My recent study journey to India with the Jewish Federations of North America’s National Young Leadership Cabinet provided an opportunity to learn about the courage and perseverance of a rare group of people who battled hard to keep their Judaism despite great obstacles. It was also an occasion to consider the significance of tzedakah as…
Scientists have revealed the first DNA evidence to corroborate the Jewish roots of the peculiar Bene Israel society, which lives in the western portion of India and has a relatively unknown past. According to academics, the Bene Israel community has traditionally identified as Jewish. “Almost nothing is known about the Bene Israel group before the…
Bene Israelis, Jews in India, Jews in bene Israeli dishes, bene Israeli cuisine. “It’s Bene Israel, not Bene Israel,” says the narrator. As she plucks tender branches from a curry leaf plant flying happily in her balcony, Zimra whispers to me, “That’s the first thing I say to you.” Raymond Israel’s ancestral home from the…
“This work shows how genetic analysis may be a helpful and powerful tool for furthering our understanding of human history,” researcher Yedael Waldman remarked. TEL AVIV, Israel (UPI) — TEL AVIV, Israel (UPI) — Bene Israel is a historically Jewish community in India. Its beginnings are unknown, and its oral history is sketchy at best,…
Pune (Maharastra) is a city in Maharashtra, India. 26th of January (ANI): On the occasion of India’s 70th Republic Day, the Bene Israel community flew the Indian national flag at its synagogue here on Saturday. According to Yosef Nowgaonkar of the Bene Israeli group, who spoke to ANI, “We are an India because our forefathers…
The Bene Israel narrative appears to be based on the ten lost tribes of Israel that escaped persecution by Greek monarch Antiochus Epiphanes in 175 BCE. They were stranded on the Navigation shoreline, which is today home to an ancient Bene Israel cemetery. They are India’s oldest and largest Jewish community. Despite the loss of…
Indian Jews are also known as Bene Israels. There are 80,000 Indian Jews in Israel. The majority of Bene Jews believe they fled India because their community’s growth was diminishing. Over the last few decades, the Bene Israel, or “Sons of Israel,” are reported to have moved from India. Many people are surprised to learn…
The Bene Israel, or Sons of Israel, are small ancient people who have a long history of survival. They set off on a quest to escape the chaos and upheaval in their homeland, only to be shipwrecked near the Henery Kenery Islands. On March 16, 1863, Subedar Abraham David Charikar of the 3rd Bombay Native…
As trade between India and Israel grows, Jews of Indian ancestry are seen as a key to strengthening connections. New Delhi has devised a strategy to strengthen ties between Israelis of Indian descent and their ancestral nation. India’s and Israel’s political leaders are fortifying their economic and political relations through an unexpected cultural link: their…