Welcome to the Jews of India Community
This is a personal project that I started to educate and bring awareness to more people on the diversity of the Jewish Diaspora. Most people think of Jews as Caucasian-looking individuals, i.e. Ashkenazi heritage. Today, over 20% of Jews in the world hail from Africa, Asia, South America, India, and non-European locals. I encourage you to click on the other tabs to learn more about the Jews of India in articles, books, and videos. Check out the Artists’ section, which highlights interesting, talented Indian Jews around the world.
Hi, my name is Dakotta J. K. Alex or you may call me my Hebrew name, Ya’akov-Mál’akhî.
I am writer and entrepreneur born in Houston, Texas. Ethnically from India, I am of Cochin or Malabar Jewish descent.
Academically I was poised with a difficult decision when choosing what area to specialize in for higher education. I ended up choosing seminary as opposed to rabbinical school and began my Master’s of Divinity (M.Div). This intense program took 5 years and spanned 20 countries. I was able to study and take courses at the best institutions (The Claremont Colleges, Claremont School of Theology, StarrKing, Graduate Theological Union, UC Berkeley and finally the Vatican’s Gregoriana’s Pontifical School in Rome, Italy. My completed M.Div allowed me to complete course work and do field research in applied / social ethics focusing on Islamic Education from the Center for Islamic Studies and Jewish Education at the Center for Jewish Studies.
During my academic career, I sat on the curriculum committee at Starr King, co-founded the Ethics Think Tank at the GTU, started the LGBT theologian group (Qmunity@GTU) and also was the Director of International Graduate Students at UC Berkeley and finished an internship with the San Francisco Ethics Commission.
Over the past 10 years, I have consulted with organizations such as the Los Angeles Times, Amgen, Disney, Grindr, Microsoft, Amazon and Compaq in the US, Europe, and China. I have also published articles in HR journals and four books with professional accolades from employees of Yahoo!, Intel, University of Washington, Disney, Fox, and Google. Additionally filming, producing and photographing a full-feature documentary.
Presently, I work as a consultant for start-ups helping them achieve the next level of growth, do a lot of travel research (84 countries and counting), and work as a research intern at Be’chol Lashon|Institute for Jewish Research and Community. I also do a great deal of tikkun olam in the Jewish community by running Kishur, a Jewish LGBT social group in San Francisco. I was also formally organizing events for a program of the San Francisco Jewish Federation, Congregation Sherith Israel, Congregation Emanu-El and was part of the Young Adults Leadership Committee at Congregation Emanu-El for 2 years.
Connect with me on social media:
TheJewsofIndia (FaceBook Page), Twitter, Linkedin,