The 'Jewish Gandhi' Of Cochin

A. B. Salem, born into the Paradesi Congregation of Jews in the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin (now part of the southern Indian state of Kerala), was a lawyer, labour union organizer, ardent Indian nationalist and political leader, Zionist and the man responsible for the mass aliyah or emigration of the Cochin Jews to Israel in the 1950s. However, he chose to stay back in his beloved state of Kerala.
Apart from being a towering leader of the Cochin Jewish community, Salem was a founder-member of the first Legislative Council in the Kingdom of Cochin from 1925 to 1931 and again from 1939 to 1945. A strong follower of the Gandhian principle of non-violent civil disobedience, he was a member of the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress which passed the resolution calling for complete independence from the British.
Salem is also remembered for his efforts to achieve ritual equality for a group of Jews who were kept apart from full participation in synagogue affairs for decades - based on their perceived low-born status and which was contrary to Jewish law. His personal diaries about life in Cochin and the aliyah are now with the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in Berkeley, California.

Bala Menon is a journalist/artist/and author. He began his career with India's premier English-language newspaper 'The Times of India', in Mumbai, and then worked as Deputy Editor at 'Times of Oman', the national daily of the Sultanate of Oman in Muscat. He was later Deputy Night Editor at 'Gulf news', the largest circulated English-language newspaper in the Middle East, published from Dubai. He has travelled widely in the Middle East and Europe and was until recently Editor-in-Chief at The Voice Media Group in Toronto, Canada. He has a popular blog - http://jewsofcochin.blogspot.com.Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pin and Certificate from the Canadian Parliament for Community Service.Best Editor award given by the Peel Regional Police.Rotary Club of Stoufville Certificate for Community Service.Twice awarded medals for 'Best Civic Affairs Reporting', Municipality of Muscat, Oman.Served multiple times as Juror for selection of winners in the Literary Category for the MARTYs Awards in Mississauga.Served on Discussion panels of the Mississauga Arts Council on publishing; and on Media Perspecives at the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.