Jewish, Marathi-speaking (Israel)

The Bene Israel ('children of Israel') are the largest of India's Jewish communities, from the Konkan coast of Maharashtra. Their tradition says their ancestors fled Judea, often dated to the persecution of Antiochus in 175 BC, and were shipwrecked at Navgaon south of Mumbai, where seven men and seven women survived. Living among Marathi villagers they kept the Sabbath, circumcision, some festivals and the Shema, pressed sesame oil and were known as Shanivar Teli, 'Saturday oil-pressers'. The scholar David Rahabi recognised them as Jews and taught them, and later Cochin Jewish teachers and 19th-century Hebrew and Marathi Scriptures drew them into normative Judaism. Under British rule they moved to Bombay and served in the army and administration, and later in Indian cinema. Genetic studies show both Jewish and Indian ancestry. About 20,000 lived in India before most emigrated to Israel between 1948 and the 1970s; about 5,000 remain in India, mainly in Mumbai and Thane, and some 60,000-80,000 people of Bene Israel descent live in Israel. They are distinct from the Cochin Jews of Kerala, the Baghdadi Jews and the Bnei Menashe.

Bene Israel culture is Marathi in language, dress, food and music: saris, rice and coconut cooking, Marathi kirtan devotional songs on Jewish themes, and the mehndi (henna) ceremony before weddings. The Malida, a thanksgiving offering of flattened rice, coconut, sugar and fruit to the prophet Elijah (Eliyahu Hannabi), is made at births, weddings and on fulfilment of vows; tradition places Elijah's ascent at Khandale near Alibag. In Israel the Marathi magazine Mai Boli, founded in 1985, and cultural associations keep Marathi songs, theatre and festivals alive among the older generation.

Bene Israel practise Rabbanite Judaism, largely in the Sephardi rite, with their own customs such as the Malida and the special veneration of Elijah. In India they had their own synagogues (prayer halls) in Mumbai, Thane, Alibag, Pune and Ahmedabad. In Israel the Sephardi Chief Rabbi required investigation of their ancestry before marriage with other Jews in 1962; after protests and hunger strikes the Rabbinate declared them 'full Jews in every respect' in 1964. Their own synagogues in the Negev towns and Lod-Ramla keep Bene Israel melodies; the young are traditional to secular.

The complete Bible, the Jesus Film and audio recordings are available in Marathi, and Hebrew resources serve the Israel-born. In 19th-century Bombay, missionary schools and Scripture translations helped the Bene Israel learn Hebrew and the Bible, so the community knows the Scriptures well, but Christianity is remembered as the faith that pressed them to convert. Joshua Project counts almost no Christians, and no outreach to the Bene Israel in Israel is known.