I first became aware of India’s Jews in 1996, when I was sent by my newspaper in Mumbai to cover a reception held by the city’s Jewish population for the visiting Israeli president Ezer Weizman. I had never noticed Mumbai’s Jews before and, looking around that crowded room, I realised why. They were physically no different from any other Indian. The women wore saris; the men had moustaches. So when the president of India’s synagogues got up on stage to thank India for its hospitality, I thought it odd that someone so obviously Indian was speaking as if he were a guest in a foreign country.
President Weizman urged the Indian Jews to come and live in Israel. It was an offer that received an enthusiastic response from those in the audience. The old people were considering retiring and the young were planning to emigrate straight after college. They firmly believed that life in the Holy Land would be full of promise and prosperity.
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