India

From JudaismWiki

INDIA. Republic in southern Asia. In 1998, India’s 5,000 Jews fell into three distinct groups: the Bene Israel (Sons of Israel), Jews of Cochin, and a series of loosely organized communities from Persia and the west. The Bene Israel, largest of the groups, speak Maharati, wear Indian dress, and are divided into caste-like groups of “black” and “white” Jews who have separate synagogues and do not intermarry. They believe they settled in the Bombay District in about 175 B.C.E. around the Maccabean uprising in Palestine. When first discovered by the West about 200 years ago, they knew no Hebrew and owned no prayer books. Shema Yisrael, one of the few prayers they remembered, was recited at all their religious ceremonies. Several thousand of them have emigrated to Israel.

Indian Jews of Iraqi origin, the second largest group, live predominantly in Bombay and Calcutta and engage mainly in commerce. They are descendants of Jews who followed their leader David Sassoon from Iraq to India in 1832 where he founded the house of Sassoon, known for its great wealth and generous contributions to Jewish charitable causes.

Cochin Jews, the third largest group, who live in Cochin and other cities on the Malabar Coast, came from Persia and Arab countries during the early Middle Ages. They spoke Malayalam, the language of the Dravidians, India’s original inhabitants. Hebrew, however, was known and used in their strictly Orthodox religious ritual. The first written record of Cochin Jews is a copper inscription dated 1020 C.E., in which the maharajah of the district grants privileges of nobility to the head of the community. The “white,” “black,” and “brown” Jews of Cochin all believe they stem from exiles who left Palestine in 70 C.E. after the destruction of the Second Temple. It is more probable that the “black” Jews arrived in India after the Moslem conquest of Persia in the 7th century, and that the “whites” came after the expulsion from Spain in 1492.

The smallest group is of European origin, consisting of refugees who emigrated to India to escape Hitler’s persecutions in Germany in 1933.

Jews of India live in comparative freedom and security. Many of them have risen to high ranks in the armed services; others have prospered in business and the professions.

Synagogues

Magen Abraham Synagogue Bukhara Moholla Opposite Parsi Agiary (Temple), Khamasa Gate Ahmedabad http://www.magenabraham.20m.com/

Chabad Lubavitch - Mumbai, India Nariman House, 5, Hormusji street, colaba Bombay 400-005 Tel: 91-222-283-6921

Council of Indian Jewry Jeroo Bldg 137 M.G. Road Bombay 90210 Reform Tel: 91 22 270 461 Fax: 91 22 274 129

Etz Chaim Prayer Hall Balu Changu Patil Marg Umerkhadi Bombay Sephardi

Keneseth Eliyahoo 43 Dr. V.B. Gandhi Marg Fort Bombay Tel: 91 22 22831502

Kurla Bene-Israel Prayer Hall 275 C.S.T. Road, Jewish Colony Kurla Bombay Tel: 511-2132

Magen David Synagogue 340 Sir J.J. Road Byculla Bombay

Magen Hassidim Synagogue 8 Mohamed Shahid Marg Agripada Bombay

Rodef Shalom 23 Dadoji Konddev Marg Byculla Bombay Tel: 91 22 373 0745 Fax: 91 22 373 0745

Tiphereth Israel Synagogue 92 Clerk Rd Bombay Tel: 91 22 373 0745

Beth El Synagogue 26/1 Pollock St Calcutta

Magen David Synagogue Canning Street Calcutta

Cochin Synagogue Synagogue Lane Cochin

Beth El Synagogue 909 Mahatma Gandhi Rd Panvel Marharashtra Orthodox Tel: 91 22-745-1014

Ohel David Synagogue 9, Dr. Ambedkar Road Pune Marharashtra 411 001 Orthodox Tel: 091 20 6132048

Judah Hyan Hall Synagogue 2 Humayun Road near Taj Mahal Hotel New Delhi Modern Orthodox Tel: 463-5500

Ohel David Synagogue 9 Dr Ambedkar Road Pune 411 001 Orthodox Tel: 9120-26132048

Shaar Hashamain Synagogue Synagogue Chowk, Near Thane Civil Hospital Tembhi Naka Thane 400601 Traditional http://www.shaarhashamaim.com/