A Medley Of Jews In India

After the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, there have been numerous articles by Jews from different countries narrating their own wonderful experiences in Mumbai, and how much they loved the city. In this series, I am grateful to our colleague Holly for sending me yet another moving and informative piece.

Leila Bilick, who works for Pro Mujer (a nonprofit organization that gives small loans to Latin America’s poorest women), narrates a fascinating story of the Jews in India. She and her husband live in New York City.

She writes: “A couple of years ago, I knew nothing of a Jewish community in India. I had a vague notion that Jews came in all shapes, sizes and colors, but I did not understand the depth of differences. I also knew close to nothing about India.

“On the map of my mind, it was a distant land of colors and spices, rumored to have some of the worst poverty in the world. I would soon learn to call the country home, however inhospitable, and the Bene Israel my community, however foreign.

“In July of 2007, my husband, Reuben, and I left for Mumbai, India, where we would spend the next year in a program run by the Joint Distribution Committee called the Jewish Service Corps. Jewish Service Corps participants are sent to countries with under-resourced or needy Jewish communities, such as Moldova, Georgia, and Turkey.

“Jewish identity in India is not part of the Jewish timeline as we conceive of it.” Read the rest of this fascinating tale here…

Here is the Wikipedia account of the history of Jews in India…Please click here…