Ha-layla hazeh ku-lana b'India

For the first night of Passover, we went to Chabad and had a blast. So much energy, so full of life, lots of singing and delicious food! The highlight was watching the young Lubavitch boy, who was brought in to help lead the seders, become progressively drunk and truly bond with a young secular Israeli dude clad in blue jeans, a t-shirt and funky headband. The two made quite a funny pair, and their joint singing of "Mashiach, Mashiach!" was a great sight to see. Needless to say, I joined in the song session in full force and everyone was laughing and having a jolly ole time. The only unfamiliar aspect of the seder was that they used potatoes for the Karpas, whereas Will and I typically eat parsley at our family seders. The extra carbs in the first part of the seder certainly helped curb our appetite until the main meal so we are thinking of implementing this tradition when we return home ;-)

Our second night was more remarkable -- we went to a community seder at the JCC for the Bene Israel community, which is the main Jewish tribe of India. While the Jewish community was at one point quite large in India (tens of thousands), the number has dwindled (due to emigration to Israel) to about 5,000 throughout the country. The majority of Indian Jews today live in neighborhoods of Bombay, and last night's seder boasted about 200 people. Apparently, there is another tribe of Indian Jews living in North East India who call themselves Bnei Menashe, and there is a history of Jews living in the southern city of Cochin. For more info of the Indian Jewish communities, go to http://www.haruth.com/AsianIndia.html

The history of the Bene Israel community dates back to the Spanish Inquisition. The theory is that a boat from Spain hit India and 7 couples on that boat were Jewish and made India their home. Without a Torah, they had to rely on memory and varying scriptures to create a Jewish life for themselves. To quote Will, it was very interesting to see how this Jewish community, which has largely been isolated from the rest of Judaism, has found a way to perserve their heritage and pass down traditions over generations. There was much more of an emphasis on memorization and symbolic gestures, and the Shema prayer stands as the most important prayer for this community, most likely because it is easy to remember. Interestingly, the Shema prayer concludes with a kiss to the hands and then a touch to the forehead, similar to a custom that Hindus do when they pray. Will noted to me that this isn't that suprisingly, given how Jews in the diaspora, particulary in the United States, have aclamated to various Christian traditions as part of their assimilation, ex. giving gifts during Hannukah, due to the popularity of Christmas gift giving.

The seder followed a traditional haggadah (there were about 10 copies for the whole 200 person group) complete with a Hillel Sandwich!, though the tunes were mostly unfamiliar to us and there were sections that we didn't recognize. The man sitting across from me (Abraham) told me that most people do not know Hebrew and do not know the order of the seder so very few people host seders at their home. Mostly they come to the community-wide seder once a year. One very cool thing was the Haggadah of the woman sitting next to Will - the book dated back to 1935 and was printed in Hebrew and Hindi. The people at our table were very curious and interested in comparing their experience to our seders and were happy to hear that mostly it was quite similar.
What was really amazing was the authority with which the community leaders spoke even if aspects were misinformed, and their genuine desire to be devout. I was so moved by the effort they make to honor Jewish traditions, to reflect on the story of Passover, and to seek answers. The main coordinator of the seder (an older man named Solly) led the discussions by remarking on how his volunteers (Jewish teenagers who help organize the seder and serve food and wine) kept asking him questions that took him 40 years to answer.

Despite the inexcapable foreignness, the food served was Indian-flavored (spicy chicken curry and rice), the wine tasted like a cranberry-vodko cocktail, the Maror was parsley, and there was no singing at the end, we were grateful to be a part of this form of Judaism and were proud to see the ways this community has learned to honor its history, heritage and people and uphold traditions in their own right.