 First edition | |
| Author | Esther David |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | fiction |
| Published | 2007 |
| Publisher | Penguin India |
| Publication place | India |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 280 |
| ISBN | 978-0143444534 |
Book of Rachel is a work of fiction authored by Esther David. The book won India's Sahitya Akademi Award in the year 2010. [1]
The main protagonist of the book is an old Jewish widow named Rachel from Bene Israel community who tries to preserve Jewish culinary art [2] and simultaneously tries to protect a local synagogue from local land mafia.
In her review, Geeta Doctor wrote for India Today "To most people it would consist one portion of R. K. Narayan [and] a dash of sentimentality from Tagore's Kabuliwallah." [3]
Deeptha Achar, Professor at the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda wrote "...the book is more ambitious. It not only portrays the community [Bene Israel] from within but also examines the pushes and pulls, economic, cultural, which impinge upon it." [4]
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The Bene Israel, also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" or "Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there centuries ago. Starting in the second half of the 18th century, after they were taught about normative Sephardi Judaism, they migrated from villages in the Konkan region where they had previously lived to nearby cities throughout British India—primarily to Mumbai where their first synagogue opened in 1796 but also to Pune, Ahmedabad, and Karachi, where they gained prominent positions within the British colonial government and the Indian Army.
Cochin Jews are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the present-day state of Kerala. As early as the 12th century, mention is made of the Jews in southern India by Benjamin of Tudela.
The history of the Jews in India dates back to antiquity. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in the Indian subcontinent in recorded history. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jose of the 2nd-century CE mentions the Jewish people of India in his work Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer, saying that they are required to ask for rain in the summer months, during their regular rainy season, yet make use of the format found for winter in the Standing Prayer, and to cite it in the blessing, 'Hear our voice'. Desi Jews are a small religious minority who have lived in the region since ancient times. They were able to survive for centuries despite persecution by Portuguese colonizers and nonnative antisemitic inquisitions.
The Bnei Menashe is a community of Indian Jews from various Tibeto-Burmese ethnic groups from the border of India and Burma who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, allegedly based on the Hmar belief in an ancestor named Manmasi. Some of them have adopted Judaism. The community has around 10,000 members.
Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar is the head of the Jewish community in New Delhi, India. He is the Honorary Secretary of the Judah Hyam Synagogue at the corner of Humayun road, where he works as an unpaid volunteer. The synagogue, in addition to serving the Jewish community of New Delhi, caters to the Jewish diplomats from foreign missions. It has hosted former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and David Danieli, the Israeli Ambassador to India. Indian Jews also go there for rites such as Brit milah (circumcision) and B'nai Mitzvah. He is from the Bene Israel Jewish community.
The history of the Jews in Pakistan goes back to 1839 when Pakistan was part of British India. Various estimates suggest that there were about 50,000 to 60,000 Jews living in Karachi at the beginning of the 20th century, mostly comprising Iranian Jews and Bene Israel ; a substantial Jewish community lived in Rawalpindi, and a smaller community also lived in Peshawar.
The Magen Abraham Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in the Old Town neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, India. As of 2015, it was the only synagogue in the entire state. It was built in 1934 using donations from members of the Bene Israel Jewish community of the state.
Esther David is an Indian Jewish author, an artist and a sculptor. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Indian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Indian Jewish communities, who now reside within the State of Israel. Indian Jews who live in Israel include thousands of Cochin Jews and Paradesi Jews of Kerala; thousands of Baghdadi Jews from Mumbai and Kolkata; tens of thousands from the Bene Israel of Maharashtra and other parts of British India and the Bnei Menashe of Manipur and Mizoram.
The history of the Jews in Mumbai, India, began when Jews started settling in Bombay during the first century, due to its economic opportunities. The Jewish community of Bombay consisted of the remnants of three distinct communities: the Bene Israeli Jews of Konkan, the Baghdadi Jews of Iraq, and the Cochin Jews of Malabar.
Gracy is a Malayalam author. Her first collection of short stories, Padiyirangippoya Parvati, was published in 1991. Her awards include the Lalithambika Antharjanam Award (1995), the Thoppil Ravi Award (1997), the Katha Prize for the Best Malayalam Short Story (1998) and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (2000). Her major works are Narakavaathil, Randu Swapna Darsikal, Kaveriyude Neru, Eezbu Penkathakal, Panikkannu and a collection, Gracyude Kathakal. Her stories have been translated into English, Hindi, Tamil and Oriya. She was the head of the Malayalam department, Al-Ameen college, Edathala, Aluva.
Rita Chowdhury is an Indian poet and novelist who writes Assamese literature and is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award. She is the editor of the Assamese literary magazine Gariyoshi and a former director of the National Book Trust, India. She has been associate professor and lecturer at Cotton College, Guwahati, Assam in the Political Science Department and was active in the Assam Movement in the early 1980s.
Vishwanath Chintamani Bedekar (1906–1998), who professionally used the name Vishram Bedekar, was an Indian Marathi-language writer and film director.
In Israel, there is a community of between 1,000 and 2,000 people consisting of Pakistani Jews and their direct descendants. Upon the partition of British India in 1947, many Jews emigrated from the Dominion of Pakistan and resettled in the Dominion of India, joining the local Indian Jews. Following the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, most of the remainder of Pakistan's Jews fled from the country as part of the wider Jewish exodus from the Muslim world, immigrating primarily to Israel and the Western world; Israel's Pakistani Jewish community is largely concentrated in the city of Ramla. Sharing their heritage with the Indian Jews in Israel, the country's Pakistani Jews are mainly identified as having belonged to the Bene Israel, a community of the Jewish diaspora that coalesced in northern India.
Nilmani Phookan was an Indian poet in the Assamese language and an academic. His work, replete with symbolism, is inspired by French symbolism and is representative of the genre in Assamese poetry. His notable works include Surya Henu Nami Ahe Ei Nodiyedi, Gulapi Jamur Lagna, and Kobita.
A. Sethumadhavan, popularly known as Sethu, is a Malayalam fiction writer. He has published more than 35 books. He won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 2007 for the work Adayalangal. He received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Awards in 1982 and 1978 for his works Pandavapuram and Pediswapnangal; and Vayalar Award for Adyalangal in 2006. He also won Odakkuzhal award for his novel Marupiravi. Sethu's other literary works include Velutha Koodarangal, Thaliyola, Kiratham, Niyogam, Sethuvinte Kathakal and Kaimudrakal. He also served as the chairman and CEO of the South Indian Bank. In 2022, he won the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, highest literary honour of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.
Mayadhar Mansingh was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in Odia. He received the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India, in 1967.
Parasmani Pradhan was an Indian Nepali-language writer, poet, translator, grammarian, educator and publisher. He published multiple Nepali language textbooks and played an important role in shaping the modern Nepali grammar. He was one of the key figures who contributed in establishing Nepali as one of the official language of India.
Shiavax Dhanjibhoy Chavda was an Indian painter, illustrator and muralist. Known for his dynamic line drawings and paintings, Chavda's work mainly showcased the dancers and musicians from India and Southeast Asia.