in agriculture and oil production which later on became their main occupation. They were isolated from
the formal world Jewish communities however they maintained their religious customs and traditions
passing them down from generation to generation. The Bene Israel Jews believe that their forefathers
arrived in India before the destruction of the second temple.
The Baghdadi Jews, composite of Jews from Iraq, Syria, Iran and other surrounding areas, settled in the
city in the 1800's. These Baghdadi Jews came to India both to escape religious persecution and in
pursuit of the enormous mercantile opportunities that this port city offered. Under British rule, the
Jewish community of Bombay (now Mumbai) flourished. The Bene Israel community, located in
Mumbai is the largest of the Indian Jewish communities.
At its peak, in the late 1940's, the Jewish population of
Mumbai reached nearly 30,000. It is believed that the
first Jews settled in Bombay as early as the 6th century,
though they were small in number. Prior to the arrival of
the Baghdadi Jews, the Bene Israel community who
trace their own roots back to the oil pressers in the
Galilee, refrained from work on Shabbat, practiced
circumcision and respected Jewish dietary laws. By the
18th century, Jews began to arrive en-masse to Bombay
from the nearby Konkan coast area. They however also
practiced many customs unique to only their own community in India. They adopted many more
mainstream customs after exposure to the Baghdadi Jews who were very much connected with the rest
of modern world Jewry. Jews also settled in Madras (now Chennai) soon after its founding in 1640.
Most of them were coral merchants from England who were of Portuguese origin and belonged to the
Paiva or Porto families.
Identity of its own
In the 19th century, after being discovered by a visiting British Rabbi, they were reunited and learnt
about Judaism. They tended to migrate from villages in the Konkan area to the nearby cities, mainly
Mumbai, Pune, and Ahmedabad. The unique culture of the Bene Israel community is that they blended
into the surrounding culture while retaining their uniqueness as Jews. Most of the Bene Israel have
surnames ending with “kar” identifying the villages where they resided. For example people from
Navgaon use the last named Navgaonkar (Person from Navgaon). Similarly from Borgaon came
Borgaonkars, Chincholi came Chincholkar, from Diva came Divekars; Chordhe came Chordekar, Pen
for Penkars and so on. This is similar to the customs followed by the local Maharashrtrian community.
All in all there are 142 such surnames.
In modern times as they have evolved and gotten closer to their Jewish roots, many have dropped their
Indian surnames and taken on the first name of their grandfathers or ancestors to create their own
family name; for example Raymond, Samson, Benjamin, etc. Their food, clothing and weddings have
influences of the local culture combined with Jewish rituals and traditions as prescribed in the Torah.
With Bombay becoming an important port of British India, the Bene Israel community was encouraged
to move to Bombay which offered better employment opportunities. Even though the Bene Israel
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