Israel President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the Indian Jewish community, which laid the foundation stone of a cultural centre here and fulfilled its promise made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 2017 visit to the country.
Nevatim, a Moshav (agricultural community) in the Negev region of Israel, has become synonymous with the Indian Cochini Jews. On Thursday evening, the place hosted hundreds of Indian Jewish community members from all over the country to witness the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Heritage and Cultural Centre of the Indian Jews.
The centre aims at not only preserving the heritage and rich culture of all the Jewish communities that have immigrated from India but will also serve as a base for the India-Israel trading centre.
The multi-million-dollar project spread across three acres of land will have a museum, a conference and events hall, and an Indian tropical garden. The first stage of its construction will see the construction of a 300-seat multipurpose hall.
President Herzog, in a recorded video message to the community, praised its contribution to Israeli society, calling it “part of the Israeli mosaic”. Recalling his late father’s address to the Cochini community in the same Moshav in 1984, when he served as Israel’s sixth president, Herzog said his father then said what the community has built is a matter of pride, and now 40 years later he can say that “it continues to bring pride to Israel”.
Describing India as a “strong and influential democracy”, the Israeli president said: “It is a true friend that stands by our side also in the international arena.” Calling the Indian Jewish community the “living bridge between the two most ancient civilizations.” Prime Minister Netanyahu, in a recorded message, recalled the huge community event when thousands of people came to see Prime Minister Modi during his visit to Israel in 2017. The community leaders spearheading the effort for the last six years said that that promise led to a persistent effort that has finally culminated in the laying of the foundation stone, backed by several financiers. The IJHC, led by Avner, also organised more than 100 virtual meetings, especially during the pandemic, to bring together the Indian Jewish community spread across the globe and mobilise their support for the project. “This is an effort to preserve a thousand-year-old tradition. It is a glorious legacy that survived against all odds and is now fading,” Avner said.
Shachaf said that besides creating a “cultural and financial hub”, the centre will also contribute to Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s vision of making the Negev desert bloom. During the ceremony, the important backers of the effort signed a declaration parchment, a copy of which was rolled, put in a scroll, and buried. Two more copies of the declaration parchment will be framed. Hundreds of Indian Jews gathered on the occasion and were treated to a lively cultural programme and Indian delicacies drawn from all four communities.