Uncovering Urban Legacies: The Jewish Diaspora in Bombay

Sifra Lentin is a Mumbai-based writer and the Bombay History Fellow at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, a foreign policy think tank headquartered in Mumbai. She was awarded the 2018-19 Herbert Katz Fellowship for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania for her ongoing project on “Karachi’s Jewish Community”. The books written by her are: the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet coffee table book ‘A Salute to The Sword Arm – A Photo Essay on The Western Fleet’ (April 2007); Our Legacy: the Dwarkadas family of Bombay (March 2018) on the 250-year-old history of the eminent Halai Bhatia Dwarkadas Khimji family of Mumbai, and more recently Bombay’s International Linkages (February 2019), a Gateway House publication. She has also been published in three books: MARG’s ‘Indian Jewish Heritage – Ritual, Life-Cycle & Art’ (2002), One India One People’s book on Communities of India (2006), and recently in Primus Publications Mumbai Socio-Cultural Perspectives: Contributions of Ethnic Groups and Communities (2018), where she has written Chapter 10 on ‘Mumbai’s Jewish Community’. Sifra graduated in English Literature (Hons.) from Elphinstone College, Mumbai, and went on to complete her Bachelor’s in General Law (BGL) from Government Law College, Mumbai. Her earlier career was in journalism with a focus on Bombay and South Asian Jewish history. She is currently a Trustee of the Sir Jacob Sassoon School (Byculla, Mumbai).

Dr. Neeta M.Khandpekar holds the position of Professor in the Department of History at the University of Mumbai. She has wide teaching experience of over three decades. She was awarded D.Litt degree by the University of Sambalpur, Odisha. Her interests include Modern/ Maritime History and Christian Missionary History. She has visited several countries like USA, Canada, Italy, Malaysia, Indonesia & China with support from UGC and ICHR, New Delhi. A member of more than 14 professional academic bodies and was in the Board of Studies of University of Mumbai from 2004-10. The other distinctions include certificate of merit by Government of Maharashtra (1986), Mumbai University History Department Scholarship (1989), UGC Teacher Fellowship Award (1999) and UGC Postdoctoral research Award (2004). She has authored two books namely Konkan Coast: and other on Christian Missionaries. Recently she was deputed as ICCR Chair Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Dr Manjiri Kamat is Professor of History and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Mumbai. Dr Kamat holds M.Phil and Ph.D degrees in History from the University of Cambridge. She has recently co- edited the book, Bombay Before Mumbai: Essays in Honour of Jim Masselos with Prashant Kidambi and Rachel Dwyer published by Hurst Publishers, London, Oxford University Press, New York and Penguin Random House, Delhi in 2019. Dr Kamat is also editor of Mumbai Past and Present: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges and editor of Mumbai Kaal ani Aaj: Aitihasik Akalan ani Samakaleen Awhana. Dr Kamat is Member of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee of the MCGM, Member of the Board of Trustees of the CSMVS Museum, External Associate at the Centre for Global Health Histories, University of York, Ambassador for the Association of Commonwealth Universities, London and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.