Yarmulkes are the last things you expect to see in Delhi. Ezekiel Isaac Malekar wears one. He is the head of Delhi’s Jewish community of eight families, an unordained rabbi and the Honorary Secretary of the Judah Hyam Synagogue, that is situated at the corner of Humayun Road, next to the tony Khan Market. The synagogue is one of Delhi’s best kept secrets and is austere within, unlike its resplendent cousin in Cochin—a few chairs, a dais with the holy book of the Jews, the Torah placed facing the east.
Malekar says Delhi has been host to his community for over 2,000 years; today there are only 40 Jews in Delhi, making it the national capital’s smallest religious community. It is Malekar’s task to provide them with spiritual succor, and preserve the religious and cultural heritage of a fast-diminishing religion in India—Judaism.
Legend has it that Jews came to India when a small group of survivors of a shipwreck off the coast of Bombay decided to settle there. Malekar is originally from Maharashtra. Her has no plans to go anywhere else leaving the synagogue. The building and its adjoining cemetery is one of thirty in India for the Jewish population, which amounts to only around 5,000 people.
“Besides few diplomats and occasional visitors, there are about 40 Indian Jews in Delhi,” says Malekar, who has been the rabbi for 25 years.
Delhi’s Jews may be small in number, but big in attitude. Malekar hopes to see his daughter Shulamith, a graduate in Political Science who ranked 2nd, both in graduation and post graduation, as the first ever female rabbi. “In Judaism, it’s not surprising to have women rabbis. They not only conduct prayers but also perform rituals and ceremonies such as bat and bar mitzvah (a ceremony for girls and boys after they attain the age of 12 and 13 years, when they are supposed to become ethically and morally responsible), as well as wedding ceremonies,” he says, adding that being a small community, Delhi Jews cannot afford to be narrow-minded and reserved in their thinking.
Every Friday, this small but tight community congregates at the Judah Hyam Synagogue; a building which was gifted to them by the government of India in 1956. “My aim is to keep the light of Judaism burning in this part of the world and preserve old Jewish identity, culture and tradition. The well-being and happiness of one and all is of utmost importance, and that is what I strive to achieve every day,” says Malekar, who came to Delhi in 1980, and since then, has dedicated his life to matters concerning the synagogue.
“Jews have been living in India for the last 2,000 years without persecution, and I consider India is my motherland,” he adds.
Fuelled by Malekar’s efforts, many radical changes have made their way into the belief systems of the practitioners.
For one, Malekar has worked consistently for women being allowed to read certain portions of the Torah in the synagogue—the symbolic tenpeople group known as Minyan, for public worship or ‘Kaddish’—a bold departure from tradition.“I don’t differentiate between men and women, and welcome inter-faith couples if one of them is a Jew,” says Malekar who has performed seven inter-faith weddings in the last five years.
This raises valid concerns regarding their security as a minority. “Even though we are a minority community, no rights and special privileges have been conferred upon us. Furthermore, Jewish personal laws are also not codified, and therefore during civil suits in the courts, we are governed by Hindu laws, even though Indian Jews have argued for a Uniform Civil Code for all religions,” he informs and adds, “But after the 26/11 incident in Mumbai, and more so after the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the government has been kind enough to deploy armed police and commandos to guard the synagogue.” On November 26, 2008, Ajmal Kasab’s accomplices entered Chabad House, the headquarters of the Hasidic Jews in Mumbai, and killed Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife Rivka, along with four others.
Malekar has been honoured with several awards, such as Doctor of Jewish Welfare, Ambassador of Peace, and Mahavir and Mahatma Awards, for preserving Jewish culture, identity and traditions. He delivered Jewish prayers during the death ceremonies of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and recently, also at Sai Baba’s funeral ceremony.
After working as a Deputy Registrar (Law) in the National Human Rights commission for 15 years, Malekar refuses to move to Israel with his aged parents. “We are going nowhere,” he affirms.
“One of us will always be here.”