Rethinking “Sephardic”: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Observances among the Jews of Bombay

Abstract

This study explores the ritual enactments of the Bene Israel and Baghdadi Jewish communities in Bombay, India during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. By comparing and contrasting the ritual enactments of the two communities against each other, the Sephardic norm, and various faiths in India, their acculturation and hybridization in India is displayed and expressed as “Eastern Sephardic” Jewry. The results demonstrate that the religious life of the Bene Israel and Baghdadi Jews resembles that of other Mizrachi or “Eastern” Sephardic Jews, that is, “traditional” Sephardic rites were superimposed on older, ancestral Jewish customs, with additional contributions from their respective locales. The study argues that the Bene Israel and Baghdadi Jews have not lost their Jewish identity by adapting to their host country and culture; rather, they have developed and nurtured a finely balanced and unique Indo-Judaic identity through a demonstrative cultural and religious inclusion of their Indian neighbors.