Growing Up Jewish in India offers a historical account of the primary Jewish communities of India, their synagogues, and unique Indian Jewish customs. The Kolkata Mail correspondent Priyanka Dutta caught up with Ori Z. Soltes on this amazing book. Excerpts..

What prompted you to write this book?

Ori Z. Soltes– The book came about because of a desire to produce a more substantial work on the art of Siona Benjamin than I (or anyone else, for that matter) had written up to this point because I have long admired her work and the multi-faceted ways in which it presents not only as beautiful but offers a social agenda directed to improving the world.

The book grew, however, to encompass the larger matter of the diverse Jewish community within a very diverse India, and the fact that such diversity placed it in a position to be welcoming to the Jewish communities who arrived on Indian shores at various times from various places. So in the end the book begins with a broad discussion of the arrival of Jews into South and East Asia, followed by a slightly narrower discussion about the religious history of India and within that of the Jews immigrating to India, followed by three essays that focus on the three major Indian Jewish communities, before arriving at a memoir by Siona and an analysis of her work. She was the inspiration and remains a central part of the overall volume.

What are the characteristics of Indian Jews? Are they different from the Jews living in other parts of the globe?

Ori Z. Soltes– Indian Jews are like Jews from around the globe: diverse shades of skin color, the shape of nose and color of eyes, etc. They are unique in some of their festivals and celebrations and their gastronomy. Also, at this point, most of them currently live in Israel, seeing themselves as having two complementary religious and cultural identities: Indian as their mother and Israel as their father. This unique sense of identity reflects the religious and cultural history of India herself: in its strong tendency to be open to varied perspectives on both humanity and divinity, due to its own religious and cultural traditions, afforded to its Jewish communities the opportunity to flourish.

The only time Jews experienced antisemitism was in the brief period in Goa—when the Portuguese was in charge. Being a tiny minority, even within an accepting majority culture, Jews experienced challenges with respect to defining their identity, which pushed them to flourish in India.

Are there any similarities between the Jews and the Indians?

Ori Z. Soltes– The Indian Jews are similar to their neighbors: diverse not only in the physiological features, but in, for instance, the languages and dialects that they speak: with three fairly distinct communities—the Bene Israel, Cochini, and Baghdadi Jews—for many centuries, and more recently two additional re-discovered such communities (the Bene Menashe and the Bene Ephraim) they covered a wide spectrum as do their neighbors, in spite of being overall such a small drop in the vast Indian population bucket.

How much time did you take to write this book?

Ori Z. Soltes– I spent about six months actually writing and editing the books. I spent many, many hours reading everything that I could find about Bene Israel, supplemented by questions to friends from that community. I brought to the subject years of interest, study, and teaching and lecturing about India, about aspects of Jewish history, religion, and culture, and about Jewish art and architecture—and of course, writing and lecturing specifically about Siona’s work. This includes many years of studying and also teaching Sanskrit and Vedic, providing me with more of a linguistic basis for my understanding than could be achieved simply in translation. So once I sat down to write, it went fairly quickly. The three scholars (two of whom are Indian Jews) who contributed the two articles on the Cochini and Baghdadi Jews are well-known for the depth and long-standing engagement of their work on the Jews of India.

Was doing research on the Jews in India difficult?

Ori Z. Soltes– Doing research was not difficult. There is not a great deal of reliable material, and circumstances minimized my ability to spend a good deal of time in India, although I did manage to make two visits. It was very useful not only to be able to read what has been written but to talk with Indian Jews about their experiences and understandings of things.

Can you tell us about the kind of work that Siona Benjamin does?

Ori Z. Soltes– Siona’s work makes use of the visual heritage of India—Hindu elements, such as the imagery of Krishna as well as of Siva Nataraja; Moghul stylistic elements—and elements imported by the Moghuls from the Persian miniature tradition—together with elements that resonate from the Byzantine Christian tradition (such as her sometimes lavish use of gold leaf); and symbols, like the seven-branched candelabrum, that derives from the Jewish visual tradition. As such, her art reflects the reality of her life: growing up in Mumbai surrounded by Hindu and Muslim friends, going to Zoroastrian and Catholic schools—and then weaving those visual and conceptual influences, together with elements of Bollywood and Amar Chitra Katha comic book imagery with pop art and other aspects of the American art scene with which she became intimate over the following three decades.

What is next in line for you as an author?

Ori Z. Soltes– I currently have three large book projects in the works: One—I am waiting and hoping that my proposal to Routledge for a volume in a new series is accepted for this one—is a comparative study of the work of Siona Benjamin and Anish Kapoor: both Jews who grew up in Mumbai, ended up elsewhere and making very, very different kinds of art. Two is a book on The Problem of God (why and how do humans over time and space think, feel, believe, and address “divinity”?). This manuscript I am actively working on it and have come fairly close to finishing it. Three is an expansion of an earlier book that deals with the problem of language for philosophy and theology. It begins with a study of Plato’s dialogue, the Cratylus, and concludes with a commentary on the essay by Emmanuel Levinas, “God and Philosophy.” One of the features of this new edition is that I intend to expand significantly my discussion of the role of Panini, the Hindu grammarian, in developing the understanding of how language works, but I have also expanded my discussion of contemporary thinking on the subject. I have a few other smaller projects in the works, and, if all goes well, a few other larger ones further down the road that I have in mind to do… This may be more than you asked for!!