Jews continue their benevolent work, but live in fear. They are a peace-loving, close-knit, community going about their business — that was until a year ago when their serenity was shattered by the assault on Chabad House during the Mumbai terror attack. In those few days, five people were killed and the building virtually destroyed.
There are an estimated 5,000 Jews living in India, 4,000 in Mumbai. In a city of 18 million people, they are just a drop in the ocean. Post 26/11, for the first time in several hundred years, the Jewish community feels daunted. A local Jewish leader in distress said it was a wake-up call, “We have a tolerant society in India but we cannot remain complacent any more”.
Solomon Sopher, a well-known Jewish philanthropist who heads the Sir Jacob Sassoon Trust that manages the Knesset Eliyahoo synagogues in Mumbai, says the attack was totally shocking. “We have never before seen anything of this kind in India,” notes Sopher, who also manages the Magen David and the Ohel David synagogues at Pune.
Sopher notes that the Jewish community did not get too frightened and continued to do the work they were involved in, but repeated advisories issued by the government started to cause fear. “Even a couple of months ago, there was a warning issued about a possible attack on Jewish places of worship or other establishments and the community became scared.”
According to Prakash Koshekar a traditional Bene Israel Jew from interior Maharashtra, Jews in India have lived in perfect harmony with Muslims for centuries. “Nearly 98 per cent of the children attending schools run by Jewish people in India are attended by Muslims. One fails to understand why we should be targeted.”
The Israeli authorities are tightlipped, but according to intelligence experts, they are keeping a very strict watch on every single Jewish institution and are constantly advising the community about where and how to take precautions.
For instance, in Goa, a favoured tourist destination for Jews in India, officers from Israel’s consulate in Mumbai secretly keep a very close vigil on places frequented by Israeli tourists and even interact with the local intelligence agencies on possible attack alerts.
According to Koshekar, though places of Jewish prayer are still open for people of all faiths, they are now more cautious. Sopher, however, says such moves are only precautionary and the synagogues are open to all. “As a matter of fact, to commemorate the first anniversary of the attacks, the trust has planned a special all-religion memorial service at the Knesset Eliyahoo synagogue on November 25.”
— RR