Zilka Joseph – Poet

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Zilka Joseph

Zilka Joseph’s work is influenced by Indian and Western cultures and by her Bene Israel roots. She was awarded a Zell Fellowship (MFA program) and the Elsie Choy Lee Scholarship (Centre for the Education of Women) from the University of Michigan. She has received many award nominations, honors, participated in literary festivals and readings, and has been featured on several radio programs and online interviews. Her work has appeared in POETRYPoetry Daily, The Writers’ Chronicle, Frontier Poetry, Kenyon Review Online, Michigan Quarterly Review, Asia Literary Review, Cha, Poetry at Sangam, Pratik, The Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Review Americana, Gastronomica, and in anthologies such as Cheers To Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women, Uncommon Core, RESPECT: The Poetry of Detroit Music, Matwaala Anthology of Poets from South Asia (which she co-edited), 101 Jewish Poems for the Third Millennium and The Kali Project. Her chapbooks, Lands I Live In and What Dread, were nominated for a PEN America Beyond Borders and a Pushcart award respectively. Sharp Blue Search of Flame, her book of poems published by Wayne State University Press was a finalist for the Foreword INDIES Book Award. Her third chapbook Sparrows and Dust won a Best Indie Book Award and has been nominated for a Pushcart. In Our Beautiful Bones, her most recent book, is a Foreword INDIES Book Award finalist, and has had been nominated for a Pushcart, A PEN, Griffin, and the National Book Award. She was born in Mumbai, lived in Kolkata, and now lives in Ann Arbor, USA.  She teaches creative writing workshops, and is a freelance editor and manuscript advisor. She is dedicated to coaching, lifting up  every writer she works with, and creating a unique community of writers/students wherever she lives and teaches. 

                                

Detailed Bio:

Zilka Joseph has been nominated several times for a Pushcart prize, PEN, and for a Best of the Net award. Her work has appeared (or is forthcoming) in POETRY, Poetry Daily, Mantis, Kenyon Review Online, Michigan Quarterly Review, Asia Literary Review, Frontier Poetry, CHA, Solstice, COG Literary Journal, Quiddity, Poetry at Sangam, Pratik, The Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Review Americana, Gastronomica, Cutthroat, Rattle, The MacGuffin, The Paterson Literary Review, pacificREVIEW, Third Wednesday, Cheers To Muses: An Anthology of Contemporary Works by Asian American Women, and in anthologies such as RESPECT: An Anthology of Detroit Music Poetry, 101 Jewish Poems for the Third Millennium, The Kali Project, and Uncommon Core: Poems for Living and Learning, a Neutral Zone Anthology. She has won several honors including the Elsie Choy Lee Scholarship from the Center for Education of Women, a Zell Fellowship, and the Michael S. Gutterman prize in poetry from the University of Michigan.

Her first chapbook Lands I Live In (Mayapple Press, 2007) was nominated for a PEN America Beyond Margins award, and her second chapbook What Dread (2011) which was a semi finalist in Finishing Line Press’ New Women’s Voices contest, was nominated for a Pushcart. Her first full-length collection of poems Sharp Blue Search of Flame was published by Wayne State University Press (2016) and was a finalist for the Foreword INDIES Book Awards. Her most recent chapbook Sparrows and Dust was published by Ridgeway Press in March 2021, and has won a Best Indie Books Award. In Our Beautiful Bones, her most recent book was a finalist for the Wheelbarrow Award from Michigan State University and from Galileo Press. It was published in August by Mayapple Press, and has been nominated for several awards.

She has collaborated with artists on interdisciplinary projects which have culminated in exhibitions, performances, readings at the University of Michigan and in art galleries and cultural centers in several cities in the US, and her work was published along with her collaborators’ work in two books– India: A Light Within and Wisdom of the Lotus. In addition, her work had been selected several times by the jurors of Asian American Woman Writers Artists Association (San Francisco, CA) for curated art and culture exhibitions and for their anthology. She and pianist Veena Kulkarni-Rankin have collaborated on a performance of her poem “City of Hibiscus Eyes” as part of the Rasa Festival of the Arts. 

The University of Michigan WCBN Radio’s Living Writers Series recorded two interviews with her, and her work has appeared in The Living Room, Michigan Radio/NPR, an episode about diaspora, and Art in the Air. She read at the Author’s Forum event at the University of Michigan (a video recording of the event is available). A stunning review of her new book was aired on Michigan Public Radio’s Stateside ?in August 2017. Her book was also received critical attention in Wasafiri and World Literature Today. She was featured in the Ann Arbor Observer for her achievements, her dedication to poetry, and her work in the community. She reads in Ann Arbor and in other cities in the US, and in Kolkata. She participates in the Matwaala South Asian Diaspora Poetry Festival in NYC, and in the Rasa Festival in Ann Arbor that showcases South Asian (Ann Arbor/US/India) artists and performers, every year. In January 2019, she was invited to read at the International Neighbors Gala in Ann Arbor, and in April 2020 at Stony Brook University, NY, as part of the Matwaala Festival. (A recording has been posted as the event was cancelled due to Covid).

She was born in Mumbai, and is from the Bene Israel community. She lived and was educated in Kolkata, India. Her teaching experience covers higher education to elementary levels, as well as experience in teaching  a wide range of populations–undergraduate, senior citizens, immigrant, international and diverse groups. She has taught and/or worked at the University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College and Oakland Community College, been a Writer-in-residence at InsideOut Detroit. She has also taught at the Roeper School, been an ESL instructor at the Utica Adult Education Center in Michigan, a volunteer instructor at the Indo American Center (where she received an award for her contribution two years in a row) and Nettelhorst School in Chicago. She was a high school English teacher at St. James’ School for Boys, Kolkata. She has a BA in English and a BEd (a post-graduate teaching degree), from the University of Calcutta, India, an MA in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India, and an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

Recently her new book manuscript was among five finalists for the Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize from Michigan State University. The judge was Mark Doty. It was also a finalist in the Galileo Press prize. Her new chapbook (her third) was published in April, 2021.

Currently, she teaches creative writing workshops in Ann Arbor and Metro-Detroit. She offers a workshop annually for the Psychology department and the Barger Leadership Institute at the University of Michigan. She is also a manuscript coach, freelance editor, and a mentor to writers in the Ann Arbor community.?

Connect with her: Linkedin, Facebook

Some Online Poems and Interviews, See Links below:

Indian Jewish Chicken Recipe

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There is no substitute for eating a dish in its place of origin, preferably made in a home kitchen by hands that hold the muscle memory of thousands of meals. For me, a close second is stumbling across a recipe, trying it out, and feeling transported to a new place by its flavors. The vastness of the Jewish diaspora has gifted us with a wealth of interesting types of culinary mergers, and I particularly love exploring the Jewish food of India, where Jewish communities date back thousands of years.

There are three distinctive Jewish Indian groups that happened to be largely isolated from each other: the Cochin Jews of Kerala in South India, the Bene Israel Jews of India’s West Coast and Mumbai, and the Jews of Kolkata in East India (formerly known as Calcutta). In The Book of Jewish Food, Claudia Roden recounts how Shalom Cohen from Aleppo was the first known Jew to settle in Kolkata in 1798. Soon after, Syrian and Iraqi Jews followed and developed a strong community there, where they worked as merchants and traders and lived in harmony with their neighbors. Things changed in 1947 when India gained independence, and again in 1948 with the creation of the State of Israel; anti-Semitism grew as the Jews became associated with the colonial British power. During that time, most of the Jews from Kolkata immigrated to Israel, the U.S., England and Australia. This once vibrant Jewish Indian community is now all but gone from Kolkata.

While only a handful of Jews still live in Kolkata, the food from this community has traveled with its people. Their style of cooking involves a combination of ingredients and preparations from the Middle East, with the spices and techniques of Indian cuisine. There are several cookbooks and articles devoted to Sephardic foods and Indian Jewish cookery that have documented some of the dishes of the Jews from Kolkata. I was first struck by a recipe I found in both Copeland Marks’ book, Sephardic Cooking, as well as in Indian Jewish Cooking, by Mavis Hyman. Mukmura (or Mahmoora) is a dish of chicken and almonds in a slightly sweetened tangy lemon sauce. I like any recipe that looks like it is simple to prepare but still offers big flavors, and this was clearly that. This chicken dish calls for easy to find bold ingredients like ginger, garlic, ground turmeric, lemon juice, and fresh mint. The chicken is braised, which means the meat won’t get dry, and it can easily be made in advance for entertaining, Shabbat and holidays. By slowly simmering all of the ingredients together you develop a slightly sweet and sour sauce with all those warm spices and aromatics.  This dish is simultaneously comforting and exciting.

 

Ingredients

  • 4-5 lb. chicken, cut into 8-10 serving pieces
  • 1 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
  • 2-3 Tbsp oil
  • 1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped fine (about 1½ cups)
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced fine
  • 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
  • 1½ tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 cup water
  • ¼ cup raisins, rinsed
  • ¼ cup sliced or slivered unsalted almonds, without skin
  • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice, about 2 lemons
  • 1½ Tbsp agave syrup (nectar) or 2 tsp sugar
  • 2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint, or to taste
  • lemon wedges, for garnish

Directions

  1. Cut the chicken into 8-10 pieces; reserve the backbone for chicken broth if desired. You can also find a pre-cut whole chicken, or you can use 4-5 lbs. of your preferred bone-in skin-on chicken parts.
  2. Season the chicken pieces with a teaspoon of kosher salt.
  3. On medium high heat, heat a large Dutch oven or deep skillet with a lid. Add a drizzle of oil to the pot and then brown the chicken pieces on each side, about 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Brown the chicken in batches if needed so as not to overcrowd the pot. Remove the browned chicken and reserve.
  4. Over medium heat, add the diced onions to the same pot so the browned bits that remain on the bottom can absorb some onion flavor. Add an additional drizzle of oil if there is not enough remaining chicken drippings. Sauté the onion until softened and beginning to turn golden but not browned, about 5-6 minutes.
  5. Add the minced garlic, grated ginger, and turmeric to the onion mixture. Sauté for another 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant.
  6. Add the reserved browned chicken back to the pot in a single layer. Pour the water over the chicken.
  7. Bring the liquid up to a simmer and then lower the heat and cover the pot. Simmer for 20 minutes.
  8. Add the raisins, almonds, lemon juice, and agave syrup to the pot. If your water has significantly reduced, add a little more water so there’s liquid in the pot. Cover the lid again and simmer an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through with an internal temperature of at least 165°F. Taste and season with more salt if necessary.
  9. Transfer the chicken to a serving dish, pour the sauce over the chicken, and top everything with freshly chopped mint and a few lemon wedges. Serve with rice or your favorite side. Note: Chicken can be made a day in advance and reheats well.

India’s Bene Israel Jews

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India’s Bene Israel Jews

The oldest and largest of the three Jewish communities in India.

The Bene Israel have always been the largest of the three Jewish communities in India. (The other two are Cochin and Baghdadi.) In 1838, for example, the total Bene Israel population of India was estimated at 8,000, far more than the combined numbers of Baghdadi and Cochin Jews. For generations they lived as a distinct endogamous group in rural villages, some of them in remote areas, throughout the Kolaba District of Maharashtra State. Traditionally, the Bene Israel worked in sesame-oil pressing; they also farmed their land, peddled produce, and worked as skilled carpenters.

Because the Bene Israel families were scattered among many villages, community life in Kolaba District was extremely limited, and group prayer and Jewish rituals took place in the home. The community’s religious observance was based on biblical Judaism: they celebrated Jewish holidays related to the Bible; the Sabbath was strictly observed; all male children were circumcised eight days after birth; and the first Hebrew verse of the Shema was recited on all occasions for prayer.

Initially, the Bene Israel had no  scrolls, prayer books, or synagogues, nor were they familiar with rabbinic Judaism or the details of halakhah. They were guided by three Bene Israel religious leaders called kazis, who traveled from village to village in order to officiate at all rites of passage.

Origins of the Community

According to the community’s own oral tradition, they are descended from “seven couples from a country to the north,” the sole survivors of a shipwreck off the Konkan coast near Navagaon (about 48 km south of Bombay).

Ever since the early 19th century, Christian missionaries and Jews (non-Bene Israel as well as Bene Israel) have offered diverse suggestions to explain the community’s origins. For example, the centrality of the prophet Elijah in Bene Israel tradition produced the theory that their ancestors lived in the Holy Land in the time of Elijah (eighth century BCE) and that the “country to the north” was actually Israel.

Other theories have these ancestors tarrying in Persia or Yemen before ending up, shipwrecked, on the Konkan coast. Dating of their arrival in the Konkan ranges anywhere from the eighth century BCE to the sixth century CE.

The rabbi reads from the ketuba as part of this traditional wedding ceremony in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. (Zion Ozeri/www.jewishlens.org)
A traditional Jewish wedding ceremony in Mumbai, India. (Zion Ozeri/www.jewishlens.org)

The Bene Israel Community in Bombay

In 1674, the British East India Company moved its headquarters to the islands of Bombay (Mumbai). By the mid-18th century, Bombay had developed into a metropolis with a bustling port city, attracting thousands of Indians from the countryside, including hundreds of Bene Israel.

Although most of the community remained in the villages, many Bene Israel were tempted by the opportunities in Bombay for employment and education. Others moved to the city in order to enlist in the “Native Forces” of the British East India Company‘s (and later the British Government’s) Military Services. The relative proportion of enlistment, of decorations for bravery, and of promotion to the highest ranks possible for Native Forces was extremely high among the Bene Israel, given the size of their total population.

In Bombay, Bene Israel worked mainly in construction, in the shipyards, and as carpenters. Here, they were introduced to new techniques and new kinds of tools. Because an oil-pressing monopoly already existed in the city, they did not pursue their traditional occupation.

In 1796, the first Bene Israel synagogue, Sha’ar haRahamim, was founded in Bombay.

Thanks to the Missionaries

India’s Bene Israel are unique among Diaspora communities because it was a Christian missionary who created — albeit unintentionally — a firm basis for the Bene Israel community’s entry into mainstream Jewry.

The British did not allow missionaries into British territories in India until 1813, but soon thereafter European and American Christian missions were established with headquarters in Bombay. The Reverend John Wilson of the Church of Scotland (later of the Free Church of Scotland) arrived in India in 1829 and worked with the Indians of Bombay and Kolaba District until his death in 1875. He was a scholar, an erudite writer, and one of the founders of Bombay University (1857).

Wilson introduced Hebrew as a subject for matriculation and for higher education. He saw in the Bene Israel the biblical “remnant of Israel.” It was Wilson who wrote, in 1838, the first serious account of the Bene Israel and their customs. Already in 1832, he wrote and published in Bombay The Rudiments of Hebrew Grammar in Marathi, “intended for the benefit of the Native Israelites.”

Using Wilson’s book of Hebrew-Marathi grammar as a first step, some pupils became very proficient in Hebrew. In due course, they themselves became teachers of Hebrew, not only in Wilson’s schools but also at the college and university level. These Bene Israel scholars published Marathi translations of classic Hebrew texts, Jewish prayer books, rabbinical commentaries, and sermons. Each Hebrew text was accompanied by a parallel translation into Marathi, for the first time giving the Bene Israel access to a wide range of Jewish texts.

In addition, Bene Israel studied the English language and secular subjects in Wilson’s schools, which opened up a whole new world of knowledge. Most important, their literacy in Hebrew and in English enabled them to communicate and maintain contact with mainstream Jewry.

It is remarkable that during a century of concentrated efforts to convert Bene Israel to Christianity, the various missions met with almost no success at all. In 1854, after Rev. Wilson had been in India for 25 years, he wrote “… the labours of the Bombay Missions have not yet been blessed to the conversion of any of their number.”

Jewish Education and Communal Organizations

While Christian missionaries were trying to convert the Bene Israel, in 1826 a group of dedicated Cochin Jewish teachers left their community in order to live among the Bene Israel in Bombay and Kolaba District and teach them about mainstream Jewish observance. A second group of Cochin teachers arrived in 1833.

On weekdays, they taught Jewish religion and Hebrew reading and writing; on Saturdays, they conducted morning prayer services and discussed halakhah and Jewish beliefs in the afternoons.

More Bene Israel synagogues were founded, and each became a vital center of religious, social, and communal life. With no ordained rabbi, the synagogue was served by a hazan (cantor), usually a Cochin, Baghdadi, or Yemenite Jew who also served as shohet (slaughterer for  meat), mohel (ritual circumcisor), and sofer (scribe).

During the 19th century, Bene Israel families also settled in Pune, Ahmadabad, Karachi, Delhi, and other Indian cities. Initially, Jewish prayer services were held in the homes of community members, but in time a substantial synagogue or–where there were too few Jewish residents—an attractive prayer-hall was erected.

Two main factors contributed to the community’s dispersal throughout the Indian subcontinent. First of all, during the British period, educated Bene Israel were favored for civil service positions. Second, relatively large numbers of Bene Israel served in the government police services, the army, navy, merchant marine, and (in the 20th century) the air corps. All these vocations tended to involve permanent or temporary postings far from Bene Israel population centers.

For those stationed in remote places, the only reminder of their Jewishness would often be home life and the Jewish calendar–that is, the Jewish High Holidays, Passover, or family rites of passage. On these occasions, they would travel to Bombay, to their native villages, or to the nearest Jewish congregation in order to celebrate with family or at least be together with fellow Jews.

The Bene Israel in Recent Times

Over the course of the 19th century, Bene Israel were confronted for the first time with the simultaneous influences of Jewish orthodoxy, secular education, and Western ideas. The choices they made then–and continued to make in the 20th century–depended upon such variables as proximity to other Jews and to a synagogue, finances, and degree of actual contact and familiarity with various expressions of Jewish observance.

In the 20th century, the Bene Israel Conference (1917-37) and the All India Israelite League (1918-25) became foci of Bene Israel communal development. Both organizations deliberated upon social, religious, educational, and economic matters affecting the community.

At the end of the 1940s, with India’s total population at 350 million, the Bene Israel population in India peaked at an estimated 24,000 to 25,000.

After 1948, many members of the community began emigrating, mainly from the cities, to the new State of Israel. They were motivated by a combination of three equally compelling factors: a sense of Jewish identity, Zionist idealism, and concern over Bene Israel economic prospects in the newly-independent India.

A minority of Bene Israel emigrated to England, the United States, Canada, or Australia. Large-scale emigration from the Villages did not occur until the early 1970s. Since then, the total number of Bene Israel remaining in India–almost all in urban centers–remains fairly stable at around 5,000.

In Israel, the Bene Israel population (i.e., persons with at least one Bene Israel parent) was estimated as of 1994 at 40,000, almost all of whom have settled in cities or in development towns.

When members of the community first arrived in Israel, very little was known about the history or cultural background of the Bene Israel, which exacerbated their problems of absorption. Although the years that followed their immigration were therefore made unnecessarily difficult, the community’s situation has greatly improved.

The Bene Israel in Israel have established several social and cultural organizations, which serve as foci of community identity. At times these organizations present information about the Bene Israel to Israeli society at large. Mainly, however, they help both the young and the older members of the community maintain a link with their heritage and with India, the country that provided a friendly home for generations of Bene Israel.

Reprinted with permission from The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Reposted from MyJewishLearning.com

Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues, Customs, And Communities from The Bene Israel to The Art of Siona Benjamin

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Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues, Customs, And Communities from The Bene Israel to The Art of Siona Benjamin

Growing Up Jewish in India is a historical description of India’s major Jewish communities, synagogues, and unique Jewish customs. It traces how Jews arrived in the vast subcontinent at various times and from various locations, both residing in various locations within the larger Indian community and eventually creating a diaspora within the larger Jewish diaspora by relocating to other countries, particularly Israel and the United States. The text and more than 150 photographs look at how Indian Jews kept their Jewish identities while becoming well-integrated into Indian society as Indians, and present a synthesis of cultural qualities wherever they live. Siona Benjamin, who grew up in Mumbai’s Bene Israel community before moving to the United States and making work that represents a wide range of Indian, Jewish, and other inspirations, is one of the results of these changes. This book weaves together discussions of Indian Jewish communities with Benjamin’s story and an analysis of her art, situating these narratives within the larger story of Jews in Eastern Asia, and thus providing a portrait of a unique slice of India for readers interested in history, art, religion, and culture around the world.

Source: https://www.markmybook.com/book/growing-up-jewish-in-india-synagogues-customs-and-communities-from-the-bene-israel-to-the-art-of-siona-benjamin/893975

Tracking the genetic imprints of lost Jewish tribes among the gene pool of Kuki-Chin-Mizo population of India

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Tracking the genetic imprints of lost Jewish tribes among the gene pool of Kuki-Chin-Mizo population of India

The Kuki-Chin-Mizo people, who live in the Indian state of Mizoram and are traditionally endogamous tribal groups, claim to descend from the ten lost tribes of Israel who were deported by the Assyrians. On 414 individuals from five tribal communities in Mizoram, we examined DNA markers including 15 autosomal microsatellite markers, 5 biallelic and 20 microsatellite markers on the Y-chromosome, and maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA sequence variants to determine their oral history (Hmar, Kuki, Mara, Lai, and Lusi). The genetic profiles acquired were compared to populations with Jewish heritage or to nearby communities along the likely migration route of the Mizoram tribes claiming Jewish lineage.

Source: https://www.genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/gb-2004-6-1-p1

The Last Jews of Kerala

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The Last Jews of Kerala

Trade networks and the destruction of Jerusalem drove Jewish settlers to seek refuge across Europe and Asia two thousand years ago. Kerala, in tropical southwestern India, was home to one of the lesser-known groups. They flourished, eventually reaching in the hundreds and having eight synagogues. Some acquired huge estates and plantations, and many others benefited from economic privilege and political power. A feud between the Black Jews of Ernakulam and the White Jews of Mattancherry, however, haunted their comfortable lives. They were split for generations by bigotry and claims and counterclaims over who arrived first in their adoptive territory, separated by a tiny stretch of swamp and the color of their skin.

These once-proud people are now nearing the end of their lives. The population has diminished due to centuries of interbreeding and a latter-day Exodus from Kerala following Israel’s formation in 1948. There are presently fewer than fifty Black and White Jews, and only one synagogue exists. On the verge of extinction, Kerala’s two last Jewish communities have realized that their fate, as well as their undoing, is the same.

Source: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Last-Jews-of-Kerala/Edna-Fernandes/9781634502719

How a Muslim-Jewish romance shaped one of India’s biggest pharma firms

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How a Muslim-Jewish romance shaped one of India’s biggest pharma firms

The editor of The Times of India called one of Mumbai’s most powerful merchants, Yusuf K Hamied, in 1992. The editor inquired about Yusuf’s thoughts on the city’s communal rioting, referring to him as a “Muslim leader.” “As an Indian Jew, why aren’t you asking me?” Is it because my first name is Hamied? Yusuf said, “My mother was Jewish.” The Holocaust claimed the lives of his maternal grandparents.

Yusuf is the son of an aristocratic Muslim scientist from India and a Jewish Communist from what is now Lithuania. He is the chairman of one of India’s leading pharmaceutical companies. He combines his father’s scientific skills, commercial acumen, and Indian patriotism with his mother’s compassion for the least fortunate, as defined by his parents’ exceptional marriage. He accuses the pharmaceutical business in the West of “keeping three billion people in the Third World hostage by abusing their monopoly status to raise prices.” He’s also dedicated himself to developing life-saving, low-cost generic drugs for those in poorer countries.

Source: https://www.qz.com/india/601490/how-a-muslim-jewish-romance-shaped-one-of-indias-biggest-pharma-firms/

Malabari Jews of Kerala: In conversation with Elias Josephai

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The Kadavumbagam Synagogue in Market Road, Ernakulam, Kochi, is cared for solely by Elias (Babu) Josepha. He explores the history of the Malabari (Baghdadi) Jewish community and describes practices that have been passed down unchanged since they arrived in 72 BC. The hamlet is regarded as one of Israel’s ten lost tribes, and it has been described in numerous historical texts around the world.

An Indian Play in Warsaw

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An Indian Play in Warsaw

On July 18, 1942, four days before the start of the Great Deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, the residents of its orphanage produced a performance. Janusz Korczak, the orphanage’s famed director, chose the Bengali poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Dak Ghar (The Post Office) for the youngsters. It depicts the narrative of a dying orphan child who, due to a fatal illness, is cut off from the rest of the world and must learn to live via his imagination. According to reports, Korczak thought that the play would teach the kids how to deal with death with grace.

Source: https://www.jewishreviewofbooks.com/literature/11984/an-indian-play-in-warsaw/