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History of the Jews in India

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The history of the Jews in India dates back to antiquity.[1][2][3] Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in the Indian subcontinent in recorded history.[4] Desi Jews are a small religious minority who have lived in the region since ancient times. They were able to survive for centuries despite persecution by Portuguese colonizers and nonnative antisemitic inquisitions.[5]

The better-established ancient Jewish communities have assimilated many of the local traditions through cultural diffusion.[6] While some Indian Jews have stated that their ancestors arrived during the time of the Biblical Kingdom of Judah, others claim descent from the Ten Lost Tribes of the pre-Judaic Israelites who arrived in India earlier.[7] Still some other Indian Jews contend that they descend from the Israelite Tribe of Manasseh, and they are referred to as the Bnei Menashe.

The Jewish population in British India peaked at around 20,000 in the mid-1940s, according to some estimates, with others putting the number as high as 50,000,[8] but the community declined rapidly due to emigration to the newly formed Israel after the Partition of Palestine at the end of the British Mandate in 1948.[9] The Indian Jewish community now comprises 4,429 people according to the latest census.[10]

Jewish groups in India

[edit]
Map of Jewish communities in India. Greyed out labels indicate ancient or premodern communities

In addition to Jewish expatriates[11] and recent immigrants, there are seven Jewish groups in India.

  1. Among the many theories noted by Shalva Weil as to the origin of Malabar Cochin Jews, they claim to have first arrived in India together with the Hebrew King Solomon's merchants. The fair-complexioned component is of European-Jewish descent, both Ashkenazi and Sephardi.[12][13]
  2. Madras Jews: The Spanish and Portuguese Jews, Paradesi Jews and British Jews arrived at Madras during the 16th century. They were diamond businesspeople[14] and of Sephardi and Ashkenazi heritage. Following expulsion from Iberia in 1492 by the Alhambra Decree, a few families of Sephardic Jews eventually made their way to Madras in the 16th century. They maintained trade connections to Europe, and their language skills were useful. Although the Sephardim mostly spoke Ladino (i.e. Spanish or Judeo-Spanish), in India they learned Tamil and Judeo-Malayalam from the Malabar Jewish.[15]
  3. Nagercoil Jews: The Syrian Jews, Musta'arabi Jews were Arab Jews who arrived at Nagercoil and Kanyakumari District in 52 CE along with the arrival of St. Thomas. Most of them were merchants and had also settled around the town of Thiruvithamcode.[16] By the turn of the 20th century, most of the families made their way to Cochin and eventually migrated to Israel. In their early days, they maintained trade connections to Europe through the nearby ports of Colachal and Thengaipattinam, and their language skills were useful to the Travancore Kings.[17] As historians Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennett cited, the reason for the Jews selecting Nagercoil as their settlement was the town's salubrious climate and its significant Christian population.[18]
  4. The Jews of Goa: These were Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal who fled to Goa after the commencement of the Inquisition in those countries. The community consisted mainly of Jews who had falsely converted to Christianity but wanted to continue taking advantage of being Portuguese subjects, instead of immigrating to countries where they could practice Judaism openly (e.g. Morocco, Ottoman Empire).[19] They were the primary targets of the Goa Inquisition. As a result, its members fled to parts of India that were not under Portuguese control.[20]
  5. The Main branch of the Native Bene Israel Community is said to have arrived at the Konkan Coast in ancient times they are completely mingled in native culture. They believe that their ancestors fled Judea during the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes and arrived on Indian soil after seven people survived a shipwreck near the Nagaon village on the Konkan coast in 175 BCE.[21]
  6. Another branch of the Bene Israel community resided in Karachi until the Partition of India in 1947, when they fled to India (in particular, to Mumbai).[22] Many of them also moved to Israel. The Jews from the Sindh, Punjab and Pathan areas are often incorrectly called Bani Israel Jews. The Jewish community who used to reside in other parts of what became Pakistan (such as Lahore or Peshawar) also fled to India in 1947, similarly to the larger Karachi Jewish community.[citation needed]
  7. The Baghdadi Jews arrived in the city of Surat from Iraq (and other Arab states), Iran and Afghanistan about 250 years ago, in the mid 18th and 19th centuries.[3][23]
  8. The Bnei Menashe meaning "Sons of Manassah" in Hebrew, are Mizo and Kuki tribesmen in Manipur and Mizoram who are recent converts to the modern form of Judaism, but claim ancestry reaching back to one of the lost ten tribes of Israel; specifically, one of the sons of Joseph.[24]
  9. Similarly, the small Telugu-speaking group, the Bene Ephraim (meaning "Sons of Ephraim" in Hebrew) also claim ancestry from Ephraim, one of the sons of Joseph and a lost tribe of ancient Israel. Also called "Telugu Jews", their observance of modern Judaism dates to 1981.
  10. European Jewish immigrants to India escaping persecution during World War II account for a small portion of Jewish Indians today. From 1938 to 1947, about 200 Jews fled from Europe and sought asylum in India.[25] Over seventy years later, the descendants of these Jewish migrants have made their own Jewish-Indian mixed community and culture within India.

Cochin Jews

[edit]
Main article: Cochin Jews
The Arrival of the Jewish pilgrims at Cochin, A.D. 68
"Malabarese Jews", as depicted by the Portuguese in the 16th century Códice Casanatense
The Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi is an active 16th century synagogue

The oldest of the Indian Jewish communities was in the erstwhile Cochin Kingdom.[2][26] The traditional account is that traders of Judea arrived at Cranganore, an ancient port near Cochin in 562 BCE, and that more Jews came as exiles from Israel in the year 70 CE, after the destruction of the Second Temple.[27] Many of these Jews' ancestors passed on the account that they settled in India when the Hebrew King Solomon was in power. This was a time when teak wood, ivory, spices, monkeys, and peacocks were popular in trade in Cochin.[28]

There is no specific date or reason mentioned as to why they arrived in India, but Hebrew scholars date it to up to around the early Middle Ages. Cochin is a group of small tropical islands filled with markets and many different cultures such as Dutch, Hindu, Jewish, Portuguese, and British.[28] The distinct Jewish community was called Anjuvannam. The still-functioning synagogue in Mattancherry belongs to the Paradesi Jews, the descendants of Sephardim who were expelled from Spain in 1492,[27] although the Jewish community in Mattancherry adjacent to Fort Cochin had only six remaining members as of 2015.[29]

Central to the history of the Cochin Jews is their close relationship with Indian rulers, and this was eventually codified on a set of copper plates granting the community special privileges. The date of these plates, known as "Sâsanam",[30] is contentious. The plates themselves provide a date of 379 CE, but in 1925, the tradition was setting it as 1069 CE,[31] Joseph Rabban by Bhaskara Ravi Varma, the fourth ruler of Maliban granted the copper plates to the Jews. The plates were inscribed with a message stating that the village of Anjuvannam belonged to the Jews and that they were the rightful lords of Anjuvannam and it should remain theirs and be passed on to their Jewish descendants "so long as the world and moon exist". This is the earliest document that shows that the Jews were living in India permanently. It is stored in Cochins main synagogue.[32]

The Jews settled in Kodungallur (Cranganore) of the Malabar region, where they traded peacefully until 1524. The Jewish leader Rabban was granted the rank of prince over the Jews of Cochin, given the rulership and tax revenue of a pocket principality in Anjuvannam, near Cranganore, and rights to seventy-two "free houses".[33] The Hindu king permited in perpetuity (or, in the more poetic expression of those days, "as long as the world and moon exist") for Jews to live freely, build synagogues, and own property "without conditions attached".[34][35]

A link back to Rabban, "the king of Shingly" (another name for Cranganore), was a sign of both purity and prestige. Rabban's descendants maintained this distinct community until a chieftainship dispute broke out between two brothers, one of them named Joseph Azar, in the 16th century. The Jews lived peacefully for over a thousand years in Anjuvannam. After the reign of the Rabban's, the Jewish people no longer had the protection of the copper plates. Neighboring princes of Anjuvannam intervened and revoked all privileges that the Jewish people were given. In 1524, the Jews were attacked by the Moors brothers (Muslim Community) on suspicion that they were tampering with the pepper trade and the homes and synagogues belonging to them were destroyed. The damage was so extensive that when the Portuguese arrived a few years later, only a small amount of impoverished Jews remained. They remained there for 40 more years only to return to their land of Cochin.[32]

Today it also attracts tourists as a historic site. Cochin synagogue at Ernakulum operates partly as a shop by one of the few remaining Cochin Jews. It is recorded that currently only 26 Jews live in Kerala, located in different parts of Kerala such as Cochin, Kottayam and Thiruvalla. John Jacob is one of Kerala's most senior Jews, who currently lives in Kaviyoor village, Thiruvalla, Pathanamthitta District.

In Mala, Thrissur District, the Malabar Jews have a Synagogue and a cemetery, as well as in Chennamangalam, Parur and Ernakulam.[36] There are at least seven existing synagogues in Kerala, although not serving their original purpose anymore.

Madras Jews

[edit]
Main article: Paradesi Jews
A plan of Fort St George and the city of Madras in 1726, shows the "Jews Burying Place" (marked as "b."), the "Jewish Cemetery Chennai", Four Brothers Garden and Bartolomeo Rodrigues Tomb

Jews also settled in Madras (now Chennai) soon after its founding in 1640.[37] Most of them were coral merchants from Livorno, the Caribbean, London, and Amsterdam who were of Portuguese origin and belonged to the Henriques De Castro, Franco, Paiva or Porto families.[37]

Jacques de Paiva, originally from the Amsterdam Sephardic community of Amsterdam, was an early Jewish arrival and the leader of the Madras Jewish community. He built the Madras Synagogue and Jewish Cemetery Chennai in Peddanaickenpet, which later became the south end of Mint Street.[38]

De Paiva established good relations with those in power and bought several mines to source Golconda diamonds. Through his efforts, Jews were permitted to live within Fort St. George.[39]

De Paiva died in 1687 after a visit to his mines and was buried in the Jewish cemetery he had established in Peddanaickenpet, which later became north Mint Street.[39][a] In 1670, the Portuguese population in Madras numbered around 3000.[41] Before his death he established "The Colony of Jewish Traders of Madraspatam" with Antonio do Porto, Pedro Pereira and Fernando Mendes Henriques.[39] This enabled more Portuguese Jews from Livorno, the Caribbean, London and Amsterdam, to settle in Madras.[42] Coral Merchant Street was named after the Jews' business.[43]

Three Portuguese Jews were nominated to be aldermen of the Madras Corporation.[44] Three – Bartolomeo Rodrigues, Domingo do Porto and Alvaro da Fonseca – also founded the largest trading house in Madras. The large tomb of Rodrigues, who died in Madras in 1692, became a landmark in Peddanaickenpet, but was later destroyed.[45]

Samuel de Castro came to Madras from Curaçao and Salomon Franco came from Leghorn.[39][46]

In 1688, there were three Jewish representatives in the Madras Corporation.[37] Most Jewish settlers resided in Coral Merchants Street in Muthialpet.[37] They also had a cemetery, called Jewish Cemetery Chennai in the neighbouring Peddanaickenpet.[37]

  • Rabbi Salomon Halevi (last Rabbi of Madras Synagogue) and his wife Rebecca Cohen, Paradesi Jews of Madras
    Rabbi Salomon Halevi (last Rabbi of Madras Synagogue) and his wife Rebecca Cohen, Paradesi Jews of Madras
  • Mr. Cohen, his German wife, and children, Paradesi Jews of Madras
    Mr. Cohen, his German wife, and children, Paradesi Jews of Madras

Bene Israel

[edit]
Main article: Bene Israel
A photo of the Marathi Bene Israel family in Alibag, Bombay Presidency.

Foreign notices of the Bene Israel go back at least to 1768, when Rahabi Ezekiel wrote to a Dutch trading partner that they were widespread in Maharatta Province, and observed two Jewish observances, recital of the Shema and observation of Shabbat rest.[47] They claim that they descend from 14 Jewish men and women, equally divided by gender, who survived the shipwreck[23] of refugees from persecution or political turmoil, and came ashore at Navagaon near Alibag, 20 miles south of Mumbai, some 17 to 19 centuries ago.[47]

They were instructed in the rudiments of normative Judaism by Cochin Jews.[47] Their Jewishness is controversial, and initially was not accepted by the Rabbinate in Israel.[47] Since 1964 however they intermarried throughout Israel and are now considered Israeli and Jewish in all respects.[48]

They are divided into sub-castes that do not intermarry: the dark-skinned "Kala" and fair-skinned "Gora." The latter are believed to be lineal descendants of the shipwreck survivors, while the former are considered to descend from the concubinage of a male with local women.[47] They were nicknamed the shanivār telī ("Saturday oil-pressers") by the local population as they abstained from work on Saturdays. Bene Israel communities and synagogues are situated in Pen, Mumbai, Panvel, Alibag, Pune, and Ahmedabad with smaller communities scattered around India. The largest synagogue in Asia outside Israel is in Pune, the Ohel David Synagogue.

Mumbai had a thriving Bene Israel community until the 1950s to 1960s, when many families from the community immigrated to Israel, where they are known as Hodi'im (Indians).[47] The Bene Israel community has risen to many positions of prominence in Israel.[49] In India, the Bene Israel community has shrunk considerably with many of the old synagogues in disuse.

Unlike many parts of the world, Jews have historically lived in India with relatively little anti-Semitism from the local majority populace, the Hindus.[50] However, Jews were persecuted by the Portuguese during their control of Goa.[51]

Mumbai

[edit]
Main article: History of the Jews in Mumbai
Jews in Mumbai break the Yom Kippur fast with roti and samosas

Baghdadi Jews

[edit]
Main articles: Baghdadi Jews and History of the Jews in Kolkata

The first known Baghdadi Jewish immigrant to India, Joseph Semah, arrived in the port city of Surat in 1730. He and other early immigrants established a synagogue and cemetery in Surat, though most of the city's Jewish community eventually moved to Bombay (Mumbai), where they established a new synagogue and cemetery. They were traders and quickly became one of the most prosperous communities in the city. As philanthropists, some donated their wealth for public building projects. The Sassoon Docks and David Sassoon Library are famous landmarks still standing today.

The synagogue in Surat was eventually razed; the cemetery, though in poor condition, can still be seen on the Katargam-Amroli road. One of the graves within is that of Moseh Tobi, buried in 1769, who was described as 'ha-Nasi ha-Zaken' (The Elder Prince) by David Solomon Sassoon in his book A History of the Jews in Baghdad (Simon Wallenburg Press, 2006, ISBN 184356002X).

Baghdadi Jewish populations spread beyond Bombay to other parts of India, with an important community forming in Calcutta (Kolkata). Scions of this community did well in trade (particularly jute and tea), and in later years contributed officers to the army. One, Lt-Gen J. F. R. Jacob PVSM, became state governor of Goa (1998–1999), then Punjab, and later served as administrator of Chandigarh. Pramila (Esther Victoria Abraham) became the first ever Miss India, in 1947.

Bnei Menashe

[edit]
Main article: Bnei Menashe
Flag of Bnei Menashe

The Bnei Menashe are a group of more than 9,000 people from the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur[24] who practice a form of biblical Judaism and claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, the tribe of Menasseh.[52][50] About 7,000 of the Bnei Menashe immigrated to Israel in 2011.[53]

Bene Ephraim

[edit]
Main article: Bene Ephraim

The Bene Ephraim are a small group of Telugu-speaking Jews in eastern Andhra Pradesh whose recorded observance of Judaism, like that of the Bnei Menashe, is quite recent, dating only to 1991.[54]

There are a few families in Andhra Pradesh who follow Judaism. Many among them follow the customs of Orthodox Jews, like wearing long beards men and using head coverings (men) and hair coverings (women) all the time.[55]

Delhi Jewry

[edit]
Ohel David Synagogue of Pune is the largest active synagogue in India

Judaism in Delhi is primarily focused on the expatriate community who work in Delhi, as well as Israeli diplomats and a small local community. In Paharganj, Chabad has set up a synagogue and religious center in a backpacker area regularly visited by Israeli tourists.

Holocaust refugees

[edit]

Between 1938 and 1947, roughly 200 Jews illegally immigrated from Europe to India to escape persecution by the Nazi regime. Most of these refugees arrived in India at the start of World War II and consequently were better positioned to find employment and shelter than many European Jews who were forced to leave amid war. Jewish refugees in British India were able to secure jobs in the arts and the service industry while a disproportionately large percentage of the migrants found employment in the medical field. Alongside the adoption of various Indian societal practices and customs, these jobs helped Jewish immigrants create a sense of their unique cultural place and identity as Jews within British India.

Immigration policy within the British Empire in the late 1930s and early 1940s often complicated Jewish entry into British India. One requirement of wartime migrants entering British India was for their passports to be "valid for return," where British officials could repatriate refugees if they were deemed burdensome. The annexation of Austria in 1938 saw the replacement of Austrian passports with German documents, meaning that Austrian Jews attempting to flee with Austrian passports no longer met British immigration requirements. Still, Jewish aid organizations in India (most prominently the Council for German Jewry and the Jewish Relief Association) helped to form policies that benefited Jewish immigrants and regulated how Jews were resettled in India.

Since most Jewish refugees spoke German and originated from Germany or its neighboring countries, British officials and Indian locals often found the migrants indistinguishable from their non-Jewish counterparts. By 1940, many Jewish refugees were suspected of being Nazi sympathizers or agents passing as Jewish.[56]

Today

[edit]
Main article: Indian Jews in Israel
See also: Synagogues in India
The 1921 Census of British India shows 22,000 Jews, of which approximately three quarters were located in the Bombay Presidency.

The majority of Indian Jews have "made Aliyah" (migrated) to Israel since the creation of the modern state in 1948. Over 70,000 Indian Jews now live in Israel (over 1% of Israel's total population).[citation needed] Of the remaining 5,000, the largest community is concentrated in Mumbai, where 3,500 have remained from the 30,000 Jews registered there in the 1940s, divided into B'nei and Baghdadi Jews,[57] though the Baghdadi Jews refused to recognize the B'nei Israel as Jews, and withheld dispensing charity to them for that reason.[47]

There are reminders of Jewish localities in Kerala still left such as synagogues. The majority of Jews from the old British-Indian capital of Calcutta (Kolkata) have also migrated to Israel over the last six decades.[citation needed]

Notable Jews of Indian descent

[edit]
Sulochana, actress
Nadira, actress
Pramila, actress and former Miss India
David Sassoon, businessman

See also

[edit]

Explanatory notes

[edit]
  1. ^ A synagogue once also existed at Mint Street.[40]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Sohoni, Pushkar; Robbins, Kenneth X. (2017). Jewish Heritage of the Deccan: Mumbai, the Northern Konkan and Pune. Mumbai: Deccan Heritage Foundation; Jaico. ISBN 9789386348661.
  2. ^ a b The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 27. ISBN 965-278-179-7.
  3. ^ a b Weil, Shalva. India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art, and Life-Cycle. Mumbai: Marg Publications [first published in 2002; 3rd edn.]. 2009.
  4. ^ Weil, Shalva. "Indian Judaic Tradition" in Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby (eds) Religions in South Asia, London: Palgrave Publishers, 2006. pp. 169–183.
  5. ^ Saraiva, António José (2001). The Marrano Factory: The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians 1536–1765. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-12080-8.
  6. ^ Weil, Shalva. "Bene Israel Rites and Routines" in Shalva Weil (ed.) India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle, Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2009. [first published in 2002]; 3Arts, 54(2): 26–37.
  7. ^ Weil, Shalva. (1991) "Beyond the Sambatyon: the Myth of the Ten Lost Tribes." Tel-Aviv: Beth Hatefutsoth, the Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora.
  8. ^ Kashi, Anita Rao. "The surprising landscape of Indian Jewish food". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2022-04-25.
  9. ^ Hutchison, Peter (14 January 2018). "Netanyahu trip highlights India's tiny Jewish community". Times of Israel. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  10. ^ "C-01 Appendix: Details of religious community shown under 'Other religions and persuasions' in main table C01 – 2011". Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.
  11. ^ Weil, Shalva. "From Persecution to Freedom: Central European Jewish Refugees and their Jewish Host Communities in India" in Anil Bhatti and Johannes H. Voigt (eds) Jewish Exile in India 1933–1945, New Delhi: Manohar and Max Mueller Bhavan, 1999. pp. 64–84.
  12. ^ Weil, Shalva. "Cochin Jews", in Judith Baskin (ed.) Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. pp. 107.
  13. ^ "Foreword – The Last Jews of Cochin: Jewish Identity in Hindu India". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  14. ^ S. Muthiah (September 30, 2002). "Will Chennai's Jews be there?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on March 12, 2003. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  15. ^ Katz 2000; Koder 1973; Thomas Puthiakunnel 1973.
  16. ^ CafeKK, Team. "Arapalli – The Temple that St. Thomas Built". www.cafekk.com. Archived from the original on 2019-07-28. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
  17. ^ Wolff, Joseph (July 28, 1835). Researches and missionary labours among the Jews, Mohammedans, and other sects. J. Nisbet. p. 469 – via Internet Archive. nagercoil jews.
  18. ^ Tyerman, Daniel (July 28, 1841). Voyages and Travels Round the World: By the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennett, Esq. : Deputed from the London Missionary Society to Visit Their Various Stations in the South Sea Islands, China, India, Madagascar, and South Africa Between the Years 1821 and 1829. John Snow. p. 260 – via Internet Archive. nagercoil jews.
  19. ^ LibraryOfCongress (2013-12-06), Jews & New Christians in Portuguese Asia 1500-Plot–1700, retrieved 2016-02-22
  20. ^ Limor, Ora; Stroumsa, Guy G. (1996). Contra Iudaeos: Ancient and Medieval Polemics Between Christians and Jews. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 9783161464829.
  21. ^ Tudor Parfitt, Yulia Egorova, 'Genetics, History and identity: The case of the Bene Israel and the Lemba Culture,' Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry vol.29 pp193–224, 2005 p.206.
  22. ^ Weil, Dr. Shalva. "Bene Israel of Mumbai, India". Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  23. ^ a b "Here is everything you need to know about Indian Jews". The Indian Express. 2017-07-05. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  24. ^ a b Weil, Shalva. "Lost Israelites from North-East India: Re-Traditionalisation and Conversion among the Shinlung from the Indo-Burmese Borderlands." The Anthropologist, 2004. 6(3): 219-233.
  25. ^ Cronin, Joseph (November 2019). "Framing the Refugee Experience: Reflections on German-speaking Jews in British India, 1938–1947". German Historical Institute London Bulletin. 41.
  26. ^ Weil, Shalva. "Cochin Jews", in Carol R. Ember, Melvin Ember and Ian Skoggard (eds) Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement, New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. pp. 78-80.
  27. ^ a b Schreiber, Mordecai (2003). The Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia. Rockville, MD: Schreiber Publishing. p. 125. ISBN 1887563776.
  28. ^ a b Meyer, Raphael. "Jews of India – The Cochin Jews". The-south-asian.
  29. ^ Pinsker, Alyssa (October 22, 2015). "The last six Paradesi Jews of Cochin". BBC. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  30. ^ Burnell, Indian Antiquary, iii. 333–334
  31. ^ Katz, Nathan (2000). Who are the Jews of India?. University of California Press. p. 33. ISBN 9780520213234.
  32. ^ a b Meyer, Raphael. "Jews of India-Cochin Jews". The-south-asian.
  33. ^ taken from WP article on Rabban, which appears to rely on Ken Blady's book Jewish Communities in Exotic Places. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson Inc., 2000. pp. 115–130. Weil, Shalva. "Symmetry between Christians and Jews in India: the Cnanite Christians and the Cochin Jews of Kerala." Contributions to Indian Sociology, 1982. 16(2): 175–196.
  34. ^ Three years in America, 1859–1862 (pp. 59–60) by Israel Joseph Benjamin
  35. ^ Roots of Dalit history, Christianity, theology, and spirituality (p. 28) by James Massey, I.S.P.C.K.
  36. ^ Weil, Shalva. "Where are Cochin Jews today? The Synagogues of Kerala, India." Cochinsyn.com, Friends of Kerala Synagogues. 2011.
  37. ^ a b c d e Muthiah, S. (2004). Madras Rediscovered. East West Books (Madras) Pvt Ltd. p. 125. ISBN 81-88661-24-4.
  38. ^ "The last family of Pardesi Jews in Madras « Madras Musings | We Care for Madras that is Chennai". www.madrasmusings.com. 9 February 2018. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
  39. ^ a b c d Muthiah, S. (3 September 2007). "The Portuguese Jews of Madras". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  40. ^ Sundaram, Krithika (31 October 2012). "18th century Jewish cemetery lies in shambles, craves for attention". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
  41. ^ Parthasarathy, N.S. (9 February 2018). "The last family of Pardesi Jews in Madras". Madras Musings. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  42. ^ Editora-eSefarad.com (2010-04-11). "THE PORTUGUESE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF MADRAS, INDIA, IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY". eSefarad (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-05-16.
  43. ^ Muthiah, S. (30 September 2002). "Will Chennai's Jews be there?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 March 2003. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  44. ^ Muthiah, S. (2014). Madras Rediscovered. Westland. ISBN 978-9-38572-477-0.
  45. ^ Parthasarathy, Anusha (3 September 2013). "Lustre dims, legacy stays". The Hindu. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  46. ^ "Chennai – India". International Jewish Cemetery Project. Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
  47. ^ a b c d e f g Nathan Katz, Who Are the Jews of India?, California University Press, 2000 pp.91ff.
  48. ^ Joseph Hodes,From India to Israel: Identity, Immigration, and the Struggle for Religious Equality, McGill-Queen's Press 2014 pp. 98ff [108].
  49. ^ Weil, Shalva. "Religious Leadership vs. Secular Authority: the Case of the Bene Israel." Eastern Anthropologist, 1996. 49(3–4): 301–316.
  50. ^ a b Weiss, Gary (August 13, 2007). "India's Jews". Forbes. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  51. ^ Who are the Jews of India? – The S. Mark Taper Foundation imprint in Jewish studies. University of California Press. 2000. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-520-21323-4.; "When the Portuguese arrived in 1498, they brought a spirit of intolerance utterly alien to India. They soon established an Office of Inquisition at Goa, and at their hands, Indian Jews experienced the only instance of anti-Semitism ever to occur in Indian soil."
  52. ^ Stephen Epstein. "Bnei Menashe History". Bneimenashe.com. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  53. ^ "More than 7,200 Indian Jews to immigrate to Israel". The Times of India. September 27, 2011. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012.
  54. ^ Egorova, Yulia; Perwez, Shahid (30 August 2012). "View of Telugu Jews: Are the Dalits of coastal Andhra going caste-awry?". South Asianist. 1 (1): 7–16.
  55. ^ Yulia Egorova and Shahid Perwez (2011). "Kulanu: The Bene Ephraim of Andhra Pradesh, India". Kulanu.org. Archived from the original on June 18, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  56. ^ Cronin, Joseph (November 2019). "Framing the Refugee Experience: Reflections on German-speaking Jews in British India, 1938–1947". German Historical Institute London Bulletin. 41.
  57. ^ Benim, Rachel Delia (22 February 2015). "For India's Largest Jewish Community, One Muslim Makes All the Tombstones". Tablet Magazine. Mumbai. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  58. ^ Weil, Shalva. "Esther David: The Bene Israel Novelist who Grew Up with a Tiger" in David Shulman and Shalva Weil (eds) Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008. pp. 232–253.
  59. ^ "Reuben David". estherdavid.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2009.
  60. ^ "Anish Kapoor on Wagner: 'He was antisemitic and I'm Jewish. Who cares?'". the Guardian. 2016-06-08. Retrieved 2021-05-12.

Further reading

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