The Battle for the Religious Affiliation of Indian Jewry, 1959-1960

• In Event: Navigating Transnational Modes of Jewishness in 20th Century America

Abstract

My talk will explore the forgotten battle between the leaders of the Orthodox and Conservative movements of American Judaism for the affiliation of the Bene Israel Jews of India in 1959-1960. Both groups sought to extend their institutional reach globally in the aftermath of WWII, and the Indian Jews served as an early proving ground for their efforts.
Orthodox institutional leaders appealed to the purported Orthodoxy of the Bene Israel’s ancestors to elicit the Bene Israel’s affiliation. Meanwhile, Conservative leaders noted contemporary religious patterns of the Bene Israel that departed from traditional Jewish norms. As Conservative Jews drove to synagogue on Shabbat, so the Bene Israel traveled by oxcart. The latter group also neglected certain aspects of Jewish marriage law as compared to Orthodox practice in the United States.
Yet, the situation in India was more complex than either denomination admitted. What in America passed for religious division between Jews was in India also a matter of race and class, even caste. Many Bene Israel defined themselves in opposition to the Orthodoxy of Baghdadi Jews, established merchants in India who largely denied the religious authenticity of the more impoverished Bene Israel, and blocked their full access to Baghdadi religious institutions. This produced the religious void that American Orthodox and Conservative leaders aimed to fill.
By 1960, the Orthodox rabbinate in America had successfully formed a federation of synagogues in India countering the WCS’s efforts. The Orthodox even claimed to stitch together the Bene Israel and Baghdadi communities. However, such claims proved illusory—since Baghdadi synagogues rejected the union—and soon irrelevant. Most of the Bene Israel had immigrated to Israel, where the Sephardic Chief Rabbi refused to certify their collective Jewish status, ultimately igniting a global “who is a Jew” controversy.
This subject addresses critical historiographic questions: What does it mean to study American Judaism transnationally after WWII? In what ways did American Jews become the center of global Jewish life after the Holocaust? What bearing did the advent of the State of Israel have on this America-centrism?

Author

• Benjamin Steiner, Trinity College