Srilanka, Oct. 3 -- Every year, an article appears in either Israeli or Sri Lankan media detailing the elusive history of a historic synagogue in Sri Lanka. The stories whisper of a grand structure used by British Jewish servicemen during World War II, long before the modern Chabad House in Cinnamon Gardens was established in 2005. The truth is - the mansion (walauwa) belonging to a certain family was named The Synagogue, and this was widely exaggerated from one source to another, and the rumour just kept expanding.

Firstly, despite decades of speculation, no researcher ever successfully interviewed a member of such a congregation, and the identity of its supposed last rabbi or other clergy remains entirely unknown to the public. For y...