Tuesday, May 14, 2024
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Queen knights Indian-born Jewish-British artist

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Queen knights Indian-born Jewish-British artist

In the 1970s, Anish Kapoor, known for his stainless steel sculptures, spent two years on a kibbutz.

Queen Elizabeth II knighted Jewish-British artist Anish Kapoor, according to JTA.

Kapoor, who is of Indian descent, was honored last week as part of the Queen’s birthday honors list for 2013 for his contributions to the visual arts.

Kapoor, 59, was born to a Hindu father and a Jewish mother in Mumbai, India. According to the Jewish Chronicle, his grandfather was a cantor in a synagogue in Pune, India.

In the 1970s, he lived on a kibbutz in Israel with his brother for two years, when he discovered his ability for art, particularly sculpture. He then returned to the United Kingdom to study art.

Kapoor’s work has earned him multiple international awards. His creations, many of which are made of polished stainless steel, can be found in museums all around the world. In 2010, he created “Turning the World Upside Down, Jerusalem,” a work he was commissioned to make for the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/queen-knights-indian-born-jewish-british-artist/

Disappearing world of India’s Jewish cuisine

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Disappearing world of India’s Jewish cuisine

Why are Jews and Israel important? India is adored by the public. Kalnirnay, Western India’s ubiquitous calendar/almanac, is a delightfully ecumenical document that hangs in my kitchen. It has a list of all religious holidays, including several that I had no idea were celebrated in India. While Christmas has certainly taken center stage this week, a brief note dated Tuesday the 22nd told me that the Jewish festival of Chanukkah, also known as Hanukkah, began on that day. Chanukkah is an eight-day event that is currently in its closing stages.

As one might think, this has been a moving event for Jews in India, who are dealing with what may be the first anti-Semitic attack in a country where the Jewish diaspora had never been persecuted. The Times of India reported on the solemn atmosphere at Mumbai’s Chabad House, where Chabad rabbis from all around the world lead prayers devoid of the normal Hanukkah fervor. The provision of potato latkes, deep-fried potato pancakes, was the only concession.

Source: https://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/culture-cauldron/disappearing-world-of-indias-jewish-cuisine/articleshow/3898715.cms?from=mdr

Why Israel and Jews People loves India more than any country in world

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Why do Jews and Israel exist? People adore India more than any other country on the planet.

‘Shalom Bollywood’ film finds the Jewish actors at the front and centre of early Indian cinema

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‘Shalom Bollywood’ film finds the Jewish actors at the front and centre of early Indian cinema

When Danny Ben-Moshe read an obituary for acclaimed Hindi cinema actor Nadira in 2006, he noticed two things. Florence Ezekiel was one of her real names. The other was her “raunchy vamp” persona, as he put it.

Nadira was one of the last Jewish actors in Hindi cinema, according to the Australian filmmaker’s research. Sulochana (Ruby Meyers), Pramila (Esther Victoria Abraham), and Rose Musleah were among a lengthy list of Jewish men and women who changed their names after getting into the movie business. Many of the characters were Baghdadi Jews with Iraqi ancestors. Kenneth X Robbins writes, “Indian cinema owes a significant debt of gratitude to the Baghdadi Jewish community.” “Its ladies were the first to act in films, putting their reputations on the line at a period when women’s engagement in the performing arts was frowned upon. The majority of India’s film stars during the silent era were Jewish. But, except a few, they were unable to continue their lucrative careers after talkies were launched since, due to their Anglicised upbringing, they were unable to deliver dialogues in Hindi.” Others, such as David, were from the Bene Israeli community.

Source: https://www.scroll.in/reel/853488/shalom-bollywood-film-finds-the-jewish-actors-at-the-front-and-centre-of-early-indian-cinema

Remembering the Jewish refugee who composed the All India Radio signature tune

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Remembering the Jewish refugee who composed the All India Radio signature tune

Since its composition in 1936, the characteristic melody of All India Radio has been heard by hundreds of millions of people. The tune, based on raga Shivaranjini, was composed by a Czech man, Walter Kaufmann, somewhat unexpectedly. He was the music director at AIR and one of the many Jewish exiles who sought safety from the Nazis in India.

Kaufmann arrived in India in February 1934 and stayed for fourteen years. Kaufmann launched the Bombay Chamber Music Society, which performed every Thursday at the Willingdon Gymkhana, just a few months after arriving in Mumbai. Kaufmann is playing the piano, Edigio Verga is playing the cello, and Mehta – Zubin Mehta’s father – is playing the violin in this performance. (Mehta is also thought to be the AIR tune’s violinist.)

Source: https://qz.com/india/287319/remembering-the-jewish-refugee-who-composed-the-all-india-radio-caller-tune/

The Bene-Israel and Baghdadi Jews of India: A history of this minority community

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The Bene-Israel and Baghdadi Jews of India: A history of this minority community

Nissim Ezekiel’s poem “Night of the Scorpion” will always be remembered fondly by generations of Indian school students, especially those from the ICSE stream. The poem’s various themes of good vs evil, superstition versus rationality, and love conquering all ( “My mother only said/Thank God the scorpion picked on me/And spared my children”) were not only simple to memorize but also easy to grade.

Source: https://www.gatewayhouse.in/the-bene-israel-and-baghdadi-jews-of-india-a-history-of-this-minority-community/

Bene Israel

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Bene Israel

Bene Israel (Hebrew: “Sons of Israel”) is the largest and oldest of India’s Jewish communities. They were integrated into Indian society, preserving many Jewish observances but acting under the caste system, according to legend. They were stranded on the Konkan coast of western India more than 2,100 years ago. Only about 5,000 of the 67,000 Bene Israel who lived in India at the turn of the century remain, with the vast majority having emigrated to Israel.

Their presence in India is a mystery that may never be solved, and Bene Israel tradition varies. Some claim lineage from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, who vanished from history after the Assyrians conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel in 721 BC. Others think that their forefathers fled Antiochus Epiphanes’ persecution by water, which would explain the lack of a Hanukkah custom in Bene Israel. Whatever the case, the survivors—seven men and seven women, according to tradition—settled in Konkan villages, obtained Hindu names (surnames commonly ending in -kar), and began working in the oil industry. They were called shaniwar teli (“Saturday oil pressers”) in Marathi because they did not work on the Jewish Sabbath. They also practiced circumcision, read the Shema on ceremonial occasions, obeyed Jewish dietary regulations, and celebrated numerous significant festivals.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bene-Israel

Who Are the Jews of India?

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Who Are the Jews of India?

The Jews of India are one of the least well-known and fascinating Diaspora populations. The religious lives of the Jewish community in Cochin, the Bene Israel from the remote Konkan coast near Bombay, and the Baghdadi Jews, who migrated to Indian port cities and flourished under the British Raj, are examined in depth in this readable study, which is full of vivid details of everyday life. Who Are the Jews of India? is the first book to look at all three of India’s Jewish communities in one place.

Nathan Katz uses an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the tactics each community developed to sustain its Jewish identity, drawing on methodologies and insights from religious studies, ritual studies, anthropology, history, languages, and folklore. This research gives a remarkable new view of the Jewish Diaspora and Hindu civilization as a whole, based on extensive fieldwork throughout India and critical reading of historical texts.

Source: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520213234/who-are-the-jews-of-india

Israel, India and the Islamophobic Alliance

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Israel, India and the Islamophobic Alliance

A single falsehood may not harm a civilization, but a continuous stream of thousands does, and history has taught us how destructive this can be.

In terms of modern history, Israel and India have a lot in common. They were both created in the fires of British colonization. To rule both, colonial rulers used a strategy known as “divide and conquer,” which involved pitting tribes or religious groups against one another to foster inter-group strife and prevent them from banding together against a single colonial foe.

Following World War II, Britain was still reeling from the staggering expenditures of war. Europe was in ruins. The world’s economies were shattered. As a result, the Empire sold off its colonial holdings. In the case of Israel (1948), the British withdrawal resulted in conflict and mass exile, while in India, it resulted in inter-religious carnage (1947).

Source: https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/israel-india-and-the-islamophobic-alliance-46860

8 Indian Jewish Recipes to Spice Up Your Cooking Repertoire

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8 Indian Jewish Recipes to Spice Up Your Cooking Repertoire

Did you know that India’s Jews are descended from four separate groups, each with ancient Indian roots? Bene Israel, Cochin Jews, Sephardic Jews from Europe, and Iraqi “Baghdadis” are the four groupings. The Cochin Jews attribute their genealogy to King Solomon’s lost 10 Tribes, who came in quest of spices with him; the Bene Israel claim to be descendants of the 10 Tribes of Israel.

As in all Jewish communities across the world, Indian Jews adapted their culinary tastes and kashrut standards to incorporate regional delicacies.

Tina Wasserman of ReformJudaism.org says in her cookbook Entrée to Judaism that pepper, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves were easily available and employed in the culinary of India’s Jews living along the spice route. Indian Jewish food featured a lot of hot peppers, especially green ones, and coconut milk. Coconut milk was utilized to improve numerous meat dishes because it contains no dairy.

Source: https://www.reformjudaism.org/8-indian-jewish-recipes-spice-your-cooking-repertoire

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