Shma146;Yisrael!

General Sharon arrives amidst cries of Shalom Salaam/Peace, on the first official visit by an Israeli prime minister to India. Since most ...

General Sharon arrives amidst cries of Shalom Salaam/Peace, on the first official visit by an Israeli prime minister to India. Since most of the Indian Jewish community has migrated since the 1940s to Israel, England and the United States, some ironies do jump out. Until not so long ago the Indian passport was not valid for Israel. Yet in North India, especially among Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs, pro-Jewish sentiments ran high, because of the legacy of Partition. In the late 70s, my father, a mild-mannered person, was almost lynched one evening at the Delhi Gymkhana bar because he sympathised with the Palestinians. I got flak in Delhi University for asking why the guilt of Europe was dumped on Arabs: Why were Palestinians driven from their land because of another set of religious beliefs? It was most unpleasant to hear how Indian Jews were racially unwelcome there. Meanwhile, what impressions have we of the Yehudis? Three decades ago: My grandfather, a scientist, comes back raving about 8220;progress8221; from Tel Aviv.

I remember the warmth and grace of Mr and Mrs Samuel Hallegua of Jew Town, Cochin. Mr H was from Presidency College, Madras, like my mother. They set up a club called POSH Presidency Old Students8217; Hodgepodge and had some great evenings. Today: A batchmate from University returns gloomed out by the suffocation and hatred in Jerusalem. 8220;Most unholy!8221; he mutters. And every dhabawala, tour-and-taxi operator and curio seller in North India, from Ladakh to remote hamlets on the trekker trails of Himachal Pradesh knows the Sabras born-in Israel Jews: 8220;They quarrel the most, haggle the most and never say thanks. They have little guide books into which they8217;re always peering and fight on the basis of what it says.8221;

So the second irony is sharper still. Three distinct communities of Jews prospered amidst the graven images of India: The Bene Israel, the Cochinis and 8216;White Jews8217; from Europe Armenians in particular are remembered still, with 8216;Armenian Street8217; in Georgetown, Madras, and Sassoon Dock in Mumbai. The Jews of Cochin apparently came to Cranganore after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE and had their own principality for centuries until the 15th century, when a chieftainship dispute dispossessed them. The irony is that the Romans razed that temple because the Jews, not un-naturally, objected when Caligula 8220;Little Boots8221; the Emperor wanted to install his own idol there. Yet it was only the 8220;idolatrous8221; Hindus who, in the entire universe of discourse, never persecuted Yehudis, but instead made them welcome. The ultimate Jewish prayer/statement goes: Shma8217;Yisrael! Adonai Eloihanu, Adonai Echad Deuteronomy 6: 4-5. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Ekam Sat? Many Indians certainly think so.