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Sharona Massil-Galsurkar

Monday, 02 January 2012 23:07

Rude Awakening to the Harsh Reality of Anti-Semitism for Peaceful Rural Indian Jews

The coastal villages south of Mumbai were the first home of the Bene Israel Jewish community which has been in India for 2000 years. Here they built synagogues, ran oil-pressing businesses, and lived in peaceful coexistence with their non-Jewish neighbours.

Unlike their brethren in other parts of the world, the Bene Israel Jews faced almost no religious hatred. Indeed, they hardly understood the concept of anti-Semitism.

This is very much in keeping with Indian culture. Many diverse religious, ethnic and linguistic communities coexist peacefully in an atmosphere of tolerance and acceptance. Indian Jewry is fortunate and proud to have found such a wonderful host country with a glorious tradition of diversity, acceptance and peace.

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ACCESS has made a commitment to providing an open forum for the exchange of thoughtful, relevant and timely information and viewpoints from around the world.

As such we'd like to share with you two exciting projects. First, ACCESS Global Voices-- which is a network of select young professionals in key international cities involved in the political, diplomatic, journalistic, business and academic worlds. On this blog (seen in the main body of this page) members post news and opinions on issues relevant to the global Jewish community (including Israel, antisemitism, terrorism, transatlantic relations, immigration, integration, human rights, etc).

Separately, as part of a collaborative project with New Voices Student Magazine and the World Union of Jewish Students, ACCESS is proud to share with you the latest of the Global Jewish Voice. The Global Jewish Voice is a daily blog, featuring dispatches from all over the world on the international Jewish student experience. For more about this blog, check out the articles below!

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