The Jews of India
For 2,000 years, India has been home to a small but prominent Jewish community. So what makes India one of the safest places for Jews in the world?
Rahel Musleah was 6 years old when she immigrated with her parents to Philadelphia in 1964. Like most Indian immigrants, she experienced the usual culture shock: bad food, puzzled locals, a less-familiar tongue. But Musleah wasn’t just different than most Americans — she was different than most Indians, too. She wasn’t Hindu, Muslim, or Christian, but Jewish. Few know that India has long been home to a small but prominent Jewish community, part of which dates back to over 2,000 years. “Even today, with so much emphasis on diversity and global Judaism, people are still surprised that there are Jews in India,” said Musleah. Indeed, according to many of its Jewish citizens, India is one of the safest countries for Jews in human history.