At one time, there were 40,000 Jews in India. Today there are less than 4000, most having made aliyah to Israel in the 1950s after the establishment of the State of Israel and in the face of uncertainty about their fate in the newly independent state of India. On our recent trip to India, we visited synagogues in three principal areas – Mumbai (west coast of central India), Kolkata (east coast of central India) and Cochin (southern coast). (more…)
We were a small group of Jews traveling in Uzbekistan, a predominantly Muslim country. Our tour group had originally included nine others who dropped out of the trip after war started between Israel and Hamas, because they did not feel comfortable being in a Muslim country. However we felt safe and entirely welcome. (All these people wanted to take picture with us!)
We spent two Shabbatot in Uzbekistan.
The first Shabbat was in Bukhara. The men in our group attended Friday services (we had been told earlier in the day by the Rabbi that women do not attend services on Friday).
Afterwards we all made our way for Shabbat dinner to the home of a Muslim family who specializes in cooking kosher meals for Israeli tour groups. (more…)
I was sorry to be missing the Shomrei Purim celebrations. But I was looking forward to celebrating Purim in another country.
We met with Rabbi Abram Ishakov the day before Purim, on Friday. Rabbi Abram is the rabbi of the synagogue in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, a Jewish community of about 100 people. (more…)
Editor’s Note: Trip participants were asked to share one powerful and specific impression from the trip.
