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Conference taveng::bagels

Title:	BAGELS and other things of Jewish interest
Notice:	1.0 policy, 280.0 directory, 32.0 registration
Moderator:	SMURF::FENSTER

Created:	Mon Feb 03 1986
Last Modified:	Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1524
Total number of notes:	18709

881.0. "Jews in India" by DOCSRV::STARIN (Navy Radiomen Do It With Frequency) Fri Feb 09 1990 17:02

    I was reading a book last night entitled "India Illustrated" which
    was published in 1892.
    
    It described two groups of Jews living in India at the time - the
    Cochin Jews and the Bombay Jews (aka Beni-Israel).
    
    What is the current status of these Jews? Have they all emigrated
    to Israel or are there still communities in India?
    
    Thanks.
    
    Mark

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
881.1	Ancient and proud communities	GAON::jem	Anacronym: an outdated acronym	`Fri Feb 09 1990 19:23`	16
	Re: .0 > What is the current status of these Jews? Have they all emigrated > to Israel or are there still communities in India? Not all, but most. A close friend of mine was engaged to an Israeli- Cochini girl who told me that some of the (magnificent) synagogues are having serious trouble assembling a _minyan_ (quorum of ten). Almost all the Bene-Israel (Bombay area) left India in the 1950's. There was an article in The Jewish Observer several years ago about a recent traveler to these communities, whose account was fascinating. If I dig it up, I'll let you know. Jem
881.2	Thanks	DOCSRV::STARIN	Navy Radiomen Do It With Frequency	`Fri Feb 09 1990 19:34`	7
	Re .1: Thanks, Jem.... I'd be very interested in a copy of the article. Mark
881.3	moved by moderator	TAVENG::GOLDMAN		`Mon Oct 01 1990 21:37`	40
	<<< TAVENG::SYS$SYSROOT:[NOTES$LIBRARY]BAGELS.NOTE;1 >>> -< BAGELS and other things of Jewish interest >- ================================================================================ Note 984.0 Reply to note 881 No replies BUFFER::SAMSON 34 lines 1-OCT-1990 19:15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark, I am a Bene-Israel born in India. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I am looking into getting a few Bene-Israel statistics together since I am always asked these questions. There are still Jews back in India, I would guess between 1-2 thousand. The synagogues there are gorgeous; there are about 7-8 in Bombay. I lived in Poona a city 120 miles from Bombay and there are 2 synagogues there. One of which my mother tells me her father designed (he was an architect). I also understand there is one magnificant one in Cochin (southern tip of India). Many of the B.I's have immigrated to Israel, US, UK, Australia, Europe etc. The Indian Jews were well-regarded back in India and allowed to freely follow their own religion. The Jewish community there now, I understand is finding it a challenge to keep the new generation from marrying outside our religion, however they still tend to be a very close-knit community. I also understand they are having a hard time finding funding to maintain these synagogues since they do not have enough people. My own background....Born in India, my father was a Med. Practitioner. Family decided to immigrate to Israel; except one of my older brothers to decided to immigrate to US. I lived in Israel for 2 years and worked for EL AL met and married a B.I. from US who was vacationing in Israel and that's how I got here and into Digital. My parents lived there until recently and now they also live in the US. In the US there are BI families scattered all over the country and it's hard to say how many. Hope this helps to answer a few of your questions. Regards, Judy