India has historically been a country, which has provided shelter and asylum to people who face persecution in their homeland. India's kind hearted and humanitarian gesture of extending its helping hand to people who are oppressed and face execution in their own backyard is legendary.

In the past, India has provided asylum to people of various creeds and beliefs. For instance the Parsees, Sufis, Bahais and more recently Tibetans. The Jews who have historically been one of the most tortured communities on planet earth, too were granted asylum in India.

What is so special about the Indo-Jewish experience is the absolute absence of any discrimination by the Hindu majority. Not only did the Jews feel protected and secure in India, they were even accepted into the mainstream of society.

Just like the Central Asians brought Islam and the European colonial rulers brought Christianity, similarly, the Jews brought with them Judaism, which has enriched India's cultural heritage enormously.

Kolkata being the capital of the erstwhile British East India Company, it was but natural for the Jews to be attracted to Kolkata rather than any other place in India. Kolkata in those days was a truly international city comparable with cities like London and Paris.

With dreams of making a fortune, Shalome Cohen was the first person of Jewish origin to have immigrated to Kolkata. Cohen left his motherland Syria in the year 1790 and once he established a good rapport with the men who mattered most in the British East India Company, he decided to settle down permanently in this enchanting city.

As news of Cohen's unprecedented success spread among other Jews in the Middle East, there was an exodus of Jews to India, Kolkata in particular. The Kolkata Jews mostly concentrated in diamond, silk, opium and indigo trading.

Being a close-knit community, the Jews decided to build a place of worship of worship - "Synagogue" in Kolkata and accordingly in the year 1884 the Kolkata Jewish Synagogue was opened. Today, this Synagogue is one of the oldest Jewish Synagogues in India.

As long as the British ruled India, the 5000 strong burgeoning Jewish community prospered under the British tutelage. But, the scenario changed drastically after World War II with the rise of Indian nationalism. The Jews increasingly felt insecure because the Indians started identifying them as pawns of the colonial British rulers. And by the time India attained independence, there was a mass exodus of Jewish immigration from India to the safer shores of Israel, USA and UK.

Today, the once vibrant Jewish community of Kolkata is virtually extinct with only 30 elderly Jews inhabiting Kolkata at present. Nonetheless, like elsewhere in India, the Jews have left an indelible imprint viz-a-viz their synagogues and philanthropic institutions in the cultural landscape of India and Kolkata is no exception.

The Jewish synagogue in Kolkata was not only a place of worship but also a place for conducting Jewish communal, educational and social activities.

To highlight India's legendary humanitarian gesture of extending asylum and protection to people and communities who faced oppression and persecution from ruthless regimes, a small budget stage production by a Kolkata born British bred lady - Shelly Silas has in recent times won rave reviews in the elite London socialite scene. The play entitled - "Kolkata Kosher", reflects the cherished Indian ideology that minorities including the handful of Kolkata Jews, now numbering at a precarious 30 are indeed safe in India. An immensely comforting story that, given the fact that Europe still recalls the horrors of the 1930's which tragically culminated in Auschwitz.