Around the middle of the 9th century BCE – almost 2,800 years ago – the first Jews in India arrived on the Malabar coast. Following King Solomon’s death in 931 BC, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, which were controlled by opposing monarchs for more than 200 years, until the Assyrians destroyed…
The Jews of India are the least well-known of all the Jewish communities in the world. They are one of the tiny minorities in the country. The Book of Esther is the first Jewish source to mention Jews in India. It chronicles the Persian monarch’s directives relating to the dispersal of Jews throughout his empire’s…
The evolution of the Bene Israel family in Maharashtra is traced in this study in a transnational setting between the motherland India and the fatherland, Israel, where the majority of the family dwells. The Bene Israel are unique in that they are an Indian Jewish group who follow a monotheistic religion yet are culturally similar…
These two works provide richly illustrated descriptions of the varied and fascinating history of India’s extremely small Jewish populations. Both merely give a cursory mention to the two groups with the longest histories, the Bnei Israel and the Jews of Cochin. Kenneth X. Robbins and Marvin Tokayer’s book Western Jews in India focuses on the…
Before BREDCO built Il Palazzo in 1972, the area was home to India’s wealthiest family, the Sassoons, who made their fortune in the cotton and opium industries. Malabar Hill is a famous structure in one of India’s most affluent areas. It’s a structure known as “Il Palazzo,” which was constructed by the illustrious real estate…
The Jewish community in India is one of many communities that have settled in India after migrating from outside the country’s modern territorial borders. What distinguishes the Jews, though, is their ability to integrate into the local culture. A humble appearing structure tucked away in a corner of the high-end Humayun Road near Khan Market,…
In 2009, Toronto’s Indian-Jewish community commemorated the 30th anniversary of Congregation BINA (Bene Israel North America), the city’s first and only Indian-Jewish prayer congregation. It was founded in 1979 by 35 to 50 Indian-Jewish families and presently comprises 250 to 300 members, mostly from Toronto but also from Kingston, Hamilton, Montreal, and New York. BINA…
Last week, 162 members of northeast India’s Bnei Menashe Jewish community arrived in Israel, marking the latest wave of so-called “lost” Jews to settle in the Jewish state. The newcomers were met by exuberant family members and friends who danced, sang, and waved Israeli flags as they landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in two…
Ancient synagogues, some of which are only ruins, can be found scattered over India. Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues, Customs, and Communities from the Bene Israel to the Art of Siona Benjamin features essays, images, and a narrative by artist Siona Benjamin, possibly the most well-known Jewish Indian in the United States. In the…
(Reuters Life!) NEW DELHI – A Rabbi who has never been ordained bends old norms in the capital of one of the world’s most religiously diverse countries, guaranteeing that New Delhi’s 10 Jewish families have a space to pray. There is no distinction of men and women in this synagogue, unlike most, as Jewish-born worshippers,…