Will Maharashtra’s decision to recognize them as a minority help to revive India’s shrinking Jewish community?
But why aren’t we allowed to see the Torah? “There are so many of us here,” a young boy asked Ezra Moses, the synagogue’s secretary, as part of a group of schoolchildren viewing Thane’s 137-year-old “Gate of Heaven.”
While the boy’s question reflects childish innocence and curiosity, it may also reflect a wider lack of awareness, Moses recalls explaining that the holy books can only be taken out of their decorative cabinet on days of special prayer, and the quorum of 10 people required for this event can only consist of adult men of the Jewish faith.
