16th November 2014

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Another v busy day. Took a ferry to Alibag which cut a 3 hour road journey to 45 mins boat ride. At the end of the jetty on arrival were lots of 'tuktuks' to take visitors onwards. It makes sense as most people don't have cars and are v cheap. Motorcycles are everywhere and we have seen whole families on one motorbike! We travelled through some villages and were able to see that the old ways still thrive.

The Benei Yisrael Jews left Israel 2000 years ago after the 2nd temple was destroyed. They were shipwrecked and lost everything except for 7 couples who survived. Because they had no sefer Torah or religious books, they began to lose their Judaism. But about 1000 years ago Eliyahu Hanavi returned to earth to tell them to improve their religiosity.

We visited the now overgrown cemetery where the first Jews and some more recent ones are buried, with a monument explaining the history. We visited the black rock of Eliyahu Hanavi where his chariot landed and took off again - the horses hoof marks can still be seen, there is a plaque and the site which is in the middle of nowhere is looked after by a local Hindu man for whom it is also a holy site. And we visited a beautiful, well maintained shul in Alibag. We were shown around by the 84 year old caretaker who told us that normally only 2 or 3 people turn up for davenning. There used to be hundreds of Jews in the town, but nearly all have emigrated, mostly to israel.

There is a web site which tells you all about the history - google Eliyahu Hanavi rock.

We also saw the old soda factory owned by a jewish family. The mezuzah is still on the factory entrance but that too is closed and has been sold. The jewish history is gradually disappearing.

Our drive back took us through some varied countryside - we saw some monkeys - lots of slums and some high rise blocks as we came back to Mumbai.

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Photos

Alibag village life
This oxen and card was near the ancient jewish cemetery

Magenta about synagogue in Alibag
A lovely shul with a fully working mikvah at the rear.

Comments

[Leah]

Very interesting!