Kolkata: A new documentary about the city’s dwindling Jewish population is on its way to show it through the eyes of the city’s youngest resident. This documentary will be directed by directors Jaydip Mukherjee and Aloke Banerjee and will follow Shalom Israel, the caretaker of the city’s Jewish cemetery. “I selected Shalom, as he is…
The Bene Israel history is documented not just in my DNA, but in the stories, we have told about the community. I am in fourth grade and we are working on a geography project in class. This assignment gives us a week to complete a folder of research and photos on any particular country of…
In Kolkata, in India (CNN) — The youngest person remaining is 65-year-old Ian Zachariah. When did this happen? he says, nodding at the vacant synagogue where the yarmulke used to be. While exploring the giant cathedral-like structure, his eyes rove around, inspecting the glittering stained glass, the blue-domed ceiling, and the rows of dark wood…
The folk songs of Kerala of the 14th and 15th centuries bear an uncanny resemblance to the Jewish folk songs of the same period. Traditions of long-standing, which appear in the folk literature of the Jews, persist in these communities. Former Malayalam professor and HoD of Sree Sankaracharya University, Kalady Herman Gundert Chair at the…
An upcoming presentation focuses on the various food and cultural traditions that characterize the community, such as the ‘na’rale halwa’ made during the Jewish new year and the ‘malida’, a traditional celebratory staple. Lately, Pezarkar, 27, is hard at work preparing a detailed lecture about the Bene Israeli community, their food, and customs, for an…
Despite the conclusion of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Team India is only just getting started. Known informally as the “Team India,” a five-member team of young Jewish adults from India just returned from a JDC/Ronald S Lauder Szarvas program where they learned about social entrepreneurship. About a thousand children from the United States,…
On an unassuming slate-gray sign, the words “Jew Town Road” are written in slate-gray English letters and Malayalam script, both of which are also outlined in white. If you’re from outside of India, you might find the name Jew Town to be offensive, but in Kochi—which historically has been known as Cochin—Jew Town is a…
Ori Z. Soltes highlights the unique Jewish culinary traditions that typically don’t appear in reporting on the community. “Growing Up Jewish in India,” a well-researched text published by Niyogi Books, contains contributions from three other authors who help tell the story from different angles. What truly shines through in the book, which is scheduled to…
The Israelis have pioneered many things in recent years: an unstoppable tank division, coining the name “Hummus Trail,” and of course, LSD in their religious ceremonies. We’ll explore why so many Jews in Israel use psychedelics to enrich their spirituality. In our discussions, we will review the counterculture hippies of the 1960s and 1970s and…
In Manipur, India, a group of people called the Bnei Menashe (named after Menasseh Ben Israel, a rabbi who led a failed mission to rescue them) says they are descendants of Jews who were banished from ancient Israel and had to travel to India over 1,200 years ago. A tribe of Jews said to have…