The History of the Bene-Israel

Preface

In placing before the public this account of the Bene-Israel of the Bombay Presidency, we think we need make no apology for having selected a subject in which the civilized world has already begun to show a deep interest. Many writers, scholars, professors and Doctors both in philology and divinity have occupied themselves in seeking to trace the whereabouts of “The lost ten tribes of Israel,” and some have thought that they have discovered traces of them in communities like those of the Bene-Israel of whom we treat here.

Although accounts of the Bene-Israel have been given by several foreign writers, yet these are meagre and conflicting, written more or less on superficial observation. Literary men have before now expressed their wish to know “whether the ancestors of the Bene-Israel came about sixteen hundred years ago, or long before, or long after, and whether they came direct from their native country, or whether they were only an early offshoot of the Jewish Community”?¹ They have also expressed their opinion that “it would probably be possible to learn a great deal more about the Bene-Israel than has ever yet been ascertained, and that any genuine information would excite considerable interest in Europe.” Further it has been said, “We should like to have a History of the Bene-Israel, as our knowledge about them has scarcely advanced since the days of Dr. Wilson,² and their traditions will die out unless they are speedily gathered.” A suggestion was also made in the Times of India in 1886 that a reliable account of the Bene-Israel should be written by some Rabbi of the Jews in other parts. But such a writer might commit errors similar to those into which foreign Gentile and Jewish writers have already fallen. For, a foreigner, even though he were a most learned Jewish Rabbi, could hardly be expected to do justice to this subject, as he would not be likely to know the various domestic practices and peculiar customs of that people. Hence none but one born and brought up in the community about which he writes, could be expected to give a reliable account of his people; and this view is quite consistent with that of the great historian Lord Macaulay, who says somewhere, that an Englishman only is competent to write a history of the English people, a Frenchman of the French people and so on. The truth of the statement is rendered quite clear by comparing histories of the Jews written respectively by those who are Jews and those who are not. Among the former, Professor H. Graetz’ “History of the Jews from the Earliest Times to the Present Day,” has gained its well-known popularity owing to the copious and correct information it gives about the Jews.

We, who have the honour of belonging to the community of Bene-Israel, have therefore set ourselves to supply to the best of our humble ability, the above mentioned want, with the hope that thereby we may be able to rectify and to supplement the faulty accounts sometimes given by foreigners, and even we regret to say, by one of the Bene-Israel themselves who has left the faith of his community.

Here we avail ourselves of the opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to the British Government for the liberty both in action and in speach [sic] which all British Subjects uniformly enjoy under the British rule in India. The kind treatment which the Bene-Israel have received at the hands of British Officers both Civil and Military, to which was first due to their coming to be known as Bene-Israel instead of “Shanwar Telis” (Saturday oilmen), as well as the remembrance of the present and past privileges accorded to them, without any distinction of caste or creed, clime or country, cannot but impel everyone of our community to acknowledge with gratitude the favours they have received.

We may be permitted to say that ever since the British rule has prevailed in Bombay and in the other parts of the Presidency, the Bene-Israel have always been the object of special interest and good will on the part of British Military Officers, owing to the historical interest of their community, their skill and staunch loyalty, and their discipline and valour as soldiers. [ . . . ]

Chapter IX

The Bene-Israel as Gallant and Faithful Soldiers

We shall now deal with the character of the Bene-Israel as soldiers, a department of usefulness to the British Empire in which the Bene-Israel have especially signalized themselves in the past and in which capacity they have equalled in military ardour and faithfulness their coreligionists in other parts of the world.

It is a well-known fact that bravery, courage, nobility and majesty of feature are characteristics of Hebrews of all the parts of the globe, in spite of manifold differences of costume and custom. Israelites have, in fact, inherited the soldierlike qualities they possess from the royal race from which they are descended. They are therefore, ill-accustomed to slavery, and in their looks we discover the recollection and consciousness of great destinies. While some of them are characterised by apparent humiliation of countenance and abasement of condition, yet the traits already spoken of, are very conspicuously to be seen in them at all times and places. That courage has been a most distinctive mark of the Hebrew race, and that to this quality alone their very survival is to be attributed, may very readily be accounted for by the fact that Israelites have ever been animated by the spirit of the proverb, that says, “Nobility imposes great obligations.” The recollection of the heroic deeds of their ancestors, the memory of their undaunted valour on fields of battle, and of other qualities of a like nature, have constituted a potent cause to which is to be ascribed the production of many gallant soldiers in the ranks of the sons of Israel that have rushed forth to battle under furious charges of musketry and cannon, and have clearly shewn themselves by their firmness, resolution, faithfulness and other martial qualities to be descendants of a mighty race of warriors, famous in times of remote antiquity,—one which defeated most powerful armies under most trying circumstances in the holy land of Israel.