Calcutta Finally Makes a Minyan After 25 Years
‘Calcutta’s longest manhunt ends,’ Indian newspaper headline proclaims
October 01, 2013
Newspaper graphic detailing the Calcutta minyan.(The Telegraph)
In a newspaper article that starts off sounding like it could be the plot of an Indiana Jones movie, Calcutta newspaper The Telegraph announced the exciting end to a 25-year-long search: the quest to find ten Jewish men to make a minyan, solved just in time for Simchat Torah.
The Telegraph reports:
The last time such a formal prayer was held in Calcutta was in 1988, when Satyajit Ray was still making Ganashatru and Sachin Tendulkar had yet to make his Test debut.
Among the 11 men who prayed in the magnificent Magen David Synagogue today, only five were from Calcutta.
They got some outside help with the milestone minyan. Alon Ushpiz, Israel’s ambassador to India, arrived in Calcutta with five Jewish men to make the count complete.
Stephanie Butnick is the founder of GOLDA, a Jewish lifestyle newsletter. She hosted the Tablet podcast Unorthodox, co-authored The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything in Between, and worked as a writer and editor at Tablet.
