Dr.Ran Amitai
About
ranam69@gmail.com)
Ran Amitai is a research fellow at the University of Haifa specializing in the history of Indian Jews.
His doctoral thesis explored the enlistment and integration of Indian Jews into the British-Indian and Indian Armies.
Currently a librarian and researcher, Amitai is involved in documenting Jewish cemeteries and synagogues throughout India.
His work also investigates the participation of Indian forces in the Land of Israel during the World Wars.
By combining military history with communal documentation, Amitai provides a comprehensive look at the transnational service and heritage of the Indian Jewish community.
Lecture Abstract:
Traditionally Indian Jews lived mainly in three regions: Cochin and around in Kerala, Bombay and around in Maharashtra, and Kolkata. However, since the second half of the 19th century, peoples of the three communities began to settle in other cities at all the subcontinent, as a result of employment in civil service and military, and, to a certain extent, for a trade purposes.
Among the Bene Israel community, there were many who served in the British- Indian army, and as part of this, they were stationed with their families in military cantonments in cities that were military centres. Towards the end of the 19th century, a new path of employment raised in the public service, including the Railway service and the Post and Telegraph service, as well as to some extent, work in various positions in seaports. Here again, some peoples settled with their families in the cities where they worked, was the basis for a new community. Some cities like Pune, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Ajmer, and Karachi (today Pakistan) are only samples. This settlement was not limited to the Indian subcontinent alone; Jews from India also settled in Aden (Yemen) and other places in the Persian Gulf as part of their work as Civil servants and military personnel.
In this lecture, I would like to talk about this development of small communities in various cities that bore clear communal symbols such as a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery. This is in addition to the central communities in Bombay, Cochin, and Kolkata.