Jewish Cultural Heritage: A Comparative Analysis between Greece and India

Abstract

The Jewish Diaspora is truly worldwide, and this includes Jewish communities in both Europe and South Asia. In this paper, I will present a brief comparative overview of the Jewish presence in Greece and India. I will focus particularly on the cultural identity and heritage of the Diaspora Jews in these countries, the interaction with and reformulation of Jewish identity in relation to the social changes of each time and place, and the mechanisms for their preservation. To accomplish this, I will attempt a comparative analysis of the two communities in Greece and India, as relates to the components of their identity, their cultural influences, and the differences between the two communities under consideration.