(Jewish Group) A Small Jewish Community Hangs On, With Pride, In Mumbai
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When we weren’t teaching, we explored Mumbai’s Jewish community, which despite being overshadowed by the multitude of other religions in India, has a long and storied history. That story stretches back to 562 BCE, when historians speculate that Jewish traders traveling from Judea came to India along the trade route and settled in Kochin. More came later when Jews were exiled from Israel following the destruction of the Second Temple. These Benei Israeli Jews, who have their own unique customs like the malida ceremony, were for a long time the majority of Jews in the country. Baghdadi Jews fleeing persecution in the Middle East in the 18th and 19th centuries later joined them.
Though the communities lived isolated from each other they enjoyed relative peace and success in India, with little anti-Semitism. A Baghdadi Jew named David Sasoon, who settled in Mumbai in the 1800s and acted as the Jewish community leader for a time, is perhaps one of the country’s most famous Jews; his philanthropy is still evident today in the architectural masterpieces that dot the city and bear his name.
The community was estimated to be at its peak in the 1940s when there were 30,000 to 40,000 Jews, but it shrunk significantly due to mass emigrations after Partition in 1947; many Indian Jews made aliyah following Israel’s creation in 1948.
Now there are only about 5,000 Jews in all of India, the majority of whom live in Mumbai where there are about 10 synagogues, many of which are beautifully historic and architectural landmarks.
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