India Syllabus

Kivunim: Civilization 5770/2009-2010 Academic Write-up

UNIT V – India
Lecturers – Prof. Shalva Weil, Dr. Boaz Amichai
T.A. – Josh Weinberg

Session #1: Thurs. May 6th - Introduction & The Jews of India -Prof. Shalva Weil
(15:00 – 16:30) The Benei Yisrael
(16:45 - 18:45) The Jews of Cochin
Shalva Weil is Senior Researcher at the Research Institute for Innovation in Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is editor of India’s Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art, and Life-Cycle (Marg 2002: 2nd edition 2004) co-editor (with Prof. D. Shulman) of Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India (Oxford University Press, New Delhi), and co-editor (with Profs. N. Katz, Chakravati and Sinha) of Indo-Judaic Studies in the Twenty-First Century: A Perspective from the Margin. She is a foremost international scholar on India’s Jews and Indo-Judaic studies and has published over 80 articles in scientific journals and major encyclopaedias. She is founding Chairperson of the Israel-India Cultural Association and President of SOSTEJE (Society for the Study of Ethiopian Jewry). In 2005, she was elected Coordinator of the European Sociological Association’s Qualitative Methods Research Network, and in 2007 was elected to the ESA’s Executive Committee.

• What does it mean to be a Jew in India?
• When did the Jews arrive in India?
• Are there different groups?
• The Bnei Israel community in Mumbai, Maharastra, "the people from Bagdad" in Kolkata, West Bengal, the history of the community in Kochin, Kerela and the "Bney Menash"e issue.

Reading:
• The Place of Alwaye in Modern Cochin Jewish History – by Shalva Weil
• Indian Judaic Tradtion (Ch. 6) by Shalva Weil


Session #2 & #3: Mon. May 10th (14:30-16:00) (16:15-18:00)
Ancient Historical Background: The Vedic period & "The Purusa Sukta" –
Dr. Boaz Amichai
Boaz Amichay - has been studying and practicing Tibetan Buddhism for the past 20 years. Founder of 'Dharma Friends of Israel', a Dharma group that invites regularly Tibetan teachers, and western teachers in the Tibetan tradition to teach and lead retreats in Israel. Currently Boaz teaches in Tel Aviv University at the East Asia studies department. However, he concentrates on awareness to death, guides workshops on this topic, and his best pastime is sharing the journey of people facing death, whenever he finds people kind enough to share their journey with him.

Session #4 & #5: Wed. May 12th (14:30-16:00) (16:15-18:00)-
Intro to Buddhism I & II - Dr. Boaz Amichai

Session #6: Mon. May 17th Preparing for India of Today: Poverty and Castes – Roly Horowitz

Wed May 19 – שבועות

May 23rd - Leave for India!!!


Additional Reading:

Indian Religions:
http://adaniel.tripod.com/religions.htm

http://religions.iloveindia.com/

The movies: “Kundun” and “Little Buddha”

Jews in India:

http://books.google.com/books?id=qhKGPprbQaYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=jews+of+india&ei=MsTTS5axM5vqzATMisGpCQ&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://adaniel.tripod.com/jews.htm

India's Jewish Community:
http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/india.htm
 http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/Jewish_History/Jewish_India.html

Interesting and from a different perspective (my opinion):http://www.hindubooks.org/sudheer_birodkar/hindu_history/judaism.html