Bene Israel

Bene Israel
Languages
Traditionally, Marathi; those in Israel, mostly Hebrew
English, Gujarati, Malayalam, Hindi[1]
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Cochin Jews, Baghdadi Jews, Marathi people

The Bene Israel ("Sons of Israel"), formerly known in India as the "Shanivar Teli" caste (Saturday Oil Presser caste) and later as the "Native Jew Caste",[2] are a historic community of Jews in India. It has been suggested[3] that it is made up of descendants of one of the disputed Lost Tribes and ancestors who had settled there centuries ago. In the 19th century, after the people were taught about normative (Ashkenazi/Sephardi) Judaism, they tended to migrate from villages in the Konkan area[4] to the nearby cities, primarily Mumbai,[3] but also to Pune, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata, India; and Karachi, in today's Pakistan.[5] Many gained positions with the British colonial authority of the period.

In the early part of the twentieth century, many Bene Israel became active in the new film industry, as actresses and actors, producers and directors. After India gained its independence in 1947, and Israel was established in 1948, most Bene Israel emigrated to Israel, Canada and other Commonwealth countries and the United States.

History

Bene Israel teachers of the Free Church of Scotland's Mission School and the Jewish English School in Bombay, 1856

Some historians have thought their ancestors may have belonged to one of the Lost Tribes of Israel,[6] but the Bene Israel have never been officially recognized by Jewish authorities as such. According to Bene Israel tradition, their ancestors migrated to India after centuries of travel through western Asia from Israel and gradually assimilated to the people around them, while keeping some Jewish customs.[7] The medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides mentioned in a letter that there was a Jewish community living in India: he may have been referring to the Bene Israel.[8]

At a point in history which is uncertain, an Indian Jew from Cochin named David Rahabi discovered the Bene Israel in their villages and recognized their vestigial Jewish customs.[9] Rahabi taught the people about normative Judaism. He trained some young men among them to be the religious preceptors of the community.[10] Known as Kajis, these men held a position that became hereditary, similar to the Cohanim. They became recognized as judges and settlers of disputes within the community.[11]

One Bene Israel tradition places Rahabi's arrival at around 1000 or 1400, although some historians believe he was not active until the 18th century. They suggest that the "David Rahabi" of Bene Israel folklore was a man named David Ezekiel Rahabi, who lived from 1694 to 1772, and resided in Cochin, then the center of the wealthy Malabar Jewish community.[12][13][14] Others suggest that the reference is to David Baruch Rahabi, who arrived in Bombay from Cochin in 1825.[15]

It is estimated that there were 6,000 Bene Israel in the 1830s; 10,000 at the turn of the 20th century; and in 1948—their peak in India—they numbered 20,000.[16] Since that time, most of the population have emigrated.

Under British colonial rule, many Bene Israel rose to prominence in India. They were less affected than other Indians by the racially discriminatory policies of the British colonists, considered somewhat outside the masses .They gained higher, better paying posts in the British Army when compared with their non-Jewish neighbours.[7] Some of these enlistees with their families later joined the British in the British Protectorate of Aden.[17] In the 19th century, the Bene Israel did however meet with hostility from the newly anglicized Baghdadi Jews who considered the Bene Israel to be "Indian".They also questioned the Jewishness of the community[18]

In the early twentieth century, numerous Bene Israel became leaders in the new film industry in India. In addition, men worked as producers and actors: Ezra Mir (alias Edwin Myers) (1903-1993) became the first chief of India's Film Division, and Solomon Moses was head of the Bombay Film Lab Pvt Ltd from the 1940s to 1990s.[19] Ennoch Isaac Satamkar was a film actor and assistant director to Mehboob Khan, a prominent director of Hindi films.[20]

Given their success under the British colonial government, many Bene Israel prepared to leave India at independence in 1947. They believed that nationalism and the emphasis on indigenous religions would mean fewer opportunities for them. Most emigrated to Israel,[21] which was newly established in 1948 as a Jewish homeland.[22][23]

Life in Israel

Between 1948 and 1952, some 2,300 Bene Israel immigrated to Israel.[24] Several rabbis refused to marry Bene Israel to other Jews, on grounds that they were not legitimate Jews under Orthodox law. As a result of sit-down protests and hunger strikes by Orthodox Jews, the Jewish Agency returned 337 individuals of Bene Israel in several groups to India between 1952 and 1954. Most returned to Israel after several years.[25]

In 1962, the Indian press reported that European-Jewish authorities in Israel had treated the Bene Israel with racism.[26][27] 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 formal conversion or immersion.[26][27]

The alleged discrimination may have been based on the belief by some religious authorities that the Bene Israel were not fully Jewish because of having had intermarriage in the maternal line with Indian natives during their long separation from major communities of Jews[lower-alpha 1] Others thought that was a convenient cover for racially based bias against Jews who were not Ashkenazi or Sephardim.[29] Between 1962 and 1964, the Bene Israel community staged protests against the religious policy. In 1964 the Israeli Rabbinate ruled that the Bene Israel are "full Jews in every respect".[21]

The Report of the High Level Commission on the Indian Diaspora (2012) 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 have a new kind of transnational family.[30] Generally the Bene Israel have not been politically active and have been of modest means. They have not formed continuing economic connections to India and have limited political status in Israel. Jews of Indian origin are generally regarded as Sephardic; they have become well integrated religiously with the Sephardhim community in Israel.[31] Since the late 20th century, members of Bene Israel have also settled in North America, mostly in Canada.[32]

Notable people

  • Nissim Ezekiel, poet[33]
  • David Abraham Cheulkar (1908–1982), actor in India better known as David, he starred in Boot Polish (1954) and sang "Nanhe Munne Bachche."[19]
  • Eban Hyams (born 1981), Indian-born Australian professional basketball player
  • Ezra Mir alias Edwin Myers (1903–1993), producer, the first chief of India's Film Division, called the Information Films of India under British rule; noted in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the producer of the largest number of documentaries and short films."[19]
  • Susan Solomon (known as Firoza Begum), actress in India in the 1920s and 1930s[19]
  • Esther David, writer and critic

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ A 2013 Nature Communications paper by an international research group , however, used mitochondrial DNA evidence to show that Ashkenazi Jewish maternal lineages have a significant prehistoric Western European/Northern Mediterranean component. Those DNA variants are prevalent today in modern-day Italy and France. This would indicate that many Ashkenazi males married local European women who then converted to Judaism: the families migrated to Central and Eastern Europe in the late Middle Ages after Catholic persecution[28]

References

  1. ↑ Roland, Joan G. (2018). Jewish Communities of India: Identity in a Colonial Era. Routledge.
  2. ↑ Fischel, Walter (1970). "Bombay in Jewish History in the Light of New Documents from the Indian Archives". Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 38/39: 119–144. JSTOR 3622356. (Registration required (help)).
  3. 1 2 Weil, Shalva (2010). "Bombay". In Stillman, Norman A. Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Leiden: Brill.
  4. ↑ Weil, Shalva (1981). The Jews from the Konkan: the Bene Israel Community of India. Tel-Aviv: Beth Hatefutsoth.
  5. ↑ Weil, Shalva (2008). "The Jews of Pakistan". In Erlich, M. Avrum. Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora. Santa Barbara, USA: ABC CLIO.
  6. ↑ Weil, Shalva (2013). "Jews of India and Ten Lost Tribes". In Patai, Raphael; Itzhak, Haya Bar. Jewish Folklore and Traditions: A Multicultural Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO.
  7. 1 2 Weil, Shalva (2009) [2002]. "Bene Israel Rites and Routines". In Weil, Shalva. India’s Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle (3rd ed.). Mumbai: Marg Publications. pp. 78–89.
  8. ↑ Roland JG (1998) The Jewish communities of India: identity in a colonial era. 2nd ed. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers
  9. ↑ Weil, Shalva (1994). "Yom Kippur: the Festival of Closing the Doors". In Goodman, Hananya. Between Jerusalem & Benares: Comparative Studies in Judaism & Hinduism. New York: State University of New York Press. pp. 85–100.
  10. ↑ Weil, Shalva (1996). "Religious Leadership vs. Secular Authority: the Case of the Bene Israel". Eastern Anthropologist. 49 (3–4): 301–316.
  11. ↑ Sohoni, Pushkar; Robbins, Kenneth X. (2017). Jewish Heritage of the Deccan: Mumbai, the northern Konkan, Pune. Mumbai: Deccan Heritage Foundation; Jaico. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-93-86348-66-1.
  12. ↑ "David Ezekiel Rahabi (Jewish-Indian leader)". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Britannica.com. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  13. ↑ "Bene Israel". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  14. ↑ Shalva, Weil (2002). "Cochin Jews". In Ember, Carol R.; Ember, Melvin; Skoggard, Ian. Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement. New York: Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 78–80.
  15. ↑ Haeem Samuel Kehimkar, The History of the Bene-Israel of India (ed. Immanuel Olsvanger), Tel-Aviv : The Dayag Press, Ltd.; London : G. Salby 1937, p. 66
  16. ↑ Weil, Shalva. "The Bene Israel of India". The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
  17. ↑ Saphir, Yaakov (1968). Even Sapir (in Hebrew). 1. Jerusalem. p. 217.
  18. ↑ Numark, Mitch (2001). "Constructing a Jewish Nation in Colonial India: History, Narratives of Discent, and the Vocabulary of Modernity". Jewish Social Studies. 7 (2): 89–113. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Menon, Harish C. (14 December 2005). "Jews, the lost tribe of Indian Cinema". IndiaGlitz.
  20. ↑ Religion and Society. Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, Vol. 38 - India. 1991. |pages=53|note=Reference notes him as Ennoch Isaac Satamkar
  21. 1 2 Weil, Shalva (2008). "Jews in India". In Erlich, M. Avrum. Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora. Santa Barbara, USA: ABC CLIO.
  22. ↑ Roland, Joan G. (1989). Jews in British India: Identity in a Colonial Era. Hanover: University Press of New England. pp. 34–35.
  23. ↑ Weil, Shalva (2005). "Motherland and Fatherland as Dichotomous Diasporas: the Case of the Bene Israel". In Anteby, Lisa; Berthomiere, William; Sheffer, Gabriel. Les Diasporas 2000 ans d'histoire. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes. pp. 91–99.
  24. ↑ Weil, Shalva. (2000) India, The Larger Immigrations from Eastern Countries, Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute and the Ministry of Education. (Hebrew)
  25. ↑ Weil, Shalva (2011). "Bene Israel". In Baskin, Judith. Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  26. 1 2 Abramov, S. Zalman (1976). Perpetual dilemma: Jewish religion in the Jewish State. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 277–278.
  27. 1 2 Smooha, Sammy (1978). Israel: Pluralism and Conflict. University of California Press. pp. 400–401.
  28. ↑ Marta D. Costa, Joana B. Pereira, Maria Pala, Verónica Fernandes, Anna Olivieri, Alessandro Achilli, Ugo A. Perego, Sergei Rychkov, Oksana Naumova, Jiři Hatina, Scott R. Woodward, Ken Khong Eng, Vincent Macaulay, Martin Carr, Pedro Soares, Luísa Pereira & Martin B. Richards, A substantial prehistoric European ancestry amongst Ashkenazi maternal lineages.Nature Communications 4, Article number: 2543 (2013). https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3543
  29. ↑ "How Do the Issues in the Conversion Controversy Relate to Israel?". Jcpa.org. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  30. ↑ Weil, Shalva (2012). "The Bene Israel Indian Jewish Family in Transnational Context". Journal of Comparative Family Studies. 43 (1): 71–80.
  31. ↑ "Report of the High Level Commission on the Indian Diaspora" (PDF). Indian Diaspora.
  32. ↑ Michele Henry. Passover a spicy affair for Toronto’s Indian Jews. Toronto Star, April 2, 2015. https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2015/04/02/passover-a-spicy-affair-for-torontos-indian-jews.html
  33. ↑ Joffe, Lawrence (9 March 2004). "Obituary: Nissim Ezekiel". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-09-26.

Further reading

  • Esther, David. The Book of Esther, 'Penguin Global, 2003
  • Isenberg, Shirley Berry. India's Bene Israel: A Comprehensive Inquiry and Sourcebook, Berkeley: Judah L. Magnes Museum, 1988
  • Meera Jacob. Shulamith (1975)
  • Parfitt, Tudor. (1987) The Thirteenth Gate: Travels among the Lost Tribes of Israel, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
  • Shepard, Sadia. The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Home, Penguin Press, 2008
  • Weil, Shalva. Indo-Judaic Studies in the Twenty-First Century: A Perspective from the Margin, Katz, N., Chakravarti, R., Sinha, B. M. and Weil, S. (eds) New York and Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4039-7629-1
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