"...with a talent for friendship."

How true, Robert. [now, if you'd only remember everyone's name.... :)]

This was a beautiful moment. She valued your time, you valued her. What a place the world would be if we all took such kind notice of one another. Thank you.

Pearl:

Oh yeah, I'll remember names—the same time as I learn the zoom function on the copying machine.

Juggling Frogs:

Unfortunately the world will never be like my shul, a warm and generous environment. Thanks for taking time out from juggling, um, frogs, to comment.

Anytime I see "Bollywood" I can't help but think of a large dance number. Something tells me that this isn't happening at your shul. ;)

From time to time, in the eternal conflict between the Immaterial and the Material, we let the Material win. Don't we, o sly one?

When I was a kid I used to love reading about exotic Jewish communities, including the ones in India.

Hey Ariel here - Rebekah's son. This is a fantastic little story about my mom - well written! It really captures her "at work" personality. I loved it :)

The little tangent I'd like to embark upon is how the existence of Jewish communities in India is considered "exotic" by American Jews. A comment on this thread triggered this tangent.

I can't tell you how many "oh that's so interesting"s I have gotten in the history of my contact with American Jews. Sometimes they really mean it's interesting; sometimes they mean it in a patronizing way; sometimes they heckle me like "I've never heard of Indian Jews - there's no way you exist!" - often, it’s condescending; sometimes it’s rude; most of the time it bugs me. It bugs me not because of my lack of pride in my heritage or being treated as a zoo exhibit but rather because I feel sorry for the ignorance that drives many of these responses to my identity.

Growing up in India, most of the Jews I knew were Indian Jews. We had some family in Israel and the US so I figured there had to be a couple of Jews there. I guess it’s all about perspective.

I think this uber fascination with Indian Jews is unique to American Jews. Maybe it's because American Jews as a subset of Americans don't really get out much and don't know as much about the outside world as other citizens of our planet. They view Indian Jews as Gauguin viewed (and painted) the Tahitians - exotic, other-worldly.

European Jews know all about Indian Jews. So do South African, South American, Australian and Kiwi Jews. I remember my relief when introducing myself to other foreign students during my year abroad in Israel - their response was "yeah ok we get it - there are Jews all over the world" and left it at that. I thought to myself "wow - these guys have heard of the Diaspora!” By contrast, I had arguments with at least three American Jews on my program about the existence of Jews in India (all three are now graduates of top universities and successful professionals) One was completely dumbfounded by my “claim” that I had no relatives perish in WW2 and that nobody in my family came from Russia or Poland.

Some factoids to leave you with: - Only 40% of the world’s Jews live in the US.
- India has more Jews than Denmark or Austria (I wonder how many times my Yid Danish or Austrian brothers and sisters have to endure “oh, you’re Jewish? How interesting!!”

Namaste and Shalom

Interestingly yours,

--Ariel

PS - Maybe if this thread turns into the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Indian Jews I can just refer people to it instead of answering their lame questions ;)

Ariel:

In some ways, the provincial nature of American Jews is the by-product of our success and security. We live wrapped up in our own lives and regions because we have become so comfortable doing so. But there is a serious danger in forgetting about our brothers overseas who don't happen to be in Israel.

But it's not just Jews who live overseas. When my family first moved from the South, (Southern U.S.), to New York, I was treated the same way. Most of the kids and adults really had trouble believing there were Jews south of Philadelphia.

But without becoming condescending yourself, take your heritage and experiences to heart and realize that you have a big advantage over most of your fellow Jews and non-Jews alike in that you have adapted from one region to the next and remained a Jew. Throughout our history, too many Jews haven't been able to make that transition successfully.

For a while there was a kosher vegetarian Indian restaurant in Lakewood. The owners were members of an ancient Indian sect that for hundreds (thousands?) of years ate no meat products. The woman told us that in India, she had observant Jews for neighbors who would sooner eat in her house than in the houses of some of their co-religionists, b/c they were absolutely positive that no meat - and thus no non-kosher ingredients - would have crossed her threshhold.

A freshman college classmate was a Jewish gal from New Orleans, never would have expected it. Lillian Hellman was from those parts, too. A Jewish man, Leo Frank, was lynched in Georgia in 1919.

Ariel:

I used the term exotic in the sense of different and unknown. Historically speaking, many Indian Jews (especially the Bene Israel) differed in practice from other Jewish communities. They were also unknown for many centuries to the much of the outside world.

I did not intend to come across as condescending and I hope I did not stick my foot further down my mouth with the explanation I just provided. If you still think I am being narrow-minded, then this may indeed be the case. As far as I am concerned, Jake and anyone else (not just you) who is not from Brooklyn is exotic.

kol tuv

ariel:

"I had no relatives perish in WW2"

If it makes your conversation partner feel any better, tell them the Portuguese persecuted Jews during their colonial reign in india.

Can you by any chance read Munda?

I first used a copy-collate-staple photocopy machine in the mid-80s. This Kodak unit was awesome in size as well as performance: its three sections totalled twelve feet long and it could produce fifteen stapled copies of a forty page document in ten minutes. This back in the day when Macs had black-and-white screens, faxes used thermal paper, most printers were text-only dot-matrix, and secretaries were more likely to be equipped with Selectrics than computers.

Sure made government committee meetings go faster. I figure it also eliminated the need for at least one secretary and cut the duties and hire time of the expensive "court reporter" considerably. Our tax dollars at work - in that case, money well spent.

4 things:

1. Love and respect for everyone here. Didn't mean to insult anyone - just general venting (I feel better)

2. What is munda? (I thought to myself - then I looked it up on Wikipedia)

3. While on Wikipedia, I found a helpful article about Indian Jews (my family falls in the category of Baghdadi Jews mentioned in the article)

4. I liked the comment about Jews moving thru many countries but still remaining Jewish. I guess every Jewish community has one of these stories to tell - and each of them is very interesting

Ariel:

So I guess that means you can't help me decipher a document in Munda.

Anyway, see http://agmk.blogspot.com/2007/06/jewish-money-lenders-in-india.html

Ariel,

I don't believe that the fascination is with Indian Jews necessarily, but with Jews in general-- scattered throughout the world. Almost anywhere in the world you'll find a Jew...sometimes where you least expect to.

I live in Toronto and became friends with an Indian Jew when I was in high school.(I've crossed paths with several Jewish Indian men and women since then) Of course I wanted to know more about life "back home" but I was even more fascinated by the fact that her mother had been born in Pakistan. Aside from my friend's mother, I'd never even thought that Jews might live in Pakistan.

And I guess that's what it comes down to: we often don't think. Simply because our thinking is very narrow and our lifestyles are very insular.

I'm sure your mom is an asset to the shul, btw!

I want to thank everyone for their comments. I just want to say that when I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, I thought Jews from Manhattan were not just exotic, but otherworldly.

To this day I love, really love meeting Jews from other countries because no matter how deep the cultural differences, the mystical kesher, bridge, between Jews binds us inextricably together—and in the end as the Sages taught: Kol Yisroel arevim ze la ze. All of Israel is responsible one for the other.

Once again, I want to thank Rebekah for all her hard work on behalf of the Ariel Avrech Yahrtzeit Lecture. Without her good cheer, efficiency, and infinite patience, we would be at loose ends.