Aditya Shinde
About
aditya.shinde@gwu.edu
Aditya Shinde is a PhD student specializing in modern South Asian and Jewish history.
He holds degrees from the University of Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru University, where his master’s thesis explored the migration of the Bene Israel community from Bombay to Israel.
Shinde previously worked at an Indian foreign policy think tank, Gateway House, before beginning his doctoral studies at George Washington University.
His research focuses on the transnational movements of Indian Jews and the historical ties that connect Mumbai’s Jewish community to the broader Zionist movement and the State of Israel.
Lecture Abstract:
This paper examines the Bene Israel community of Bombay within the frameworks of Zionism and nation-building, analysing how Zionist ideology was disseminated, negotiated, and internalised in a non-European, diasporic context. Unlike other Jewish communities, the Bene Israel were historically isolated from the wider Jewish diaspora, deeply assimilated into Indian society, and largely insulated from anti-Semitic persecution—conditions that contributed to their initial ambivalence toward the Zionist project. The study investigates how the community’s historical and social experiences shaped their responses to the Zionist movement and the establishment of the Jewish state, and how Zionist leaders and organisations, such as the Bombay Zionist Association, sought to transform these attitudes through public lectures, cultural programmes, and advocacy. Drawing on government records, petitions, and contemporary newspapers, the paper traces the efforts to cultivate Jewish unity, equality, and economic advancement, while situating Bombay’s Zionist initiatives within the broader networks of global Zionism. It highlights the complex interplay between diasporic nationalism, identity, and aspiration, demonstrating how transnational nationalist movements reconstitute communal consciousness and reveal the transactional dimensions of nationalism as a vehicle for socio-economic mobility. By situating the Bene Israel experience within broader theoretical debates on nationalism, diaspora, and identity formation, this study argues that their encounter with Zionism exemplifies how the promises of equality and progress functioned as catalysts for political realignment and ideological transformation in the processes of modern nation-building.