Maharashtra recognized Jews as a religious minority in 2016, but there are no statistics on their population because the Indian census does not recognize them as a distinct group. Two weeks ago, Mumbai’s Jewish community reopened the rebuilt Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue in Kala Ghoda. The synagogue is one of two in the city erected by…
For almost a century, Jews from the Middle East, known as Baghdadis, have lived in flourishing communities all around Southeast Asia. Baghdadis were philosophically divided between two promised lands: the religious ideal of Jerusalem and the political promise of England. They were linked across distances by tradition, family, and economic relationships. Baghdadis, like other minorities…
‘The Man with Many Hats,’ by Jael Silliman, provides a rare peek into the life of a small Jewish community that arrived in India last and left first, but made important contributions to the city’s cultural and commercial life. The release of the only work of fiction by a member of Kolkata’s Baghdadi Jewish community…
The immigration of Arabic-speaking Jews from Baghdad and Basra, as well as other parts of the Ottoman Empire, transformed the mosaic of Jewish communities in India toward the end of the eighteenth century. These arrivals, who were supplemented by Jews from Persia and Afghanistan, became known as Iraqi or Baghdadi Jews. They developed a massive…
The congregation of Baghdadi Jews in Shanghai dedicated the newly completed structure that will house the Ohel Rachel Synagogue on January 23, 1921. It was built in the Greek Revival style of London’s Bevis Marks and Lauderdale Road synagogues and was named after Lady Rachel Sassoon, Sir Jacob Elias Sassoon’s late wife. It is located…
Baghdadi came to refer to all Jews from Iraq, Syria, and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, as well as Jews from Aden, Yemen, and even Persia and Afghanistan. Baghdad, on the other hand, was always viewed as their spiritual center, and when Jews immigrated to India, their proud rituals were preserved. After the city’s…
Apart from being India’s former British capital, Kolkata was once a migratory hub, with populations like Parsis, Armenians, Chinese, and Jews flourishing in its crumbling colonnades and fading world history. However, the culturally lively metropolis is seeing a decline in the Jewish population, with fewer than ten males available to observe the Jewish Sabbath or…
Jews from Arab countries and Iran arrived in India in the late 18th century. Baghdadi Jews are their collective name. Baghdadi Jews came to India for religious persecution and business reasons in their own countries. Before they came to India, most of them were traders and businesspeople. They first settled in Surat (Gujarat), then Bombay…
For its reasons, India’s small but considerable Jewish community stands apart. What sets them apart is their ability to blend into the local culture while maintaining their individuality. There are currently roughly 6000 Jews in India who are tasked with safeguarding the country’s final vestiges of Jewish heritage, which include Jewish cemeteries, schools, and some…
The history of the Jews in India is divided into three historical Jewish communities, each with a population of 6,000 people (1997) and located in a distinct geographical area: the community of Cochin in the south of the subcontinent, the Bene Israel in the vicinity of Bombay, and the Baghdadi community (“those of Baghdad”) around…