The Cochinis, the Bene Israel, and the Baghdadis are the three primary Jewish communities in India, each with its origins and peculiarities. They have not been persecuted, but their numbers are dwindling owing to emigration to Israel and other countries. Cochin Jews maintained economic and religious relations with Middle Eastern Jewish communities, although emigration to Israel has decreased their numbers to a handful, from 2,500 in 1948. There were 20,000 Bene Israel in 1951, but by 2006, there were only 5,000. There are only a few hundred Jews left in Baghdad.
Some indigenous people in India’s northeast claimed to be Jewish in the late twentieth century. These people belong to the Shinlung ethnic group, which is known in India as Kuki and in Burma as Chin. They number roughly 7,000 people, although their claims to recognition are still being debated. They claim to be descended from one of Israel’s lost tribes and to have practiced Judaism until the last century when they converted to Christianity. These so-called “Manipur Jews” have built several synagogues and converted thousands of people. Some observers have seen this conversion as a means of escaping the caste system’s limitations.
