Chanukah in Cochin

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As we drove around Cochin, we saw many run-down, landmark 18th-century houses being converted into hotels. Tourism---i.e., globalization--is booming here in Kerala. We've seen more Western people in this small town than anywhere else in India.

On various street-poles, we saw professionally-printed signs announcing "Hanukkah Festival, lighting of candles" at something called the Koder House. Our guide pointed the way, and we stopped in.

We again experienced the "around the world" part of "Jews around the world."

It was a lovely three-story building that had once been the home of Samuel Koder, an influential 17th-century Jewish merchant. Each generation had passed the home down to their descendants.

We were welcomed and given a tour of the lovely, slightly worn place. The 200-year-old engraved Belgian windows mixed easily with the Chinese floor tile and European ceilings that world-traveler Koder had bought for the house. Only three years ago an Indian couple bought the place; with the Koder family's blessing, they had turned it into a guesthouse, renovating the plumbing and electricity while keeping the antique feel of the place.

We chatted with an affable Israeli eating at a corner table. The San Francisco-born Chaim Wiseman invited us back for candle-lighting that night (it was the fourth of Chanukah's 8 nights), and we gladly accepted.

That evening, we showed up at 7. A menorah was prepared in the center of the dining room. A dozen tourists were eating a special "Jewish menu" dinner based on Susan Koder's family recipes (it tasted like spicy Indian food to me). At 7:45 Mr. Wiseman walked in, strode to the menorah, gathered us together, and about 20 people somehow materialized to recite candle-lighting blessings and sing traditional songs. It was heart-warming, a little kitsch, slightly rote, and deeply touching all at once.

That very night, Jews around the world were singing those same songs and lighting those same candles. And here in Cochin, India, on the fourth night of Chanukah, we again experienced the "around the world" part of "Jews around the world." It's the same feeling I get on Passover, when the world's Jews sit down to eat, drink, and tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

I don't believe in God, and I don't believe in the divine miracle that Chanukah supposedly commemorates. But I observe the holiday every year, because that's what Jews do, and I'm Jewish. I eat Jewish foods, speak a Jewish language, and know a Jewish history. Nothing wrong with that. You don't need to believe in God to be nourished by that.

In India, millions of Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims have died since 1947 because people didn't know how to celebrate their culture without defending their God from those who didn't believe in him/her/it/them. If God is so great, surely such protection is unnecessary.

All we need to do is what humans of every single belief have done for thousands of years--light candles in the middle of winter, when we all need a little more light and warmth.