The Bene Israel Jewish community from West India is a unique population whose history before the 18th century remains largely unknown. Bene Israel members consider themselves as descendants of Jews, yet the identity of Jewish ancestors and their arrival time to India are unknown, with speculations on arrival time varying between the 8th century BCE…
Life as a Jew in India was no different to the lives of people of other faiths. India is the only country in the world where anti-semitism never existed. Jews were full citizens with the same rights and duties as everybody else. Jews from other parts of the world are usually surprised to discover the…
There are few clues as to the identity of the last Pakistani Jew to be buried in Karachi. A heart-shaped piece of marble set into a slab of rough concrete in the city’s Jewish cemetery in February 1983 has none of the detail or Hebrew script of the more elaborate tombs built a century earlier,…
India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on Friday sent greetings in Hebrew to the Jewish people on the occasion of Hanukkah. “I wish my friends of the Jewish faith a Happy Hanukkah! May this Festival of Lights and this period of celebration herald peace, hope and well-being for all,” Modi wrote on Twitter. (Arutz Sheva’s North…
The Jewish community played a significant role in the mercantile development of the city. Now with only around 30 of its members remaining, an urgent effort is on to salvage its history It is perhaps not surprising that the last conductor of the now-defunct Calcutta Symphony Orchestra should have been Bernard “Bunny” Jacob. After all,…
New Archive Sheds Light on Semitic Side of Indian Megacity Treasure Trove: Above, Esther ‘Pramila’ Abraham in ‘Jungle King’ (1939). Below, ‘Punjab Mail’ (1939), another film poster in the archive. By Aruna D’Souza Published October 25, 2014. “Jews in India?” people exclaim when the concept is mentioned. With fewer than 30 members of the community…
Kolkata, India – Generations of Muslim families have been taking care of the maintenance of three synagogues in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, which was once home to a thriving Jewish community. The city’s Jewish population has dwindled over the decades to just about 20 as compared to 3,000 at its peak before the…
Coming upon a pastel pink synagogue with hot pink trim is only one of the surprises travelers will uncover on Burkat Global’s 3,000 Years of Jewish India tour. In Southern India you’ll walk in the footsteps of the Jews who arrived as spice traders 3,000 years ago and those who settled there.2,000 years ago after…
In the background of a popular Israeli folk song Hava nagila (Let us rejoice), a group of Jewish men and women do the Hora dance somewhere in Gujarat, thousands of miles away from the land of their ancestors. One moment of this traditional dance is frozen in time as Hora Dancing, much like the movement…
Dr. Narendra Dabholkar was a doughty activist against superstition and black magic. A gentle man but fiercely rational, he would travel throughout India exposing frauds, fakers, and tricksters. But he so enraged people who made a living out of superstition that he was shot dead at the age of 67, just a few weeks ago….