The acting of four Jews had a huge impact on the Indian film industry. They were all female. This is one of the lesser-known facts in all of cinema, and it is the topic of Danny Ben-groundbreaking Moshe’s 2013 documentary “Shalom Bollywood.” Men played women’s roles in the early days of Indian film since it…
Imagine yourself in the spring of 1913, at the start of Indian cinema — what we now know as Bollywood, the song-and-dance escapist film business. Because it was deemed impolite for Hindu and Muslim women to appear on film at the time, they hired big males with typical Indian mustaches to portray women by donning…
During his visit to India this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his love for Bollywood clear. “The world loves Bollywood, Israel loves Bollywood, and I love Bollywood,” he stated while extending an invitation to Mumbai’s film industry to shoot additional films in Israel. What better time than now to remember the many Jewish…
Members of the Jewish-Indian Bene Israel group are keen to share their Malida ceremonies and traditions with other Israelis, and they’ll be doing so this year via Zoom. This week, Indian-origin Israelis have been busy preparing for the annual Malida festivities, which will take place on January 27-28. Due to the closing of the country…
“We are the last generation that can do it. Children that have grown up in Israel do not know India. People who grew up in India are 70 years old. They are dying out. There is no way you can do that in the next generation,” says Moses, a sprightly 73rd himself. His mission: to…
NEW DELHI: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at a group event during his three-day visit to Israel in July, he will again address citizens of Indian descent abroad. It is estimated that as many as 4,000 Jews from the Israel-settled country will attend. His last such occurrence was in Kenya almost a year ago….
In a beach village where they previously sought safety, their numbers are falling, but their culture endures. “Can you tell me how to get to the synagogue?” In Mattancherry, a neighborhood is known around here as “Jew Town,” a woman walks into a candy-green shop. Outside, tourists and vendors haggle over the price of pashmina…
Although the largely Hindu city is well-known for its large Muslim and Christian populations, the Paradesi Jewish community, which is less well-known, is rapidly diminishing. Kashmiri traders in Islamic garb stand in front of businesses painted with banners saying “Shalom!” in the little neighborhood of Mattancherry in the South Indian city of Cochin. Hindu idols…
Sunday January 24 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Rahel Musleah was born in Calcutta, India, to a seventh-generation Jewish family with roots in Baghdad in the seventeenth century. She can give us a particular Jewish legacy of India through the colorful prism of her family’s story. Rahel is a journalist, novelist, singer, storyteller, and educator who has…
Mumbai acted as a reunification point for India’s disintegrated Jews. Almost everyone in the Jewish community who has ever resided in India can trace their ancestors to Mumbai. Wearing a saree to a synagogue and loudly declaring to be Indian first and subsequently a Jew is becoming increasingly rare. The Jews of Cochin are thought…