Ben Zion Gosalkar, the Bene Israel caretaker (Shamash) of massive Knesseth Eliyahoo synagogue in Bombay, prays during the afternoon service (Mincha). The 19th century temple once housed India’s wealthy Baghdadi Jewish community, but today the prayer leader (Chazzan) and most congregants are Bene Israel. Ben Zion has tears in his eyes before the service remembering his synagogue 50 years ago, before the vast majority of India’s Jews emigrated to Israel. “There were 15,000 Jews in Bombay – people would sleep next door to walk to synagogue on holidays. We needed extra services in the Sassoon Library across the street because there wasn’t room for everyone.” Scanning nostalgically from the rows of empty benches to the unused women’s gallery, he sighs, “Today, even on Yom Kippur there are only 25 people.”

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