History of the Jews in Bangladesh

The history of the Jewish community in Bangladesh dates back to 17th-century. Very few Jews from Iran and Iraq, settled in East Bengal (present Bangladesh) in the 1800s in what was then British India.[1] Shalom Cohen (1762-1836) founded the Calcutta Jewish community in West Bengal and also the East Bengal Jewish community. They included a Baghdadi Jewish merchant community that settled in Dhaka during the 17th-century.[2]

The Jewish population in East Bengal was only about 135 Jews[3] at the time of the Partition of British India in 1947. By the late 1960s, much of the Jewish community had left for Calcutta.[1] Members of the Bene Israel community from Bombay (today Mumbai) also resided in Dhaka in the 1960s.[2]

The Jews in East Pakistan (Bangladesh in Pakistan period 1947-1971) were never numerous and kept a very low profile in this Muslim country. It is assumed that a few Jews still remain, but they are quite assimilated. There is no synagogue today in Bangladesh. In a research, Dr. Shalva Weil found that two families of Jewish descent do in fact still live in Dhaka, but they have converted to Catholicism.[3] In an article, Salah Choudhury claimed in 2009, the real number of Jewish population in Bangladesh is above 3,500, while the Jews in Bangladesh are afraid of disclosing their religious identity fearing anti-Semitic persecution.[4] According to historian Ziauddin Tariq Ali, a trustee at Liberation War Museum, "There were two Jewish families in Bangladesh [after independence], but both migrated to India — one in 1973 and the other in 1975."[5]

There is no official diplomatic relationship between Bangladesh and Israel.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Zetler, David (2011-04-21). "Bangladesh – with Jewish connections". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  2. 1 2 Weil, Shalva (2015-09-17). "The extraordinary story of the Bangladesh Jews". The Jewish Chronicle. London. Archived from the original on 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  3. 1 2 Weil, Shalva (2012). "The Unknown Jews of Bangladesh". Asian Jewish Life (10). Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  4. ↑ Shoaib Choudhury, Salah Uddin (2009-09-18). "All about Jews in Bangladesh". Archived from the original on 2009-09-23. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  5. ↑ Luxner, Larry (2012-06-12). "Jewish community virtually nonexistent in Bangladesh". Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
  6. ↑ Nasir, Khaled (2 September 2011). "Time for a quiet revolution in Bangladesh-Israeli relations". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
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