Judaism and India

Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world, the forerunner of Christianity and Islam. It has been practiced since several years ago, from the time the laws of life were given to Moses by the Almighty. Judaism is also the most persecuted religion in the world, persecutions include the destruction of the Temple by the Greeks, harassment by the Romans, Assyrian captivity, the Russian pogrom system and the German Nazi movement. Yet India’s Jews have never felt more proud of themselves than in any other country.

India is one of the few countries where Jews have never faced any persecution either individual, systematic or organized. India’ Jews today proudly stand as members of a prosperous, wealthy generation of people, many of whom are doctors, actors, business people, poets, etc. But the most confusing aspects are those of how this community is understood by the Indian people. A lot of indians even in urban cities like Mumbai, have no idea who Jews are or what they stand for. Majority of them believe that they are Muslims of some orthodox variety, others tend to believe they are ancient Christians( people who lived at the time of Jesus), while most believe the community and it’s people are a Middle Eastern phenomenon. Other confusing aspects have been, of late in polity. Things like the Star of David which appears on the Israeli flag,  is also a symbol on the Hindu Patrika(wedding card), while objects such as the Hindu Swastika (which signals Anti-Semitism for the Jews) is revered by Hindus as a part of their Aryan heritage. Infact they have been strange happenings in India which essentially were non Anti-Semitic, but which have seem to have offended the Jewish community here. Hitlers Cross, a restaurant which opened in suburban Mumbai hurt the sentiments of the local Jews with its name and its logo, the tilted red swastika. But nothing could have been more worse than the portrayal of Hitler in school textbooks in the western Indian state of Gujarat, where the Jewish question has been mocked at in every possible way.

Nevertheless, Jews in India have lived a good life, many of them making Aliyah to Israel, some leaving for foreign shores like the US and Canada. A visit at one of the oldest synagogues in South Mumbai brings out the essential characteristics of how proud this community is of its culture. The wearing of the tallit (linen white-blue cloth), kippah(customary skullcap), and the modest clothing on the day of Sabbath puts them at par with their foreign Jewish contemporaries.  Although Judaism in India is essentially of the Sephardi rite(Middle Eastern and African practiced form) distinct from the Ashkenazi(mainstream European and American practiced type), Jews connect spiritually in every possible way with their foreign counterparts.  Even Chabad Lubavitch, the Russian Chassidic(Ultra Orthodox) Jewish organization have made it to Mumbai with their very own Rabbi and Israeli accompaniments such as spices and praying ornaments.

So is it all mazal tov for the chosen people in India or how do they feel being Jewish in India?

Like my Jewish friend tells me “We’re not from Mars!”