Today we toured three Jewish Synagogues in Mumbai and learned about the way the faith is practiced in India as opposed to Israel and the United States. Cultural foods and practices are mixed in with a J ewish practices. The Jews have been immigrating to India since the second century BCE. many families came, as part of exodus movements from the Holy Land. Many started as farmers and made their way into finance as well as other fields. After partition in 1948 many Jews in India emigrated to the newly formed State of Israel. Today there are 20,000 Jews in India, with four thousand in Mumbai. The Mumbai families come from 142 family last names. Twenty- five percent marry outside the faith. The rest use a Yente, matchmaker. The young people interact in youth groups to keep them connected. If a woman marries outside the faith in India she becomes her husbands faith. Bollywood movies play up the higher class or caste male and a love affair with a lower class or caste female.
Many Jews live in Mumbai's suburbs but they travel in to their family synagogue for the Sabbath if they have time off on Saturday. The work week varies here, but often people work every other Saturday. Sunday is the standard day off, and only Sunday. The Jewish families like to sit in the same row as their parents, and grandparents have sat for generations. The synagogues are subsidized by a wealthy family. On Fridays the synagogues feed the poor Jews. They provide basic food for the week and on Friday evenings chicken for the Sabbath.
Our guide Hannah says Indians are very tolerant of one another and religious practices. That is the national mantra and we hear it a lot. Our group isn't sure what the reality is. Hannah says that as Jews they are not afraid of groups here. It was an interesting morning and we enjoyed hearing prayers sung in one temple. We also watched the unlocking of the sacred Torah followed by a reading.
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