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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{One source|date=March 2015}}{{Infobox ethnic group
| image = Bene Israel family.png
| caption = Indian Jewish family
| group = Indian Jews in Israel
| poptime =
| popplace = [[Tel Aviv]], [[Nevatim]], [[Shahar, Israel|Shahar]], [[Yuval]], [[Mesilat Zion]], [[Jerusalem]], [[Maalot]], [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], [[Migdal Haemek]], [[Tzfat]], [[Tiberia]], [[Kiryat Shemona]], [[Nesher]], [[Afula]], [[Nazareth Illit]], [[Beersheba]], [[Ramla]], [[Dimona]], [[Yeruham]], and major Israeli cities
| rels = [[Judaism]]
| langs = [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] (Main language for all generations); <br> Older generation: [[Malayalam]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Kuki people|Kuki]], [[Languages of India]]
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| related_groups =
}}

'''Indian Jews in Israel''' are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the [[Indian Jews|Indian Jewish]] communities, who now reside within the State of [[Israel]]. Indian Jews who live in Israel include thousands of [[Cochin Jews]] and [[Paradesi Jews]] of [[Kerala]]; and thousands from the [[Bene Israel]] of [[Maharashtra]] and other parts of [[British India]] and the [[Bene Menashe]] of [[Manipur]] and [[Mizoram]].

==History==
{{Expand section|date=June 2019}}
===Aliyah or migration to Israel===
[[File:זוג מקוצ'ין לאחר עלייתם לישראל.jpg|thumb|A Jewish couple from Cochin after immigrating to Israel]]
Since the formation of modern state [[Israel]] in 1948, the majority of Indian Jews have "made [[Aliyah]]" or emigrated to that country. Jews during the British colonial rule were divided into many different communities such as the [[Bene Israel]] and [[Baghdadi Jews]],<ref>Rachel Delia Benaim, [http://tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/188925/mumbai-tombstone-engraver 'For India's Largest Jewish Community, One Muslim Makes All the Tombstones,'] [[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]] 23 February 2015.</ref> though the Baghdadi Jews refused to recognize the B'nei Israel as Jews, and withheld dispensing charity to them for that reason while the Bene Israel continued to dispense charity to all those in need.<ref name="Katz" >Nathan Katz, [https://books.google.it/books?id=ZWX6pF2PTJwC&pg=PA91 ''Who Are the Jews of India?,''] California University Press, 2000 pp.91ff.</ref> There are reminders of Jewish localities in Kerala still left such as Synagogues.
Majority of Jews from the old British-Indian capital of [[Calcutta]] (Kolkata) have also migrated to Israel over the last seven decades.

When India became independent from Britain in 1947 and Israel established itself as a nation in 1948 and with the heightened nationalism and emphasis in the [[Partition of India|Partition]] of India of Hindu and Muslim identities, most of [[Cochin Jews]] emigrated from India. Generally they went to Israel (made [[aliyah]]).
Many from the migrants joined the ''[[moshav]]im'' (agricultural settlements) of [[Nevatim]], [[Shahar, Israel|Shahar]], [[Yuval]], and [[Mesilat Zion]].<ref name=":1">Weil, Shalva. "Lost Israelites from North-East India: Re-Traditionalisation and Conversion among the Shinlung from the Indo-Burmese Borderlands." ''The Anthropologist'', 2004. 6(3): 219-233.</ref> Others settled in the neighbourhood of [[Katamon]] in [[Jerusalem]], and in [[Beersheba]], [[Ramla]], [[Dimona]] and [[Yeruham]], where many [[Bene Israel]] had settled and maintained a [[Judeo-Marathi]] dialect.<ref>Shulman, D. and Weil, S. (eds). ''Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India.'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008.</ref>

Between 1948 and 1952, some 2,300 [[Bene Israel]] made Aliyah to Israel, their new and historic homeland, from India, many as refugees from predominantly Muslim lands (western parts of British India).<ref>Weil, Shalva 2000 India, The Larger Immigrations from Eastern Countries, Jerusalem: Ben-ZviInstitute and the Ministry of Education. (Hebrew)</ref> Several rabbis refused to marry Bene Israel to other Jews, on grounds that they were not legitimate Jews. As a result of sit-down protests and hunger strikes, the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]] returned 337 individuals in several groups to India between 1952 and 1954. Most returned to Israel after several years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Weil |first=Shalva |year=2011 |chapter=Bene Israel |editor-first=Judith |editor-last=Baskin |title=Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

===Racism faced by Bene Israel===
In 1962, the Indian and international press reported that European-Jewish authorities in Israel had treated the Bene Israel with racism due to their darker skin colour.<ref name="Abramov">{{cite book |last=Abramov |first=S. Zalman |title=Perpetual dilemma: Jewish religion in the Jewish State |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |year=1976 |pages=277–278}}</ref><ref name="Smooha">{{cite book |last=Smooha |first=Sammy |title=Israel: Pluralism and Conflict |publisher=University of California Press |year=1978 |pages=400–401}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-01-19 |title=Israel's Indian Jews and their lives in the 'promised land' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-42731363 |access-date=2022-06-15}}</ref> They objected to the [[Chief Rabbi of Israel]] ruling that, before registering a marriage between Indian Jews and Jews not belonging to that community, the registering rabbi should investigate the lineage of the Indian applicant for possible non-Jewish descent. In case of doubt, they should require the applicant to perform conversion or immersion.<ref name="Abramov" /><ref name="Smooha" /> The discrimination may be related to the fact that some religious authorities believed that the Bene Israel were not fully Jewish because of having intermarried during their long separation from major communities of Jews. Most Israelis thought that was a convenient cover for racially based bias against Jews who were not Ashkenazi or Sephardim.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/conversion.htm |title=How Do the Issues in the Conversion Controversy Relate to Israel? |publisher=Jcpa.org |access-date=16 December 2010}}</ref> Between 1962 and 1964, the Bene Israel community staged protests, and in 1964 the Israeli [[Chief Rabbinate of Israel|Rabbinate]] declared that the Bene Israel are "full Jews in every respect".<ref>{{cite book |last=Weil |first=Shalva |year=2008 |chapter=Jews in India |editor-first=M. Avrum |editor-last=Erlich |title=Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora |location=Santa Barbara, USA |publisher=ABC CLIO}}</ref>

==Present Status==
The Report of the High Level Commission on the Indian Diaspora reviewed life in Israel for the Bene Israel community. It noted that the city of [[Beersheba]] in Southern Israel has the largest community of Bene Israel, with a sizable one in [[Ramla]]. They operate a new form of the joint family transnationally.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Weil |first=Shalva |year=2012 |title=The Bene Israel Indian Jewish Family in Transnational Context |journal=Journal of Comparative Family Studies |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=71–80|doi=10.3138/jcfs.43.1.71 }}</ref> Generally the first generation Bene Israel in Israel have not been politically active by choice and had modest means typical of many first generation arrivals in Israel. Successive generations have generally assimilated into Israel's diverse populace and contribute in numerous fields including army/intelligence, management, arts, sports and education. The Israeli state reports that they have not formed continuing economic connections to India and have limited political status in Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter9.pdf|title=Report of the High Level Commission on the Indian Diaspora|publisher=Indian Diaspora|access-date=9 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101011172532/http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter9.pdf|archive-date=11 October 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>"The Indian Jews at the Heart of the Netanyahu-Modi Love Affair", Ha'aretz, Jan. 15, 2018 [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.834318]</ref> However, Bene Israel do maintain social and cultural ties with family and friends in India, Israel the United States, the U.K. and other countries.{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2019}} As noted by the Jewish Women's Archive and other sources, periodicals covering the global Bene Israel community has been continuously distributed to select community members since the founding of Wilson College, Mumbai. {{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2019}}As Israelites, the Bene Israel overwhelmingly support Israeli political parties favoring a strong defense policy and continued development in the West Bank.{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2019}}

The [[Cochin Jews]] form a significant majority in the ''[[moshav]]im'' (agricultural settlements) of [[Nevatim]], [[Shahar, Israel|Shahar]], [[Yuval]], and [[Mesilat Zion]].<ref name=":1" /> Others settled in the neighbourhood of [[Katamon]] in [[Jerusalem]], and in [[Beersheba]], [[Ramla]], [[Dimona]], and [[Yeruham]], where many [[Bene Israel]] had settled.<ref>Shulman, D. and Weil, S. (eds). ''Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India''. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008.</ref> The migrated [[Cochin Jews]] still continue to speak [[Judeo-Malayalam|Judeo Malayalam]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spector|first=Johanna|date=1972|title=Shingli Tunes of the Cochin Jews|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/833956|journal=Asian Music|volume=3|issue=2|pages=23–28|doi=10.2307/833956|jstor=833956|issn=0044-9202}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=B.|first=Segal, J.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/624148605|title=A history of the Jews of Cochin|date=1993|publisher=Vallentine Mitchell|oclc=624148605}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Judeo-Malayalam|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_dum_000740|access-date=2021-03-27|website=Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World|doi=10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_dum_000740}}</ref>

==Notable people==
*[[Eli Ben-Menachem]]
*[[Ruby Daniel]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/daniel-ruby |title=Ruby Daniel |work=Jewish Women's Archive |access-date=12 October 2013}}</ref>
*[[Samson Kehimkar]]
*[[Sarah Avraham]]<ref name="timesofisrael1">{{cite news|author=Rebecca McKinsey|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/hindi-convert-to-judaism-israels-thai-boxing-queen/ |title=Ex-Hindu is Israel's Thai-boxing queen; New women's champion Sarah Avraham immigrated from Mumbai after 2008 Chabad House attack|work=The Times of Israel |date=September 23, 2012 |access-date=April 9, 2014}}</ref>
*[[Ben Avram]]
*[[Eban Hyams]]
*[[Uri Benjamin]]
*[[Ofer Talker]]
*[[Idan Yaniv]]
*[[Liora Itzhak]]

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:29-Bnei-Historical-IndiaInk-blog480.jpg|Bene Israel
File:BeneIsrael.jpg|Indian Jews
File:Israeli Bene Israel.jpg|Bene Israel
</gallery>

==See also==

* [[Judaism in India]]
* [[Jewish ethnic divisions]]
* [[Cochin Jews]]
* [[Paradesi Jews]]
* [[Sephardic Jews in India]]
* [[Bene Israel]]
* [[Bnei Menashe]]
* [[Bene Ephraim]]
* [[Indians in Israel]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101011172532/http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter9.pdf Indians in Israel]

{{Israeli Jews by ethnic or national origin in Israel}}
{{Demographics of Israel}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indians In Israel}}
[[Category:Indian-Jewish culture in Israel| ]]
[[Category:Israeli people of Indian-Jewish descent| ]]

Indian Jews in Israel - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 01:15, 14 August 2023