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Cochin Jews The oldest of the three Jewish communities, traders from Judea and Israel arrived in the city of Cochin 2,500 years ago. Assimilated with the local population, the community built synagogues and colonies there. The synagogue in Cochin is a protected heritage site and is a popular tourist destination. Also see Paradesi Jews and Desi Jews. Bene Israel The Bene Israel arrived 2,100 years ago after a shipwreck stranded seven Jewish families from Judea at Navagaon near Alibag, just south of Mumbai. The families multiplied and integrated with the local Maharashtrian population adopting their language, dress and food. They were nicknamed the shanivār telī ("Saturday oil-pressers") by the local population as they abstained from work on Saturdays which is Judaism's Shabbat. There are currently 53 Cochin Jewsin Kerala. The Bene Israel claim a lineage to the Cohanim, which claims descent from Aaron, the brother of Moses. In 2002, a DNA test confirmed that the Bene Israel share the same heredity as the Cohanim. Baghdadi Jews Despite the name, the Baghdadi Jews are not exclusively of Iraqi origin: many came from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen as well. These Jews emigrated to India around 250 years ago and settled down in the city of Mumbai. They were traders and quickly became one of the highest earning communities in the city. As philanthropists, some of them donated their wealth to public structures. The David Sassoon Docks and a Sassoon Library are some of the famous landmarks still standing today. As well as Mumbai, Baghdadi Jews spread to other parts of India, with an important community in Kolkata. Scions of this community did well in trade (particularly jute, but also tea) and, in later years, contributed officers to the army. One, Lt-Gen J.F.R. Jacob PVSM, becoming state governor of, first, Goa and then Punjab. Bnei Menashe An estimated 9,000 people in the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur started practicing Judaism in the 1970s, claiming to be descendants of the Tribe of Manasseh. They have since been recognized by Israel as a lost tribe. Bene Ephraim The Bene Ephraim are a small group of Telugu-speaking Jews in eastern Andhra Pradesh, whose recorded observance of Judaism, like that of the Bnei Menashe, is quite recent, in this going back only to 1981. Today Jews in India typically have not intermarred with gentiles. In recent years however, Indian Jewish Rabbis such as Ezekiel Isaac Malekar have presided over inter-faith marriage *.The majority of Indian Jews have made aliya to Israel since the creation of the modern state in 1948. See also | ||||||||||
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