Jews Recognised as Minority in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Jews have been categorized as a ‘recognised minority community’ in Maharashtra. The State cabinet on June 21 decided to include Jews, among the communities recognized as minorities with Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis. Earlier they were included ‘among other religions’. The State has a population of less than 2,500 Jews, mainly concentrated in Mumbai, Pune and some other big cities. Mumbai used to have a thriving Jewish community till some three decades ago, but most of them migrated to Israel in recent years. There were three distinct Jewish communities i.e., Bene Israeli Jews, Kochin Jews, and Baghdadi Jews. Prominent film actress Nadira hailed from the Jewish community. Bene Israeli Jews of Konkan were native Marathi speaking Jews. Mumbai city still had 8 synagogues. The Jews had set up Jacob Sassoon High School and Sir Eli Kadoorie High Schools where only a handful students are from Jewish community.