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Dissertation Information for Brenda Joseph Ness

NAME:
- Brenda Joseph Ness

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1996)

ADVISORS:
- Stanley Wolpert

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Yona Sabar
- D. R. SarDesai

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The children of Jacob: The Bene Israel of Maharashtra

Abstract: This work is an attempt to consider the Bene Israel community within the Indian context in which they lived for centuries, on the fringes of the Jewish world. A survey of available sources and studies regarding the Bene Israel indicate that, hitherto, little attention has been paid to their interaction with their surroundings prior to contact with other Jews. In order to gain an understanding of Bene Israel life before the migration to Bombay in the 18th century, which brought them into the greater Jewish sphere, it is necessary to survey the surroundings in which they lived along the Konkan coast and the socio-economic niche they succeeded in creating which allowed the community viability.

Traditions among the Bene Israel relate that in the Konkan villages, the community survived by practicing the craft of oil-pressing. Since they observed the Jewish Sabbath, they refrained from work on Saturdays, becoming known locally as the Shanwar Teli, the Saturday Oilpressers. Although anecdotal evidence abounds as to the role played by Bene Israel in the Maratha period, documentary verification of these accounts was nonexistent. What was required was an examination of the unpublished Marathi sources of the local government in the pre-British period: the papers in the Peshwa Daftar, housed in the Pune archives. Perusal of these documents resulted in a wealth of information essential to any attempt at reconstructing the life of India's largest and, perhaps, oldest Jewish community.

MPACT Scores for Brenda Joseph Ness

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2009-01-19 20:01:45

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Students under Brenda Joseph Ness

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None