Bene Israel rabbi returns to Indian community
By MICHAEL FREUND
It’s not often that you meet a rabbi whose command of the Hindi language surpasses his knowledge of, say, Yiddish or Ladino. Or, for that matter, one whose academic training was in the field of botany.
Then again, Rabbi Yehoshua Kolet is no ordinary spiritual leader.
A 34-year-old native of Bombay, Kolet is a member of the Bene Israel community, which traces its roots on the subcontinent back over two millennia.
After spending several years studying in Israel, he is back in his hometown together with his wife Ahuviyah, determined to help strengthen the level of Jewish knowledge and commitment among India’s remaining Jews.
“The community is very Zionist and they are very pro-Israel,” he says. “That is the faith they grew up with. They are very devoted and very believing, but the level of Jewish observance needs to be raised.”
Located on India’s western coast, Bombay is a sprawling metropolis that serves as the country’s financial center and most important port. The city is home to an estimated 15 million people, including some 4,000 of India’s 5,500 Jews.
Aside from some 100 or so Jews of Iraqi origin, the rest of the Bombay community consists of Bene Israel, who according to tradition are descended from seven Jews who were shipwrecked off India’s southwestern coast during the Second Temple period.
They and their offspring clung to Jewish practice and tradition over the centuries, and after the establishment of Israel in 1948, most of the community made aliya.
While those who remain in Bombay have access to an extensive array of Jewish communal infrastructure, including nine functioning synagogues, Rabbi Kolet would like to inject a renewed emphasis on traditional Jewish learning.
Twice a week, he teaches a group of 15 boys, focusing on the weekly Torah portion, Mishna and Jewish law. But his dream is to open a Jewish supplementary school, one that would offer students two hours a day of intensive after-school studies five days a week.
“They have a strong sense of Jewish identity,” he says about Bombay’s Jewish youngsters. “But we are not taking it anywhere. They need to be given more of a structure and an opportunity to express themselves.”