salem''' (''[[Malayalam]]''''': അബ്രഹാം ബാരാക് സേലം,''' ''[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]''''': אברהם ברק סאלם''') (1882–1967 d: 85 yrs) was an [[Indian nationalism|Indian nationalist]] and [[Zionist]],<ref>[http://www.easas.org/?q=panel39 PANEL 39: Nationalisms and their Impact in South Asia]{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} - European Association of South Asian Studies</ref> a lawyer and politician, and one of the most prominent [[Cochin Jews]] of the twentieth century. Popular by his epithet of '''Jewish Gandhi''', he was known as '''Salem Kocha''' to the resident jewish community of Cochin. A descendant of ''[[meshuchrarim]],''{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} he was the first Cochin Jew to become an attorney. He practised in Ernakulam, where he eventually used ''[[satyagraha]]'' to fight the discrimination among Jews against his people. An activist in the trade union and Indian national causes, he later was attracted to [[Zionism]]. After visiting Palestine in the 1930s, he later helped arrange the migration of most Cochin Jews to Israel by 1955. He stayed in Kochi for the remainder of his life.

==Early life==
Salem was born in 1882 to a Jewish family in [[Cochin]] ([[Kingdom of Cochin]]), then a [[princely state]] in [[British India]] and now part of the Indian state of [[Kerala]]. His family were regarded as ''[[meshuchrarim]]'', a [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word used, sometimes neutrally and sometimes with derogatory intent, to denote a [[manumission|manumitted]] slave or her descendants. The [[Paradesi Jews|Paradesi]] [foreign] Jews of Cochin had arrived there since the 16th-century following the expulsion of Jews from Spain. They discriminated against the ''meshuchrarim'' in their community who were relegated to a subordinate position in the [[Paradesi Synagogue]] in Cochin. Given the cultural differences between them, the Paradesi (or "White") Jews and the older communities of Malabari Jews also maintained ethnic distinctions for centuries, which became associated historically with differences in skin colour.

Brought up by his mother, Salem attended the [[Maharaja's College, Ernakulam|Maharaja's College]] in [[Ernakulam]]. He moved to [[Chennai]] to earn his [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree, becoming the first university graduate among the ''meshuchrarim''.<ref>Katz 2000:67</ref> Whilst in Chennai he also earned his law degree, the first Jew from Cochin to do so,<ref name="shenoy">[http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/sep/08flip.htm T. V. R. Shenoy, "The Jewish Gandhi and Barack Obama"], ''Rediff,'' 8 September 2008</ref> before returning to practice as a lawyer in the Cochin Chief Court in [[Ernakulam]].

==Activism==
The Malabari Jews had seven places of worship; the White Jews had one, the [[Paradesi Synagogue]], which for centuries had been barred to those whom they considered impure. The contemporary historian Edna Fernandes calls it "a bastion of white purity".<ref>Fernandes 2008:155</ref> The White Jews practiced [[endogamous]] marriage, which excluded both the ''meshuchrarim'' and Malabari Jews (who also practiced endogamy that excluded the other groups). The ''meshuchrarim'' had to sit in the back of the synagogue or outside. The separation resembled Indian discrimination against lower castes, which was sometimes repeated in [[Christianity in India|Christian churches in India]].

Salem fought against this discrimination by boycotting the synagogue for a time. He used ''[[satyagraha]]'' (or non-violent protest) as a means of combating discrimination within the community. This led some people to later refer to him as the "Jewish [[Gandhi]]".<ref>[http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-kochi-dream-died-in-mumbai/397831/0 "A Kochi dream died in Mumbai"], ''Indian Express,'' 13 December 2008</ref> By the mid-1930s, Mandelbaum reported that many of the old taboos had fallen, reflecting wider changes in Indian society as well.<ref>Fernandes 2008:164</ref>

Salem served in the Legislative Council in the [[princely state]] of Cochin from 1925 to 1931 and again from 1939 to 1945. A supporter of the nascent [[trade union]] movement in Kerala and an active Indian [[nationalist]], at the end of 1929 he attended the Lahore session of the [[Indian National Congress]]. It passed a resolution calling for complete independence from the [[British Raj|Raj]].<ref name="shenoy" />

After visiting Palestine in 1933, Salem was attracted to the Zionist cause. After Indian independence, he worked to promote [[aliyah]] to [[Israel]] among the Cochin Jews. In 1953, he visited Israel to negotiate on behalf of Indian Jews who wanted to migrate. This also helped to diminish the divisions among the Cochin Jews.<ref>Chiriyankandath 2008:21</ref> After emigration they were all considered foreigners to Israel, and many struggled to assimilate.

Although most of Cochin's ancient Jewish community eventually left for Israel by 1955 (and, in the case of many White Jews, for North America and England), Salem lived in Cochin until his death in 1967. He was buried in the White Jewish cemetery in Jew Town in Cochin.

== Personal life ==
Salem was married to Ruth Salem in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]]. His five children, now deceased, were: sons Raymond, a lawyer, and Balfour and Gamliel, both engineers, with Gamliel earning a Master’s Degree at Cornell University in New York; and daughters Malka and Venetia, both gynecologists. Although they got documents to migrate to Israel, Salem and his family chose to stay back in Kerala.

In 1929, Salem wrote '''''The Eternal Light,''''' a book in English about the architecture and customs of the Paradesi Synagogue. In the book, he referred obliquely to the discrimination faced by Brown Jews, using Biblical verses. Salem was a prolific diarist and 21 volumes of his diaries, from the 1920s to the mid-1950s, are in the '''The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art''' and Life at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].

Speaking of his ties to Cochin, Salem wrote:

''“The Jews of Cochin are the most loyal citizens and…offer special prayers to bless, preserve, guard, assist and exalt the Raja of Cochin and His Royal Family…''

''in spite of the tenacious, age-long fond longing to return to Jerusalem.”''

Just opposite to the Paradesi synagogue, the third house was later owned by Salem. There near the outer wall existed “'''Salem’s looking glass''',” his own concept where he would put English newspaper cuttings on various topics so that interested people could have a talk or discussion with him. Salem, who died in 1967, is buried in the Paradesi Synagogue cemetery.

==Honours==
*The road adjacent to the White Jewish Cemetery in Kochi was named after Salem.<ref name="shenoy" />
*The largest open ground in Cochin was once known as Salem Maidan, in recognition of Salem’s powerful public speaking skills in [[Malayalam]], the language of [[Kerala]]
*As a tribute to him there is a small resting hub for laborers in the next street owned by Center of Indian Trade Union.
*His former home is a popular tourist destination for travelers visiting the Jew Town in [[Mattancherry]].

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*James Chiriyankandath (2008). "Nationalism, religion and community: A. B. Salem, the politics of identity and the disappearance of Cochin Jewry", ''Journal of Global History'', 3, pp 21–42, {{doi|10.1017/S1740022808002428}}
*Edna Fernandes. ''The Last Jews of Kerala''. Portobello Books, 2008.
*{{cite book |title=Who are the Jews of India? |last=Katz |first=Nathan |year=2000 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, CA }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salem, Abraham Barak}}
[[Category:Cochin Jews]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Kerala]]
[[Category:Jewish anti-racism activists]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kochi]]
[[Category:Indian Zionists]]
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian nationalists]]
[[Category:Maharaja's College, Ernakulam alumni]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala]]
[[Category:People of the Kingdom of Cochin]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Jewish Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Jewish trade unionists]]
[[Category:Indian trade unionists]]
[[Category:Indian diarists]]

Abraham Barak Salem - Revision history

->BattyBot at 04:54, 9 December 2021