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/
