Immigrants of Indian Jews communities that reside in Israel
Ethnic group
Indian Jews in Israel
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Bene_Israel_family.png/220px-Bene_Israel_family.png) Indian Jewish family
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85,000
[1]
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Tel Aviv
,
Nevatim
,
Shahar
,
Yuval
,
Mesilat Zion
,
Jerusalem
,
Maalot
,
Acre
,
Migdal Haemek
,
Tzfat
,
Tiberias
,
Kiryat Shemona
,
Nesher
,
Afula
,
Nazareth Illit
,
Beersheba
,
Ramla
,
Dimona
,
Yeruham
, and other major Israeli cities
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Hebrew
(Main language for all generations);
Older generation:
Judeo-Malayalam
,
Judeo-Marathi
,
Judeo-Urdu
, other
South Asian languages
|
|
Judaism
|
Indian Jews in Israel
are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the
Indian Jewish
communities, who now reside within the State of
Israel
. Indian Jews who live in Israel include thousands of
Cochin Jews
and
Paradesi Jews
of
Kerala
; thousands of
Baghdadi Jews
from
Mumbai
and
Kolkata
; tens of thousands from the
Bene Israel
of
Maharashtra
and other parts of
British India
and the
Bnei Menashe
of
Manipur
and
Mizoram
.
History
[
edit
]
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needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
June 2019
)
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Aliyah or migration to Israel
[
edit
]
A Jewish couple from Cochin after immigrating to Israel
Since the formation of modern state
Israel
in 1948, the majority of Indian Jews have "made
Aliyah
" or emigrated to that country. Jews during the British colonial rule were divided into many different communities such as the
Bene Israel
and
Baghdadi Jews
,
[2]
though the Baghdadi Jews refused to recognize the B'nei Israel as Jews, and withheld dispensing charity to them for that reason while the Bene Israel continued to dispense charity to all those in need.
[3]
There are reminders of Jewish localities in Kerala still left such as Synagogues.
Majority of Jews from the old British-Indian capital of
Calcutta
(Kolkata) have also migrated to Israel over the last seven decades.
When India became independent from Britain in 1947 and Israel declared independence in 1948 and with the heightened nationalism and emphasis in the
Partition
of India of Hindu and Muslim identities, most of
Cochin Jews
emigrated from India. Generally they went to Israel (made
aliyah
).
Many from the migrants joined the
moshavim
(agricultural settlements) of
Nevatim
,
Shahar
,
Yuval
, and
Mesilat Zion
.
[4]
Others settled in the neighbourhood of
Katamon
in
Jerusalem
, and in
Beersheba
,
Ramla
,
Dimona
and
Yeruham
, where many
Bene Israel
had settled and maintained a
Judeo-Marathi
dialect.
[5]
Between 1948 and 1952, some 2,300
Bene Israel
made Aliyah to Israel, from India, many as refugees from predominantly Muslim lands (western parts of British India).
[6]
Several rabbis refused to marry Bene Israel to other Jews, on grounds that they were not legitimate Jews. As a result of sit-down protests and hunger strikes, the
Jewish Agency
returned 337 individuals in several groups to India between 1952 and 1954. Most returned to Israel after several years.
[7]
Racism faced by Bene Israel
[
edit
]
In 1962, the Indian and international press reported that European-Jewish authorities in Israel had treated the Bene Israel with racism due to their darker skin colour.
[8]
[9]
[10]
They objected to the
Chief Rabbi of Israel
ruling that, before registering a marriage between Indian Jews and Jews not belonging to that community, the registering rabbi should investigate the lineage of the Indian applicant for possible non-Jewish descent. In case of doubt, they should require the applicant to perform conversion or immersion.
[8]
[9]
The discrimination may be related to the fact that some religious authorities believed that the Bene Israel were not fully Jewish because of having intermarried during their long separation from major communities of Jews. Most Israelis thought that was a convenient cover for racially based bias against Jews who were not Ashkenazi or Sephardim.
[11]
Between 1962 and 1964, the Bene Israel community staged protests, and in 1964 the Israeli
Rabbinate
declared that the Bene Israel are "full Jews in every respect".
[12]
Present Status
[
edit
]
The Report of the High Level Commission on the Indian Diaspora reviewed life in Israel for the Bene Israel community. It noted that the city of
Beersheba
in Southern Israel has the largest community of Bene Israel, with a sizable one in
Ramla
. They operate a new form of the joint family transnationally.
[13]
Generally the first generation Bene Israel in Israel have not been politically active by choice and had modest means typical of many first generation arrivals in Israel. Successive generations have generally assimilated into Israel's diverse populace and contribute in numerous fields including army/intelligence, management, arts, sports and education. The Israeli state reports that they have not formed continuing economic connections to India and have limited political status in Israel.
[14]
[15]
However, Bene Israel do maintain social and cultural ties with family and friends in India, Israel, the United States, the U.K. and other countries.
[
citation needed
]
As noted by the Jewish Women's Archive and other sources, periodicals covering the global Bene Israel community has been continuously distributed to select community members since the founding of Wilson College, Mumbai.
[
citation needed
]
As Israelites, the Bene Israel overwhelmingly support Israeli political parties favoring a strong defense policy and continued development in the West Bank.
[
citation needed
]
The
Cochin Jews
form a significant majority in the
moshavim
(agricultural settlements) of
Nevatim
,
Shahar
,
Yuval
, and
Mesilat Zion
.
[4]
Others settled in the neighbourhood of
Katamon
in
Jerusalem
, and in
Beersheba
,
Ramla
,
Dimona
, and
Yeruham
, where many
Bene Israel
had settled.
[16]
The migrated
Cochin Jews
still continue to speak
Judeo Malayalam
.
[17]
[18]
[19]
Notable people
[
edit
]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Bene Israel
-
Indian Jews
-
Bene Israel
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Welcome to Embassy of India, Tel Aviv, Israel"
.
- ^
Rachel Delia Benaim,
'For India's Largest Jewish Community, One Muslim Makes All the Tombstones,'
Tablet
23 February 2015.
- ^
Nathan Katz,
Who Are the Jews of India?,
California University Press, 2000 pp.91ff.
- ^
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.
- ^
Shulman, D. and Weil, S. (eds).
Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India.
New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008.
- ^
Weil, Shalva 2000 India, The Larger Immigrations from Eastern Countries, Jerusalem: Ben-ZviInstitute and the Ministry of Education. (Hebrew)
- ^
Weil, Shalva (2011). "Bene Israel". In Baskin, Judith (ed.).
Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture
. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- ^
a
b
Abramov, S. Zalman (1976).
Perpetual dilemma: Jewish religion in the Jewish State
. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 277?278.
- ^
a
b
Smooha, Sammy (1978).
Israel: Pluralism and Conflict
. University of California Press. pp. 400?401.
- ^
"Israel's Indian Jews and their lives in the 'promised land'
"
.
BBC News
. 19 January 2018
. Retrieved
15 June
2022
.
- ^
"How Do the Issues in the Conversion Controversy Relate to Israel?"
. Jcpa.org
. Retrieved
16 December
2010
.
- ^
Weil, Shalva (2008). "Jews in India". In Erlich, M. Avrum (ed.).
Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora
. Santa Barbara, USA: ABC CLIO.
- ^
Weil, Shalva (2012). "The Bene Israel Indian Jewish Family in Transnational Context".
Journal of Comparative Family Studies
.
43
(1): 71?80.
doi
:
10.3138/jcfs.43.1.71
.
- ^
"Report of the High Level Commission on the Indian Diaspora"
(PDF)
. Indian Diaspora. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 11 October 2010
. Retrieved
9 June
2008
.
- ^
"The Indian Jews at the Heart of the Netanyahu-Modi Love Affair", Ha'aretz, Jan. 15, 2018
[1]
- ^
Shulman, D. and Weil, S. (eds).
Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India
. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008.
- ^
Spector, Johanna (1972).
"Shingli Tunes of the Cochin Jews"
.
Asian Music
.
3
(2): 23?28.
doi
:
10.2307/833956
.
ISSN
0044-9202
.
JSTOR
833956
.
- ^
B., Segal, J. (1993).
A history of the Jews of Cochin
. Vallentine Mitchell.
OCLC
624148605
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"Judeo-Malayalam"
.
Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World
.
doi
:
10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_dum_000740
. Retrieved
27 March
2021
.
- ^
"Ruby Daniel"
.
Jewish Women's Archive
. Retrieved
12 October
2013
.
- ^
Rebecca McKinsey (23 September 2012).
"Ex-Hindu is Israel's Thai-boxing queen; New women's champion Sarah Avraham immigrated from Mumbai after 2008 Chabad House attack"
.
The Times of Israel
. Retrieved
9 April
2014
.
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Israelis by religion
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Other Semitic
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Other non-Semitic groups
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Foreign nationals
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Druze have a
status aparte
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- 2
Arameans have a
status aparte
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