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Kerala’s Cochini Jews Meld Into Israel
On Moshav Nevatim, a dust-blown, palm-tree studded community on the northern edge of Israel’s Negev desert stands a humble little synagogue with an enormous past. The Kerala Synagogue, as it is called, was built in the style of the synagogues of India’s Cochini Jews, a hardy handful of whom settled Nevatim in the 1950s after…
A Childhood Passage to Israel for Baghdadi Jews of India
Shaul Sapir, a professor of historical geography at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, knows a thing or two about his field. At age 8, seeking out a Hebrew chewing gum he had seen in an advertisement, Mr. Sapir went to his father and insisted he be allowed to move to Israel. Despite the fact that the Sapir…
Saris and Chuppahs for the B’nei Israel Jews of India
Two days before Yamit Talker-Shefer’s wedding to her husband Elad, in traditional Indian custom her family donned colorful saris and gathered together for the henna ceremony, in which her ring finger was painted red in preparation for the wedding ring to come. Forty-eight hours later, in traditional Jewish custom, she and Elad stood under the…
A Trip to India Touches A Jewish Soul
Local legend says that when the first Jews of India arrived by ship on the Konkan coast of India, they were accompanied by Prophet Elijah. Escaping persecution in the Galilee, it is believed to be thanks to Elijah that the Jewish families survived a shipwreck and subsequently settled in the region. 2,100 years later, locals…
Photo Gallery: Along India’s ‘Hummus Trail,’ Businesses Brush up on Hebrew
Gabe Weinstein, a staff writer at the school, took the pictures in the gallery above while he was in India this fall. We’re still at least an hour away from Hampi in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The moon will still be up for at least that long. At Dudu Falafel, it could…
Gujarat’s unique Jewish heritage to get facelift
VADODARA: Gujarat’s unique Jewish heritage – the Israeli Kabrastan at Nizampura – is expected to get some permanent face-lift after years of yearning. Israel’s consul general in India Orna Sagiv will be visiting the Jewish cemetery on Thursday. This is the fist visit by an Israeli official at the Jewish cemetery which has some of…
Book: The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Home
Title: The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Home Author: Sadia Shepard Published: July 31, 2008 Country Published: England Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The ISBN-10: 159420151X ISBN-13: 978-1594201516 Description: In this elegantly crafted memoir, the author sets out to fulfill her grandmother’s dying wish that she learn…
