Published: 19 October 2020
Last updated: 20 October 2020
THE ORIGIN OF THE INDIGENOUS Jewish communities of Asia, notably in India, is lost in history but there are many stories told of how Jews ended up there. Whatever the truth, there have been Jewish communities living in India, mostly in the northwest and southwest, for many centuries and a fair proportion of them are virtually indistinguishable in dress, appearance and living conditions from any other village Indian.
The history of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, in central China, is well documented but it has now disappeared except for one or two individuals still living in the city, claiming descent from those original Kaifeng Jews. Both in China and in India the proposition that acceptance might kill off the Jews more quickly than anti-Semitism might be tested and debated.
It seems to have happened in China. But not in India. The small community of Cochin in the south is well known and celebrated but has dwindled to virtually nothing. Their lovely buildings are still to be visited and there is a small remnant remaining but it would be hard to talk of it as a community.
[gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="38901,38902"]
But things are different just a few kilometres from Mumbai. There, Jewish villages are lively and well populated. These people are known as Bene Israel and claim to have been in the country for millennia. They have never suffered antisemitism and have lived Jewish lives without books or rabbis. (There is a more controversial group known as the Bnei Menashe, whose Jewish status is disputed by some.)
In the big cities of India, though, the story changed dramatically in the 18th and 19th centuries. A group of Jewish merchants from Baghdad spread out across Asia, depositing outposts of family and business in a string of pearls across the region. Jewish communities were founded by these “Baghdadim” in cities including Bombay, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Bangkok.
Thriving communities are still to be found in Hong Kong and Singapore and the far-sightedness of these merchant families in establishing foundations and endowments means the communities are sufficiently endowed to enjoy established and impressive Jewish lives.
The communities of Shanghai, Bangkok and Calcutta shrunk almost to nothing (other than a brief expansion in numbers during World War II where in parts of Asia, and notably in Harbin, in northern China, Jewish communities either sprung up or grew). In the latter half of the 20th century, as the British withdrew and life often became less predictable, Jews left for other countries like the US and the UK but also, with great enthusiasm, for Israel.
In India, there was an interesting phenomenon. The first time the Bene Israel experienced antipathy for who they were was with the arrival of the Baghdadim. These Iraqi Jews took one look at these Indian-looking folk and decided they were not Jewish or, at least, not Jewish enough.
For over a century, the two communities lived separate lives and the Baghdadim, while often giving alms and support to their poorer counterparts, never accepted them for minyan or allowed intermarriage. Indeed, it might be said that Indian Jews invented their own caste system and this was graded not least according to skin shade.
[gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="38906,38908"]
Not even the Israeli Rabbinate’s (somewhat grudging) decision to accept that the tens of thousands of Indian Jews who made Aliya were Jews changed the minds of the erstwhile Iraqi Jews. Only their dwindling numbers could do that. In Mumbai, they found they needed the Bene Israel for minyan and to keep the community going.
Still, no-one forgets their origin and the distinctions are still evident, but in Mumbai there is a thriving Jewish community that operates in the same way as many others, , with Sephardim and Ashkenazim working together but not necessarily mixing as much as one might hope.
Small remnants of this great Iraqi diaspora can still be found in unexpected places. In Sri Lanka recently I found a few of their tombs in the main Anglican cemetery of Colombo. In a mirror image of how the Rothschilds and a few other great families not only made money but contributed to the benefit of the Jews as well as wider society, there are many plaques and buildings to be found throughout Asia commemorating the philanthropy of the Sassoons, the Kadoories and other resonant Jewish names.
[gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="38904,38905"]
David Marshall, a Jew, served as Singapore's first chief minister from 1955 to 1956. Jews played many leading parts, especially in the judiciary during British rule in Hong Kong. And Jack Jacobs, an Indian army general, was responsible through his chutzpa for the surrender of Pakistani forces in Dhaka in 1971, enabling the establishment of an independent Bangladesh (though I suspect the Bangladeshis don’t often remember with honour the part a Jew played in their birth as a nation).
When the 92-year-old Jacobs died in 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “India will always remain grateful to him for his impeccable service to the nation at the most crucial moments.”
The country’s defence and information ministers attended his funeral. All that happened in the 19th and 20th centuries. What of the 21st? Of course, the baton for western “imperialism” in Asia has passed from the British to the Americans and they now are stringing their own pearls across the continent. Growing Jewish communities in the Philippines, Japan and China complement those older ones.
Though the Iraqi style was mercantile, the American one is corporate. Many of Asia’s Jewish residents are necessarily short stay expats but they have contributed to the creation of lively communities in many a place where there was none.
Being American in provenance, these newer communities are more likely Reform in style, unlike the traditionalist instincts of the British and the Iraqis. Reform communities have also sprung up alongside some of the older Orthodox ones. Add to the mix the almost ubiquitous presence of Chabad, often but not only providing for the large numbers of Israeli travellers choosing to drop out in Asia and the range of Jewish life and access points is mind boggling.
As a result, the conventional stuff is surprising and the unconventional remarkable. The regular Reform learning group in a Starbucks in downtown Hong Kong, the recent beautiful refurbishment of the great synagogues of Kolkata and Mumbai, the Moishe House in Beijing, the Chabad House in Colombo, tell us that the continent is pregnant with possibilities. The far-sighted folk of the past have paid down more than enough for newer arrivals to build on.
ON FRIDAY: The Jews of Africa
Main photo: Jews in Mumbai, India, usher in Rosh Hashanah in 2017 (Indian Express)
