Sunday, April 28, 2024
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Their Marathi songs are dying

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Their Marathi songs are dying

PUNE: The Bene Israel Jews are India’s largest Jewish community. While there is considerable controversy about whether they are one of Israel’s lost tribes, one of their most unique cultural customs is in grave danger of being lost forever.

“As members of the Bene Israel Jewish community lived and worked in villages near the Konkan shore, they began to produce many Marathi-language Jewish songs. They later relocated to areas such as Mumbai and Pune, bringing their music with them. Between 1880 and the 1920s, these songs were immensely popular, however, they are no longer sung “stated”.

Source: https://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/their-marathi-songs-are-dying/articleshow/45016723.cms

How Not To Be a Jerk in Jewish India

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How Not To Be a Jerk in Jewish India

“Wow, the ladies here go to synagogue in saris!” “Does that have a Hindu flavor to it?”

This is a question Nathaniel Jhirad, a 23-year-old Indian Jew of Mumbai’s Bene Israel group, is frequently asked. “You wear skirts; that is not an antique clothing from the Mythical Land of Authentic Judaism!” he wants to say every time.

Jhirad’s dream retort, which he told me over a cup of coffee during my, seemed amusing. But it raises an issue that I’ve come to believe is the single most difficult thing for Western Jews to grasp when visiting India: despite India’s independence from British colonizers 68 years ago, many of us, including Jews, are still colonizing it.

Source: https://www.forward.com/opinion/307081/how-not-to-be-a-jerk-in-jewish-india/

Indian Jews join Israeli defense forces Kashmir and Israeli model in Urdu Hindi

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These incredible photos show members of an Indian Jewish ‘lost tribe’ moving to Israel

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These incredible photos show members of an Indian Jewish ‘lost tribe’ moving to Israel

(JTA) – The Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTA) has One hundred and two members of India’s Jewish community, who are descended from one of Israel’s lost tribes, who will be relocating to Israel this week.

The immigrants, who are from the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram, will arrive in Israel on Tuesday and Thursday. Mizoram is home to the country’s second-largest Bnei Menashe population. Shavei Israel, a non-profit that attempts to connect “lost” and “hidden” Jews to the Jewish state, is facilitating the relocation.

Source: https://www.stljewishlight.org/news/these-incredible-photos-show-members-of-an-indian-jewish-lost-tribe-moving-to-israel/

‘Growing Up Jewish in India’ review: Here, there, and everywhere

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‘Growing Up Jewish in India’ review: Here, there, and everywhere

History of Indian Jews in India, including their past, present, and future.

Few communities feel a sense of connection to two countries they regard as their own: Jews refer to India as their motherland, and Israelis refer to Israel as their fatherland. Growing Up Jewish in India, compiled by Ori Z. Soltes, is a book on Bene Israel, Baghdadi, and Cochini Jews in India, their rituals, and lives. The preamble is 18 pages long, followed by an introduction on Indian Jews as a heterogeneous diaspora that is nearly as long, indicating the topic’s complexity.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/growing-up-jewish-in-india-review-here-there-and-everywhere/article38303237.ece

The Surprisingly Edible Way India’s Jews Mark Tisha B’Av

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The Surprisingly Edible Way India’s Jews Mark Tisha B’Av

What did India’s darkest day look like this year? Tisha B’Av marks the completion of three weeks of abstaining from meat, music, and dancing for the Bene Israel community, as well as for Jews all around the world. But, to commemorate the manna-like presentation of Val to shipwreck survivors — ancestors — in the second century BCE, this group of Indian Jews broke the twenty-four-hour fast with a memorial dish of sprouting beans, or Val.

This basic reminder of survival was so essential to the Bene Israel that the holiday was called after it in Marathi and Urdu: Birda Cha Roza or Sprouted Beans of the Fast. (Because the Bene Israel did not identify with the rest of world Jewry until British colonist John Wilson met them, their name for the saddest day of the Jewish year ring with the languages of their Muslim and Hindu neighbors.)

Source: https://www.jta.org/jewniverse/2015/the-surprisingly-edible-way-indias-jews-mark-tisha-bav

‘Jews of India’ exhibit presented at Monmouth County clerk’s office

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‘Jews of India’ exhibit presented at Monmouth County clerk’s office

The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County has been invited to present an exhibit at the Market Yard parking lot of the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office, 33 Mechanic St., Freehold Borough.

According to a news release from the museum, this year’s show is about the Jews of India and is titled “From Malabar to Monmouth County: A Global Connection to the Jews of India.”

According to the press release, this mini-exhibit is based on the museum’s current rotating exhibit, “Jews of India: The History and Practices of the Bene Israel, Cochin, and Baghdadi Jews,” and tells the story of the three main Jewish Indian groups, Bene Israel, Cochin, and Baghdadi, as well as their origins and impact on Monmouth County, with family photos, a ceremonial Malida dish, and other selected artifacts.

Source: https://www.centraljersey.com/2021/07/15/jews-of-india-presented-at-county-clerks-office-by-jewish-heritage-museum/

Indian Jews live a very secretive life: Esther David on writing a book on Indian Jews’ recipes ‘Bene Appetit’

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Indian Jews live a very secretive life: Esther David on writing a book on Indian Jews’ recipes ‘Bene Appetit’

India is a melting pot of cultures and religions, and the Indian Jewish community is one of them, with fewer than 5,000 Jews living in the nation. Esther David, author, art critic, journalist, and artist, captures and provides readers a unique picture of the Bene Israel Jewish population of India and their largely forgotten food in her latest book, ‘Bene Appetit.’ Esther David’s debut novel, “The Book of Rachel,” earned the Sahitya Akademi Award for English Literature in 2010. She is an Indian Jew who uses her books to describe the lives and experiences of Jews in India. Esther David’s 11th novel, ‘Bene Appetit,’ was published by HarperCollins India and launched in 2021.

Esther David, the winner of the Sahitya Akademi, spoke with us about her new book ‘Bene Appetit,’ what it means to be an Indian Jew, the concept of home and cross-cultural identity, her favorite books, and authors, and more.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/interviews/indian-jews-live-a-very-secretive-life-esther-david-on-writing-a-book-on-indian-jews-recipes-bene-appetit/articleshow/87711543.cms

The Jews Of Mumbai: Bollywood And Bombay Blue Synagogue

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The Jews Of Mumbai: Bollywood And Bombay’s Blue Synagogue

I’m at Keneseth Eliyahoo, the powder blue-and-white synagogue at the heart of Mumbai’s Jewish community, just a few blocks from the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and the Arabian Sea’s Gateway to India bridge. It’s one of several synagogues in India’s largest city, which elected a Jewish mayor, Dr. Elijah Moses, in 1937. It was built in 1884 in the Colaba neighborhood. India’s tiny Jewish population, which presently numbers little more than 5,000 people, has had a significant impact on Mumbai, the country’s financial metropolis and the birthplace of Bollywood.

“We Jews never failed to preserve our identity and refuse to worship idols, even though we accepted local customs,” explains Nathaniel Jhirad, a young Bene Israel member and accounting student in Mumbai.

Source: https://www.remotelands.com/travelogues/the-jews-of-mumbai-bollywood-and-bombays-blue-synagogue/

Pune’s Bene Israel Community Gears Up To Celebrate Republic Day

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Pune’s Bene Israel Community Gears Up To Celebrate Republic Day

The office-bearers of the Succoth Shelomo Synagogue are busy persuading the minuscule population of this Jewish community to come forth to celebrate the occasion on January 26 as Republic Day approaches.

Despite its diminishing numbers, the Bene Israel community in Pune takes pride in being “Indian” and hoists the tricolor on Republic Day and Independence Day to show its “patriotism.”

And, with Republic Day approaching, the office-bearers of the Succoth Shelomo Synagogue are busy persuading the minuscule Jewish community to come forward on January 26 to honor the occasion.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/punes-bene-israel-community-gears-up-to-celebrate-republic-day-1803123

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