Indian Jews in Israel: Difference between revisions

In 1962, the Indian and international press reported that European-Jewish authorities in Israel had treated the Bene Israel with racism.<ref name="Abramov">{{cite book |last=Abramov |first=S. Zalman |title=Perpetual dilemma: Jewish religion in the Jewish State |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |year=1976 |pages=277–278}}</ref><ref name="Smooha">{{cite book |last=Smooha |first=Sammy |title=Israel: Pluralism and Conflict |publisher=University of California Press |year=1978 |pages=400–401}}</ref> 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 conversion or immersion.<ref name="Abramov" /><ref name="Smooha" /> The discrimination may be related to the fact that some religious authorities believed that the Bene Israel were not fully Jewish because of having intermarried during their long separation from major communities of Jews. Most Israelis thought that was a convenient cover for racially based bias against Jews who were not Ashkenazi or Sephardim.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/conversion.htm |title=How Do the Issues in the Conversion Controversy Relate to Israel? |publisher=Jcpa.org |access-date=16 December 2010}}</ref> Between 1962 and 1964, the Bene Israel community staged protests, and in 1964 the Israeli [[Chief Rabbinate of Israel|Rabbinate]] declared that the Bene Israel are "full Jews in every respect".<ref>{{cite book |last=Weil |first=Shalva |year=2008 |chapter=Jews in India |editor-first=M. Avrum |editor-last=Erlich |title=Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora |location=Santa Barbara, USA |publisher=ABC CLIO}}</ref>

The Report of the High Level Commission on the Indian Diaspora 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 operate a new form of the joint family transnationally.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Weil |first=Shalva |year=2012 |title=The Bene Israel Indian Jewish Family in Transnational Context |journal=Journal of Comparative Family Studies |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=71–80|doi=10.3138/jcfs.43.1.71 }}</ref> Generally the first generation Bene Israel in Israel have not been politically active by choice and had modest means typical of many first generation arrivals in Israel. Successive generations have generally assimilated into Israel's diverse populace and contribute in numerous fields including army/intelligence, management, arts, sports and education. The Israeli state reports that they have not formed continuing economic connections to India and have limited political status in Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter9.pdf|title=Report of the High Level Commission on the Indian Diaspora|publisher=Indian Diaspora|access-date=9 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101011172532/http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter9.pdf|archive-date=11 October 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>"The Indian Jews at the Heart of the Netanyahu-Modi Love Affair", Ha'aretz, Jan. 15, 2018 [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.834318]</ref> However,  Bene Israel do maintain social and cultural ties with family and friends in India, Israel the United States, the U.K. and other countries.{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2019}} As noted by the Jewish Women's Archive and other sources, periodicals covering the global Bene Israel community has been continuously distributed to select community members since the founding of Wilson College, Mumbai. {{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2019}}As Israelites, the Bene Israel overwhelmingly support Israeli political parties favoring a strong defense policy and continued development in their new and historic homelands: Judea and Samaria.{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2019}}

The [[Cochin Jews]] form a significant majority in the ''[[moshav]]im'' (agricultural settlements) of [[Nevatim]], [[Shahar, Israel|Shahar]], [[Yuval]], and [[Mesilat Zion]].<ref name=":1" /> Others settled in the neighbourhood of [[Katamon]] in [[Jerusalem]], and in [[Beersheba]], [[Ramla]], [[Dimona]], and [[Yeruham]], where many [[Bene Israel]] had settled.<ref>Shulman, D. and Weil, S. (eds). ''Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India''. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008.</ref> The migrated [[Cochin Jews]] still continue to speak [[Judeo-Malayalam|Judeo Malayalam]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spector|first=Johanna|date=1972|title=Shingli Tunes of the Cochin Jews|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/833956|journal=Asian Music|volume=3|issue=2|pages=23–28|doi=10.2307/833956|jstor=833956|issn=0044-9202}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=B.|first=Segal, J.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/624148605|title=A history of the Jews of Cochin|date=1993|publisher=Vallentine Mitchell|oclc=624148605}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Judeo-Malayalam|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_dum_000740|access-date=2021-03-27|website=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World|doi=10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_dum_000740}}</ref>