In India, my Jewish community celebrates Hanukkah not with fear, but in belonging |
Amid the rumbling vibrancy of Mumbai, a city of around 27 million within a country of nearly 1.5 billion, lies my small yet mighty community where everyone knows each other. We enjoy the everyday treasures of our Indian culture, from Bollywood dancing to savory foods. Many of our friends and neighbors celebrate Diwali in all its richness and spirit, and we, too, celebrate a festival of lights. It just happens a few weeks later and is called Chanukah.
The Jewish community in India, concentrated mainly within Mumbai, includes roughly 4,500 people, with the first Jews having arrived in southern India around the 10th century BCE. Today, we can be found throughout the country and represent homegrown traditions, such as those of my family, the Bene Israel, as well as the Cochini Jews in the Kochi region and those whose ancestors hail from the Sefardi Jews of Baghdad. And as vibrant a community as we have, most people probably wouldn’t have even guessed that we are here.
Indian Jews have always been a tiny community, but knowing we are part of a global Jewish family spread across continents yet connected by........