| Two Models of Jewish Continuity in India The Jews of Cochin and the Bene Israel As American Jews worry about their future, there are lessons to be learned from examining Jewish experience in other cultures. In India, two very distinct Jewish communities the Cochin Jews and the Bene Israel Jews each lived freely in India for many centuries, graciously interacting with their Hindu and Muslim neighbors yet firmly adhering to their Jewishness. But they did so by very different means. The Cochin Jews were learned and judiciously adapted elements of Hindu culture into their own religious life, but within the framework of Judaic law. The Bene Israel were lost Jews who so tenaciously held to the observance of Shabbat that over two centuries they made an incredible transformation from an anonymous, rural oil-pressing caste into modern, urban Jews. What secrets can we learn from our Indian co-religionists to help us maintain our own identity here in America? |
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