The Bene Israel history is documented not just in my DNA, but in the stories, we have told about the community.
I am in fourth grade and we are working on a geography project in class. This assignment gives us a week to complete a folder of research and photos on any particular country of our choice. After visiting the travel agency with my mum, we go to the “Exotic India” stand to collect our brochure. Instead of looking at pictures of beautiful women in saris, I prefer to look at photos of ferocious Bengal tigers. Having completed my work, I hand in my folder to my teacher, feeling proud of what I have accomplished. I am eager to see what my teacher will say about my work, and already want to show it off to my classmates.
My teacher’s hands back the project and I see her comments; as a result, my self-esteem soars.
Lishai, excellent work! but you neglected to discuss why you chose India, and why it interests you.
I believe my grade for this project would have been somewhere between a C and a C+, which is fairly on par with how I felt like an Indian: it’s only enough to get by.
Source: https://www.heyalma.com/connecting-to-my-jewish-indian-roots/
