The Maharaja’s Speech – The Question of Dual Loyalty

It was an extraordinary event, in an extraordinary location with a message that spanned thousands of years. It resonates today in a world or rising antisemitism and accusations of Jewish dual loyalty.

February 3, 2025, a historical marker, was presented in the Royal Cochin (India) Family Kalikotta Palace in Kochi, Kerala. The 2’x3’ foot brass marker mounted on rosewood is sited below the portrait of His Highness, Rama Varma Pareekshith Thampuran, the Last Maharaja of Cochin.

Presented by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation and Dr. Kenneth X. Robbins, M.D., the large gleaming marker in English and Hebrew is a gift to the Royal Family honoring the Maharaja. Hundreds attended.

In 1949, the Maharaja went to the Paredesi Synagogue in Kerala to deliver a very important speech. It was just four years since the dark horror of the Holocaust had closed. It was only one year since Israel had been reborn. Cochin, India had a long history of providing refuge for Jews and sheltering them from bigotry and blind prejudice.

Antisemitic voices, muted, spoke evil in the shadows around the world with evil questioning Jewish loyalty, Jewish patriotism, whispering Jews had dual loyalty.

The historical marker is titled:

The Speech of the Maharaja of Cochin Paradesi Synagogue 1949

The Maharaja spoke about the Jews of Cochin. Jewish presence in Cochin is believed to date from Jewish seafaring merchants of King Solomon’s reign. Jewish permanent roots in Cochin can be documented to the ninth century. The Maharaja spoke about the Jews of Cochin. The speech had a Jewish universality that traced back to the 6^th century B.C. admonitions of the Prophet Jeremiah.

The Marker Text:

“…A glorious chapter of unbroken love and affection on the one hand, and deep devotion and loyalty on the other, between the Maharajas of Cochin and their Jewish subjects…. The memory of your early association with this country has always been pleasant. Your people began to visit this coast as early as the days of King Solomon. In the early centuries of the Christian era, some of them left their hearts and homes and settled in Cochin. The people of Cochin welcomed you with open arms, and the Ruling Family protected you from plunder and persecution. My grandmother used to tell us of the very pleasant hours she and the other princesses of her age spent in the company of your womenfolk who usually gathered at the palace in the afternoon. This temple of historic importance is a standing monument of religious tolerance and hospitality that has prevailed here since time immemorial. I am glad to say no other people deserved such treatment better. You have, on occasions, more than one shown your unflinching loyalty to the King and country that adopted you and gave you shelter. I assure you that all legitimate interests of the minorities shall be scrupulously safeguarded…

The Prophet Jeremiah instructed the Jews in Jeremiah 29:7

(Hebrew and English)

“Seek the prosperity of the city to which I have sent you as exiles. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

With sincere appreciation to His Highness, Rama Varma Pareekshith Thampuran, the Last Maharaja of Cochin.

Hebrew and English Psalm 72 of King David, verses 15-17

Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long. May grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. May the crops flourish like Lebanon and thrive like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. Then all nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.”

Julius Rosenwald and Dr. Booker T. Washington

Julius Rosenwald, a very wealthy, early 20^th century Jewish philanthropist, did more to open the doors of educational American opportunity and equality to Black Americans than anyone ever had.

Buried deep within his personal papers, housed at the University of Chicago, is his statement of purpose. It resonates the Prophet Jeremiah.

Rosenwald’s personal statement is often overlooked because it does not fit with the P.C. perception of Jewish motivation. It is the why, Rosenwald, as a Jew, felt it so necessary to do what he did and why he would spend his enormous fortune doing it.

“This matter of civic duty looms larger than any one point of American Jewish life. It is the small cloud upon the horizon which portends danger for the future. I do not believe that economic, social, racial or cultural considerations will ever play a large role in American antisemitism. Social discrimination little interests the best Jews and is laughed at by the best non-Jews. But I take it, if the Jew fails in the discharge of his civic duty, he does not demonstrate to the nation that it acted wisely when it gave the Jew shelter and liberty and freedom. The Jew must be a pillar of civic well-being and moral capacity. He must be the one who in in every crisis will be right, militant for the right, the ethical, the spiritual, the best in national life. If he falls short of this standard, he will himself have brought into being the monster which will one day destroy him and unseat him from his position of safety in America… If distrust grows, nothing can save us. We can only save ourselves by creating a healthy atmosphere – both within our own group and on the outside – of trust and confidence in our integrity and our motives. It may not be an easy path to go; but it will be a path of safety and the assurance of safety to ourselves and to those who come after.

“The Jew need not be lost in America. He needs but demonstrate his usefulness in the highest sense of the term, and America will save him for himself.

“If the American Jew will be but true to his traditional powers for righteousness, if he be faithful to the best traditions of his past, and ready to do his best for this land of his adoption and nativity, he can play a big role in the ethicalization of public life in this country.”

Louis Brandeis

Louis Brandeis, a contemporary of Julius Rosenwald was the first Jewish justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. He was an ardent Zionist.

Brandeis did not see a conflict between being an American and being a Zionist.  Brandeis did not see a conflict with being an American of Irish Heritage, Hispanic Heritage, or any heritage who also worked to help better their heritage countrymen.

Brandeis addressed the antisemite’s hypocritical distinction about singling out the Jew for accusations of dual loyalty.

Brandeis wrote:

“Let no American imagine that Zionism is inconsistent with Patriotism, Multiple loyalties are objectionable only if they are inconsistent. A man is a better citizen of the United States for also being a loyal citizen of his state…every American Jew who aids in advancing the Jewish settlement in Palestine…will likewise be a better man and a better American for doing so. There is no inconsistency between loyalty to America and loyalty to Jewry.”

The Maharaja’s Speech is prescient, ancient and contemporary.

As was expressed in the text of the Maharaja’s Speech marker, it is with sincere respect, and humble appreciation to the Cochin Royal Family and the Cochin Royal Family Heritage and Historical Society we say thank you.

Video of the Dedication Program at the Palace.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mAGcwhomRd7ipKmFu7SpCCEQenS8BY2V/view?pli=1