Shobha (“Fori”) Nehru was an aristocratic Indian lady who married BK Nehru, a former Indian ambassador to the United States and the nephew of India’s first prime leader Jawaharlal Nehru. She was born and raised a Hungarian Jew, despite being a member of the Indian nobility. Learn how she met Martin Gilbert, a young British…
The Cochin Jews are India’s oldest Jewish community, with roots that are said to go back to King Solomon’s time. The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin, which is today part of Kerala, in South India.
The Baghdadi Jews of India had their record labels in the cosmopolitan society of the 1930s, and the Iraqi-Jewish tunes performed by oud player Isaac David even found their way into Bollywood musicals. Sara Manasseh, a Mumbai-born ethnomusicologist, released Shir Hodu, a collection of 15 pieces in 2009. The following is an excerpt from a…
Many people may be aware of this. For over a millennium, India has had resident Jewish populations. Jewish merchants and sailors from West Asia have made regular visits for at least two millennia. This book tells the story of the three strands of Indian Jews—the ancient Bene Israel and Cochini Jewish communities, as well as…
Even before clients smell the wonderful aroma of spices drifting from the kitchen, a sign welcoming Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes them at a curry eatery in downtown Israel. Modi’s three-day visit to Israel, which begins on Tuesday and will be the first by an Indian prime minister, is a watershed moment for the…
Nissim Ezekiel’s biography has a familiar feel to it. He returned to his native city after a sojourn in the metropolis, bound to his city by complex ties: work, loves, family, and intimate knowledge of a culture to which he would always be to some degree an outsider. He was the son of a modestly…
A Tel Aviv University study discovered genetic evidence to support the allegation that the Bene Israel minority in India has Jewish roots. The research was published in the journal ‘PLoS One.’ It examined the genomes of 18 members of the Bene Israel community and discovered that they were of Jewish and Indian origin. The group…
The small but visible Jewish diaspora in India is steadily dwindling as Maharashtra’s close-knit community of Bene Israeli and Baghdadi Jews permanently plans to migrate to their holy country. Over time, a large number of 65,000 Jews who came to India has declined. According to several reports, the Bene Israelis have lived in Maharashtra for…
“The amazing differentiation of the Baghdadi Jewish community in India from the end of the eighteenth century till their dispersal to Indian diasporas in Israel and English-speaking countries around the world following India’s independence in 1947 is explored in this book. The book’s chapters on schools, institutions, and culture show how Baghdadis in India managed…