LONDON, ENGLAND, July 20, 2002: More than 2,000 years after they first claimed to have set foot in India, the mystery of the world’s most obscure Jewish community — the Marathi-speaking, Bene Israel — may finally have been solved with genetic carbon-dating revealing they carry the unusual “Moses” gene that would make them, literally, the original children of Israel. Four years of DNA tests on the 4,000-strong Bene Israel, now mainly based in Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Ahmedabad, indicates they are probable descendants of a small group of hereditary Israelite priests or Cohanim. Tudor Parfitt, Jewish Studies professor at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, who initiated and led the research, says this is the first concrete proof that “exiles from Palestine made it as far as India and managed to maintain Judaism in the sea of Hinduism and Islam”. Their Indian appearance, cricket-playing, sari-wearing, curry-eating and Marathi-speaking habits led to a bitter battle for recognition as “real Jews” and for years they were not allowed to emigrate to Israel.
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