Re: [ KnanayaNews.com ] History of Endogamy-a research
kj philip
From: alex esthappan <aesth...@yahoo.com>
To: ameri...@googlegroups.com; ameri...@gmail.com; knanay...@yahoogroups.com; kna...@yahoogroups.com; Joe Thomas <joeth...@yahoo.com>
Cc: joeth...@yahoo.com; abya...@hotmail.com; KYAA...@yahoo.com; marm...@yahoo.com; mana...@gmail.com
Sent: Mon, 6 December, 2010 8:18:30 AM
Subject: [ KnanayaNews.com ] History of Endogamy-a research
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I am not aware of anybody
who opposes endogamous marriages within the same group, race, ethnicity,
etc. That is not the problem. The problem arises when we take our feelings toward
our own groups to extreme levels. As a
result, ideologies supporting slavery, racial segregation, caste system, apartheid,
exclusion, separation, etc. came to the world.
These dark ideologies were defeated and replaced by the ideals of human
equality, brotherhood, love, inclusion, integration, democracy, liberty, etc. due
to the sacrifices of great souls like Jesus, Gandhi, Lincoln, Dr. King, etc. and through great
struggles of people.
Jewish customs and believes
at the time and before Jesus’ time have no relevance today. Even Jews do not practice those today. We should remember that Old Testament ideals
were replaced by the New Testament ideals. The problem with Knanaya
practice of endogamy is that we want to practice it at extreme levels as at the
time of Old Testament. That is why we
insist to exclude our adopted children, our non-endogamous brethren, and our
mixed children against the directives of the Church and current societal norms. What we need is a willingness to adjust our endogamy
practices to fit the New Testament and modern ideals. We need to start a new tradition of endogamy
based on inclusion instead of exclusion. As usual, Joe’s new research theories would not help Kna community to end its practice of endogamy at extreme levels. I hope Joe would do more research on Jesus and his teachings, instead of on Prophet Ezra and his teaching of racial intolerance.
Alex Kavumpurath --- On Sat, 12/4/10, Joe Thomas <joeth...@yahoo.com> wrote:
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kj philip
From: Cyril Abraham <cyril....@yahoo.ca>
To: Knanaya Forum <Knanay...@yahoogroups.com>; KnaGroup <kna...@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sun, 5 December, 2010 8:13:03 PM
Subject: Re: [ KnanayaNews.com ] History of Endogamy-a research
Subject: [ KnanayaNews.com ] History of Endogamy-a research [1 Attachment]
The History of Endogamy
I have heard some comments from people that endogamy is something a bunch of Knanites cooked up for their convenience. I get the feeling that, unfortunately, many more may harbor that ignorant notion. I would like to present my research on this topic that will give the readers a deeper understanding that the endogamy of Knanites has its origin in Jewish history.
Dr. Michael Satlow, famous Jewish historian and professor at Brown University, describes in great detail the practice of endogamy among ancient Jews in chapter 6 of his book "Jewish Marriages in Antiquity".
Dr. Satlow states that endogamy goes back to Biblical period. Marriages of Abram with Sarai, Isaac with Rebekkha, Jacob with Rachel and then Leah are good examples of the endogamy. Later Biblical writers like Deuteronomist endorsed endogamy while condemning exogamy. The endogamous marriages continued in Judea all the way until 586 BCE when Assyrians invaded Judea, destroyed the temple and exiled a large number of Jews to Babylon.
While living in exile in Babylon, the Jews from Judea took a strict oath of endogamy because they believed that, to reach God's kingdom after judgment day "the chosen people of God should maintain purity not only ritually and morally, but also biologically" (Satlow-pg 141). This, my friends, was the religious and spiritual basis for endogamy!
The exiled Jews in Babylon remained endogamous and anyone who mixed with Assyrians was removed from the community. Dr. Satlow writes in very touching details how the community performed last rituals and then placed the belongings of the ones who left the community at the main gate of their settlement in Babylon. In 539 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus defeated the Assyrians and conquered Babylon. King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Judea to rebuild the temple and appointed Sheshbazzar, a Jew, as the governor of Judea. Under Zerubbabel, the next Jewish governor of Judea, some 50,000 people returned to Judea and the rest stayed back in Babylon. The temple was completed in 515BCE.
In 458 BCE Prophet Ezra, a descendant of Aaron the head priest, left Babylon to Judea accompanied by several thousand Jews. Prophet Ezra, a strong believer of the spiritual basis of endogamy, was shocked to see that some Jews left behind in Judea had intermarried from other ethnicity. He asserted that the intermarried people are not eligible to be part of the temple and enforced strict endogamy by maintaining genealogical records in the temple. Please note that it was to Prophet Ezra's tomb that the Knanaya forefathers went to pray and get a blessing before leaving Babylon to India. Dr. David Boer, in his book "The Early Church", calls these endogamous Jews as Hebrew Jews the exogamous Jews as Hellenist Jews.
The strictly endogamous Hebrew Jews of Judea continued to be in power and in control of the temple until Herod was appointed as the governor and later the king of Judea by Romans. Herod's father Antiparter, hired as an officer by Roman military, was an Idumaean and mother was an Arab. Herod married a Jewish woman and had children from that Jewish wife. Historians say that Herod's intent in marrying a Jew was to legitimize his reign as the king of Judea and pass the kingdom of Judea to his descendants. Herod's appointment as the king of Judea and his subsequent actions, as a Roman agent, was not acceptable to Hebrew Jews. They resisted him and defied his authority over them. In his rage, Herod used military force to remove the genealogical records from the temple and burned them. He then imprisoned and killed most of the Hebrew Jewish high priests and replaced them with Hellenist Jews and then systematically dismantled the endogamous society of Hebrew Jews. Endogamy as a mainstream way of life ended with the loss of power of Hebrew Jewish high priests.
Now enters Jesus to the scene. Jesus belonged to the Tribe of Judah with his lineage traced back to Abraham, through David, Jacob and Isaac. All the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the Babylonian exile fourteen generations, and from the Babylonian exile to the Christ another fourteen generations. (Please refer to Gospels of Matthew 1:1-17and Luke 3:23-38 to learn about the Genealogy of Jesus). Jesus even at an early age questioned the legitimacy and practices these Hellenist high priests. Jesus and all disciples of were Hebrew Jews according to Dr. Boer whom the Hellenist high priests considered as a challenge.
Dr. Robert Eisenman is a professor at California State University of Long Beach, an accomplished author, and an expert on early Judeo-Christians. In his book "James the Brother of Jesus", he writes vividly about the resistance put up to Herod's orders by those among the Hebrew Jews who followed the Mosaic Law of righteousness (the Zealots). According to Dr. Eisenman the Hebrew word for Zealots is "Kanna'im". Dr. Eisenman writes, "The idea of pollution in the camp of Israel in the wilderness as related to mixing with foreigners has important ramifications in the Qumran document and is the focus of Zealot (Kanna'im) ethos" (pg 32). The endogamous Hebrew Jews who became the Zealots were called Kanna'im and they fought against the Roman rule and the Hellenist Jewish priest hierarchy.
The 11th disciple of Jesus is the apostle called Simon Zelotes or Simon the Zealot. To distinguish him from Simon Peter, he is called Kananaios, or Kananites (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:18), and in the list of apostles in Luke 6:15, repeated in Acts 1:13, Zelotes, the "Zealot". Both titles derive from the Hebrew word qana, meaning The Zealous, though Jerome and others mistook the word to signify the apostle was from the town of Cana (in which case his epithet would have been "Kanaios") or even from the region of Canaan. As such, the translation of the word as "the Cananite" or "the Canaanite" is purely traditional and without contemporary extra-canonic parallel.
Dr. Robert Eisenman has pointed out contemporary Talmudic references to Zealots as Kanna'im "but not really as a group — rather as avenging priests in the Temple". (Eisenman's broader conclusion is that the zealot element in the original apostle group was disguised, erased and written over during later years by Roman historians to make it support the assimilative Pauline Christianity of the Gentiles.)
The Kanna'im (Zealots) who became Christians was led by James the brother of Jesus who was the leader of the Jerusalem church. (The Roman Catholic Church officially considers James as the cousin of Jesus). Dr. Boer writes, "The Hebrew Character of the Jerusalem church was so strong that on later occasion even Peter feared to eat with Gentile Christians in Antioch when brethren from Church in Jerusalem came to visit there (Gal. 2:11-14)" (pg 20).
In 66 AD, Saint James, the leader of Jerusalem church of Hebrew Christians, was killed by Romans and the Kanna'im moved east of the River Jordan into the Persian Empire to escape further persecution from Romans.
Rev. Dr. Kollaparambil writes in his book "Babylonian Origin of Southists" about a town called "Kynai" that is recorded in page 30 of the "Atlas of the Early Christian World" available in the Pontifical Oriental Institute at Rome. This town on the banks of River Tigris was a center of Christian activity in the ancient Persian Empire and was close in proximity to ancient towns like Ezra (where Prophet Ezra was buried) and Uraha (from where Mar Joseph left to accompany Thomas of Kannai). It is possible that this town got its name from the Kanna'im (zealots) settling down there after they left Jerusalem and Thomas of Kannai a descendant of the Kanna'im.
The map of Arabia in 600 AD (attached) shows where some of the displaced Jewish tribes lived after the fall of Jerusalem. Tribe Kinanah (Banu Kinanah) lived south west of Arabian Peninsula at the Red Sea coast. It is also possible some of our forefathers came from this region.
We all know the fact that Knanaya community is built on the cornerstone of endogamy which was an important characteristic of Kanna'im. In a speech to the Knanaya Association of Southern California, Dr. Robert Eisenman applauded our practice of endogamy stating that we have managed to maintain a bloodline what most other Hebrew Christians and Jews in the Middle-East has lost over the years.
Friends, endogamy has been under attack starting biblical times and is still under attack. Although, most of the young Knanaya generation may not identify with the spiritual and religious overtones of endogamy, there are several other advantages to endogamous marriages. In US, a country with 50% divorce rate, spurned by fierce individualism, endogamous marriages can bring in the much needed stability provided by extended family's support, close knit community, common religion, and core values. I recommend the youth to read books written by Dr. Neal Clark Warren, a Psychologist and Family Therapist who recommends setting up the foundations of a new family on the above pillars.
Jose Thomas Vadasserikunnel
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joseph saiju
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kj philip
Please see what is ‘knanaya’ and its law.
A knanite emerges only by birth. Knanites, by tradition, are the endogamous descendants of Kinai Thoma or any member of his
team who accompanied him to India. So to be a knanite, one has to be born out
of an endogamous relation. Usually endogamy alone will produce descendants who
are endogamous/ knannites. It is by following the tradition of endogamy
that ‘knanaya’ tries to produce endogamous descendants for its growth and
existence. One who
goes exogamous cannot produce knanites out of it. So, 'knanaya' cannot
exist and grow without expulsion of those who marry from outside. Though a knanite remains to be knanite in
spite of his marrying a non-knanite, as per the knanaya tradition, he will
not be treated as a part of that Community from the moment he marries
a non-knanite! His spouse and children can never become a
knanite. Knanaya law is nothing other than its tradition of
endogamy combined with the exclusion of those who opt exogamy. So as per the law of knanaya, ‘expulsion’
of those who break the fundamentals of knanaya, is not a social evil! If a knanite thinks that ‘expulsion’ is a
social evil, what he has to do is to work
against the existence/ maintenance of the knanaya community and not for ‘inclusion’ of the
exogamists! He should also
work for amalgamation the knanaya parishes and dioceses. No body should be
allowed to use the name ‘knanaya’ because it loses
its meaning after ‘inclusion’ of a ‘KANA’ family. He could also marry and go out of it.
His children also could be prompted to do so! Philip Nedumchira
From: joseph saiju <sai...@gmail.com>
To: knanay...@googlegroups.com
Cc: knanay...@yahoogroups.com; kna...@yahoogroups.com; ameri...@googlegroups.com; ameri...@gmail.com; joeth...@yahoo.com
Sent: Fri, 10 December, 2010 12:44:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Knanaya Family] Re: [ KnanayaNews.com ] History of Endogamy-a research