Bombay Jews

Jews started settling in Bombay in the 2nd century.[1] The Jewish community of Bombay consisted of three distant groups, the Bene Israeli Jews, the Baghdadi Jews, and the Cochin Jews.[2]

See also: History of the Jews in Mumbai

19th century Bene Israel
Bene Israel in Bombay
A Bene Israel cemetery in Bombay

The Bene Israeli Jewish community of Bombay, who migrated from the Konkan villages, south of Bombay, are believed to be the descendants of the Jews of Israel who were shipwrecked off the Konkan coast, probably in the year 175 BCE, during the reign of the Greek ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Following the pogroms of Daud Pasha of Baghdad, many Baghdadi Jews fled Iraq, and settled in Bombay.[1]

Culture

The Bene Israeli Jewish community of Bombay speak the Marathi language, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the state of Maharashtra in India.

References
  1. Weil, Shalva (30 November 2008). "Background: A rich history now stained with blood". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  2. The Jewish Traveler: Hadassah Magazine's Guide to the World's Jewish Communities and Sights, p.69

Further reading
  • John Wilson (1865), The Bene-Israel of Bombay: An Appeal for Their Christian Education
  • Rebecca Reuben (1913), The Bene Israel of Bombay
  • Reginald E. Enthoven (1920), The Tribes and Castes of Bombay, vol. 1, pp. 69–70
  • Schifra Strizower (1971), The Bene Israel of Bombay: a study of a Jewish community
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