Exploring the Rich History of Jews in India
Exploring the Rich History of Jews in India
February 22, 2017
Israel Studies, Culture & Jewish Thought, Social Sciences & Humanities
Prof. Menashe Anzi
New Jersey Jewish Standard — Two BGU professors recently presented at a two-day conference on Indian Jews in New Delhi, India.
The conference, called “Shirei Hodu,” or “Songs of India,” featured prominent global experts on Indian Jews, a topic that is gaining new prominence among young scholars of Jewish history and culture.
Prof. Menashe Anzi, of BGU’s Department of Jewish History, is studying the ways Yemeni rabbis in the 18th through 20th centuries acted as a bridge between rabbinic Judaism and Indian Jewish communities, which were somewhat isolated from events in the larger Jewish world.
Prof. Boaz Huss
Prof. Anzi discussed his use of texts and archival documents, written in Arabic, Hebrew, Judeo-Hebrew, and other ancient languages, to shed light on the relationship of modern Indian Jewish communities to the wider Jewish world.
BGU Prof. Boaz Huss, chair of the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, also presented at the conference. A Kabbalah expert, Prof. Huss is researching the role of Jews in the context of new age movements in India. His presentation focused on Jewish theosophists, those seeking mystical insight into the divine nature in India.
A month-long exhibition on Jewish contributions to various aspects of Indian life and culture premiered at the conference.
Read more on the New Jersey Jewish Standard website >>
Stories Like This
