India has a population of 5000 jews, a minority community which coexist with other communities beautifully. Around 3500 Indian jews are living in mumbai. When India got freedom and the modern state was created, around 70 thousand indian jews migrated to Israel. Today Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Goad and Cochin has jews population primarily. There are synagogues in Delhi, Mumbai and Goa where jews gathered weekly to pray their god.
Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in India in recorded history. Indian Jews are a religious minority of India, but unlike many parts of the world, have historically lived in India without any instances of antisemitism from the local majority populace.
The Jewish community of India is the fourth largest Asian Jewish community after Israel, Asian Russia, and Iran. The Jewish population in India is hard to estimate, since each Jewish community is distinct with different origins; while some allegedly arrived during the time of the Kingdom of Judah, others are seen by some as descendants of Israel’s Ten Lost Tribes. In addition to Jewish expatriates and recent immigrants, there are seven Jewish groups in India: The ‘black’ Malabar component of the Cochin Jews, according to Shalva Weil, might have arrived in India together with Solomon’s merchants. The Cochin Jews settled down in Kerala as traders. The ‘white’ component is of European and other Jewish descent. Chennai Jews: The so-called Spanish and Portuguese Jews, Paradesi Jews and British Jews arrived at Madras during the 16th century, they were diamond businessmen, and of Sephardi heritage. Following expulsion from Iberia in 1492 by the Alhambra Decree, a few families of Sephardic Jews eventually made their way to Madras in the 16th century. They maintained trade connections to Europe, and their language skills were useful. Although the Sephardim spoke Ladino (i.e. Spanish or Judeo-Spanish), in India they learned Tamil and Judeo-Malayalam from the Malabar Jews.
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The Jews of Goa: These were Portuguese Jews who fled to Portuguese Goa after the commencement of the Inquisition in Portugal. The community consisted mainly of “New-Christians” who were Jews by blood and had converted under the duress of the Inquisition. This group was the target of heavy persecution with the start of the Goan Inquisition, which put on trial famed physician Garcia de Orta, among others. Another branch of the Bene Israel community resided in Karachi until the Partition of India in 1947, when they fled to India (in particular, to Mumbai)[citation needed]. Many of them also moved to Israel. The Jews from Sindh, Punjab or Pathan area are often incorrectly called Bani Israel Jews. The Jewish community who used to reside in other parts of what became Pakistan (such as Lahore or Peshawar) also fled to India in 1947, in a similar manner to the larger Karachi Jewish community[citation needed]. The Baghdadi Jews arrived in the city of Surat from Iraq (and other Arab states), Iran and Afghanistan about 250 years ago. The Bnei Menashe are Mizo and Kuki tribesmen in Manipur and Mizoram who are recent converts to Judaism.[12] The Bene Ephraim (also called “Telugu Jews”) are a small group who speak Telugu; their observance of Judaism dates to 1981.
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Synagogues in India: There are currently thirty-three synagogues in India, although many no longer function as such and today vary in their levels of preservation. Have a sneak peek on some.
