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March 15, 2005
Dear Board Member,
THE NAHUM GOLDMANN FELLOWSHIP IN INDIA
The fifteenth Nahum Goldmann Fellowship which took place in Mumbai,
India, from February 28-March 6 was truly a memorable happening.
The logistics of the organization for any meeting in India, including
the provision of kosher food, are exceedingly complicated for
obvious reasons.
The Indian Nahum Goldmann Fellowship was a remarkable event, firstly
that it happened, and secondly, because of the level of success
we achieved there, a truly unique accomplishment in the history
of the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship, as I will explain in this report.
I visited Asia in October 2004 to plan that meeting. All decisions
about the seminar, including choice of site, plans for recruitment,
the program, and even the menu of the seminar were made during
that visit in consultation with the Indian alumni from our previous
seminars in Australia.
In addition to the input of the Indian fellows, we reached out
to the professional and lay leadership of the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee (Joint) and ORT, the two major international
bodies operating in India, as well as the rabbinic leadership
there.
The Indian community was thus deeply involved in planning the
Nahum Goldmann Fellowship XV from the outset. Saul Aptekar of
the staff of the Joint, who was appointed on-site coordinator,
and Meyer Moses, a lay leader in ORT, were designated to represent
the Indian community in implementing the plan agreed on during
my visit.
The great level of success we achieved at Nahum Goldmann XV was
wholly due to the remarkable partnership we shaped together, one
of the most effective between the Memorial Foundation and host
community in the history of the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship.
Thirty-six fellows from Jewish communities on four continents,
including North and South America, Australia and Asia participated
in the seminar, with the largest contingents from India and Australia.
Regional Cooperation
Three components of the Indian Nahum Goldmann Fellowship contributed
to the success of that enterprise. From the attached program you
can see that the academic program in India matched the level of
excellence of our previous seminars. What was special about the
academic facet of the fellowship in Mumbai was that this was the
first time that such a distinguished team of academicians visited
India.
No less impressive, from our perspective, was that all the faculty
immersed themselves totally in all the non-academic aspects of
the program, thereby enriching the personal dimension of the “fellowship”
experience for the participants.
What was unique about the Indian fellowship was the collective
dimension that surfaced there, another first for the Nahum Goldmann
Fellowship, that perhaps can serve as a model for other parts
of the world. On the concluding day of the fellowship, the Indian
and non-Indian fellows held separate caucuses, where each proposed
regional cooperation between the young Jewish leadership of Australia,
the largest and strongest Jewish community in Southeast Asia,
with its counterpart group in India.
A set of suggested proposals having to do with sharing and developing
cultural resources and programs for the Indian Jewish community
were discussed and approved by each group individually and then
collectively. The Australian and Indian caucuses were chaired
respectively by Yair Miller, the vice president of the Sydney
Jewish community, and by Meyer Moses. There was also a consensus
in both groups that the regional cooperation should flow in both
directions. Both groups believed that the principle of “mutuality”
is critical for the future success of this pioneering endeavor
in their region of the world.
Concomitantly, the Indian leaders associated with the Joint, ORT
and religious community agreed to set up an informal committee
to coordinate, from their side, whatever initiatives materialized
from this effort.
The organization of the Indian caucus and the informal coordinating
committee was, in the eyes of the Indian fellows, one of the major
successes of the Indian Nahum Goldmann Fellowship. It accomplished,
in their view, the tearing down of the walls between their leadership
– young and old - that sometimes disrupt Indian communal
life.
Bonding
The decision to work towards regional cooperation was an expression
of a fundamental change that was wrought in the relationship between
the fellows during the seminar. The bonding between fellows, always
intense at previous fellowships, was especially strong in India,
both in, and between, the Indian and non-Indian groups.
The integration of the Indian contingent with the other fellows
was almost instantaneous; the Indians and non-Indians were intermingling
at meals by the second day. The character of that bonding was
most fully expressed in the Sabbath program, which is always the
high point of the fellowship.
When we began the outdoor Friday night service, the low mountain
range in the West behind which the sun had set toward which we
were praying, was already enveloped in a tranquil orange glow.
The whole beautiful Indian landscape before us was steeped in
complete silence as Dr. Gidon Winter, a pediatrician from Sydney,
stepped forward to lead a beautiful Carlebach Kabbalat Shabbat
Service.
Faculty and fellows, Indian and non-Indian, all joined together
enthusiastically in song and dance. This was followed by the Shabbat
Maariv service, in accordance with the Bnei Israel liturgical
tradition, beautifully rendered by Mr. Sharon Galsurkar, a Jewish
educator from ORT. As dark descended, the voices and the traditions
of both groups mingled harmoniously.
The group then proceeded in the dark along a path decorated on
both sides by the fellows with beautiful orange flowers native
to India. The Sabbath tables and the floors were also strewn with
red and yellow flower petals, also unique to India. With strings
of small orange, green, red, and white bulbs hanging from the
open porch, an Indian Sabbath ambiance was created that none of
us from the West had ever experienced.
The meal itself was preceded by Shabbat zmirot from the Bnei Israel
tradition, together with traditional western religious and Zionist
songs, in which all joined. One of the Indian leaders told me
that it was an experience he would remember the rest of his life.
So would I and all the other faculty and fellows.
The Indian Jewish Experience
The Bnei Israel community, with a current population of 5,000,
has been facing acute challenges since the 1950’s, when
50,000 Bnei Israel, together with their traditional leadership,
left India, mostly moving to Israel. They are enveloped in a powerful,
but tolerant Hindu culture and society, consisting of a population
of nearly one billion. The young leadership of the Bnei Israel
is deeply desirous of reviving and maintaining their community
and heritage. Our seminar was a small step in helping them articulate
that desire and mobilize resources for that purpose.
Less known in the outside world is the second community in India,
the Bnei Menashe, who consider themselves part of the lost tribes
of Israel, but whose status as Jews is questionable. A number
have studied in Israel and undergone conversion there. Two young
leaders, Jesse Gangte and Caroline Touthang from that community
located in Manipur in Northern India, also were present at the
Indian Nahum Goldmann Fellowship.
They enthusiastically participated in the seminar and demonstrated
to the fellows and faculty their fierce determination to become
Jews. To the Western fellows, the encounter with the Bnei Menashe
was a provocative paradox, in that so many Jews in the West are
currently opting out from Jewish peoplehood.
Our presence in India was indeed an immense psychological and
spiritual boost to these proud tribes who have maintained a separate
and often problematic existence in India for centuries.
But wonderment of wonderments. We, who came to give, were the
greater recipients.
We left greatly inspired by the passion of the Bnei Israel and
Bnei Menashe to preserve their heritage. The bonds of fraternity
and brotherhood that emerged at Nahum Goldmann Fellowship XV helped
us achieve in India a higher and more profound level of “fellowship”
than in previous Nahum Goldmann Fellowships. May that spirit continue
to animate their joint ventures in the future.
Best wishes for a happy Purim.
Sincerely yours,
Warm regards.
Dr. Jerry Hochbaum,
Executive Vice-President
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