SFJFF Film Review #2

Thanks to editor-extraordinaire/ Bombay Jew Crew member Robbie for helping with this!


In Search of Self, and the Bene Israel

The Bene Israel of India are one of the lesser known Jewish communities in the world, but their rich (albeit controversial) history belies their obscurity. Legend maintains that the Jews’ origins in India commenced with a shipwreck on the western coast sometime around the 2^nd century BCE. Over the centuries, the community established itself in Mumbai (Bombay), where Sadia Shephard’s maternal grandmother, Rachel Jacobs, grew up. In Search of the Bene Israel chronicles her attempts to uncover her grandmother’s ancestry amongst the Bene Israel, and in the process, she learns much more about the present conditions of the community. The film’s greatest strength is the range of human experiences she shares, from a rural village elder to urban young adults, all caught between modernity and tradition in today’s India. Moreover, the tensions faced by these characters reflect the internal tensions of the filmmaker’s own cultural and personal identity.

At only 35 minutes, the documentary weaves blurry black and white footage of Shephard’s deceased grandmother with present day full-color documentation of the everyday realities of Bene Israel Jews in Bombay and a rural Maharashtran village. We learn at the start of the film that after growing up in the thriving Jewish community of Bombay, Shephard’s grandmother married a Muslim man and they were forced to migrate to Pakistan during Partition in 1948. Joining a Muslim community meant abdicating her Jewish identity, but she continued to hold it close to her heart. Although Shephard does not discuss this in the film, it is worthwhile to mention Jews and Muslims lived side-by-side, apart from Hindus in large, mixed cities such as Bombay and Ahmedabad, due to shared dietary habits. Thus, integration and intermarriage has been a common phenomenon amongst Bene Israel Jews for centuries.

Meanwhile, the filmmaker grew up outside of Boston to a Pakistani Muslim mother and white Protestant father. Shortly before her death, Shephard’s grandmother revealed her Jewish background; Shephard pledged to explore those roots to learn the full story of her own past. In seeking to gain insight into her own blended cultural identity, she deftly reveals the conflict, tension, and pride related to the unique Bene Israel heritage.

Such a human perspective encourages the viewer to relate not only to the film characters, regardless of our differing point-of-view as San Francisco Jewish Film Festival-goers, but also to the filmmaker herself. Moreover, Shephard’s longing for her grandmother and the Bene Israel community’s wistfulness over its decreasing population remaining in India create a parallel structure which frame the stories of the film.

We meet David Wasker, the village elder seemingly trapped in an older, simpler time, who maintains that his life is firmly in India. Contrastingly, Ronen and Hannah, two young Mumbaikars approaching their arranged marriage, eagerly anticipate the many opportunities awaiting them in Israel. These youngsters have to choose between cultural familiarities back home in Bombay and the dual promises of prosperity and religious freedom. Although the Waskers have adult children in Israel (who recently visited after 10 years away), they are unwilling to leave their village, even as much as they recognize the desire amongst the younger generations to seek greater opportunity.

It is hard to discern which is the greater draw—living in the Jewish homeland, or simply a more affluent and developed country. Another character has greater clarity in his more religious motivations for making aliyah than Ronen and Hannah appear. Even as the middle class booms in India and more young people are finding wealth unprecedented in previous generations, these Jewish souls still yearn for Zion.

Between mass migration to Israel in previous generations and the continued movement there now, the loss of the local Jewish community is reflected by Shephard’s distant cousin, coincidentally also a filmmaker (in Bollywood). Speaking of her memories of community religious celebrations, she remarks, "I remember there being lots of people, then not so many people, then no one." For all of Shephard’s touching human stories, the film’s brevity left many questions unanswered, including more information about this cousin.

Having lived in Bombay for several months last year as an American Jewish World Service volunteer, I was privileged to spend some time with this special community. I attended programs at the Bombay JCC, staffed by American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee volunteers (including a Fiddler On The Roof sing-a-long), participated in a Passover seder, heard megillah reading on Purim at one of the historic synagogues, and even received schooling in kabbalistic/ayurvedic healing over Shabbat dinner. With this brief personal introduction to the Bene Israel, I hoped the film could fill in some of the gaps of my understanding of the community's background.

I expected a historical record of the Bene Israel and possibly a review of the other Jewish communities in India, particularly focusing on the unique fact that this community has never been persecuted. Beyond this sort of background, other questions arose about the experience of Indians once they immigrate to Israel. Are they thriving, or is part of the wistfulness of the remaining community members related to a lack of success of their relatives in Israel? Do they integrate with the many cultures and ethnicities in Israel or do they stay in separate enclaves? Are they losing Indian culture as they assimilate into Israeli nationhood?

Even without answering these questions, Shephard has produced a charming film which insightfully reveals the complexities of modern Bene Israel identity. I wanted more - more about other members of the community, more about their lives in the context of Bombay, and more about their place in the Subcontinent’s mix of cultures. As is, however, the film is a wonderful taste of this unique community, and Shephard has absolutely captured a firm sense of her family's past. I look forward to learning more about her experiences in her recently published book, The Girl From Foreign.