History of the Jews in Bangladesh

The history of the Jewish community in Bangladesh dates back to 17th-century. Very few Jews from Iran and Iraq, settled in East Bengal (present Bangladesh) in the 1800s in what was then British India.[1] Shalom Cohen (1762-1836) founded the Calcutta Jewish community in West Bengal and also the East Bengal Jewish community. They included a Baghdadi Jewish merchant community that settled in Dhaka during the 17th-century.[2]

The Jewish population in East Bengal was only about 135 Jews[3] at the time of the Partition of British India in 1947. They included a Baghdadi Jewish merchant community that settled in Dhaka during the 17th-century. By the late 1960s, much of the Jewish community had left for Calcutta.[1] Members of the Bene Israel community from Bombay (today Mumbai) also resided in Dhaka in the 1960s.[2]

The Jews in East Pakistan (Bangladesh in Pakistan period 1947-1971) were never numerous and kept a very low profile in this Muslim country. It is assumed that a few Jews still remain, but they are quite assimilated. There is no synagogue today in Bangladesh. In a research, Dr. Shalva Weil found that two families of Jewish descent do in fact still live in Dhaka, but they have converted to Catholicism.[3] In an article, Salah Choudhury claimed in 2009, the real number of Jewish population in Bangladesh is above 3,500, while the Jews in Bangladesh are afraid of disclosing their religious identity fearing persecution of the anti-Semitic people.[4] According to historian Ziauddin Tariq Ali, a trustee at Liberation War Museum, "There were two Jewish families in Bangladesh [after independence], but both migrated to India — one in 1973 and the other in 1975." [5]

It is needed to be said that, there is no official relation between Bangladesh and Israel.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Zetler, David (2011-04-21). "Bangladesh – with Jewish connections". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  2. 1 2 Weil, Shalva (2015-09-17). "The extraordinary story of the Bangladesh Jews". The Jewish Chronicle. London. Archived from the original on 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  3. 1 2 Weil, Shalva (2012). "The Unknown Jews of Bangladesh". Asian Jewish Life (10). Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  4. ↑ Shoaib Choudhury, Salah Uddin (2009-09-18). "All about Jews in Bangladesh". Archived from the original on 2009-09-23. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  5. ↑ Luxner, Larry (2012-06-12). "Jewish community virtually nonexistent in Bangladesh". Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
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