Indian Hanukkah? Consulate Marks Decade Celebrating Ties With Israel, Atlanta’s Jewish Community

The Consulate General of India Dec. 18 year marked a decade celebrating Hanukkah at its Sandy Springs offices, a gesture local Jewish community leaders said was all the more timely amid a spate of antisemitic violence around the world. 

The annual celebration in partnership with the American Jewish Committee was launched in 2015 to show solidarity with the consulate’s neighbors while nodding to India’s more than two millennia of Jewish history. 

“From the Bene Israelis and Cochini Jews in Maharashtra and Kerala to the Baghdadi and Bnei Menashe families, for centuries, Jews lived harmoniously among Indians of other faiths—an enduring testament to India’s culture of inclusivity and mutual respect,” Consul General Ramesh Babu Lakshmanan said in his opening comments before sharing videos on Indian Jewish history and a recent meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Israel.

India and the modern state of Israel didn’t have relations until 1992, but since then the countries have enjoyed a multifaceted partnership with strong ties in technology, security and agriculture. 

Consul Royi Ende said Israel since the Maccabees took back Judea with their famed fight against Antiochus, the Israeli people have been “a fighting few against many, light against darkness,” nodding to the menorahs that mark the holiday.

Embroiled in the Gaza war it launched in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, which has carried over into offensives against Iran and its proxies Hezbollah in Lebanon, Mr. Ende thanked the Indian community for its support of what he called the “modern Maccabees,” the Israeli Defense Force.

“You are part of the resilience the Jewish people have shown for thousands of years, and I can promise you, the Maccabees won 2,000 years ago, and we will win again, because light will always win over darkness,” Mr. Ende said.

That includes the darkness that befell Bondi Beach in Sydney on the first day of Hanukkah, where father-and-son gunmen massacred 15 Jews, from a 10-year-old girl to a Holocaust survivor. 

Dov Wilker, vice president for advocacy at AJC and regional director of AJC Atlanta, said the consulate’s message of solidarity was a balm during “a time that is so challenging for the Jewish people.” 

“Tonight is unique, not just because the Indian consulate is hosting this Hanukkah reception, but because it is the only Hanukkah gathering in the city of Atlanta that is not being hosted by a Jewish audience,” Mr. Wilker said, pointing to non-Jews in the audience as evidence of broader support. 

State Sen. Shawn Still offered his remarks in support of both communities, and greetings were presented on behalf of U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick. 

Nissim Reuben, assistant director at AJC Global, joined the event from Washington D.C., outlining a history not only of ancient Jewish connections to India but more recent camaraderie, pointing to Israel’s support for India’s wars with China and Pakistan in the 1960s and in the conflict in 1971 that saw Bangladesh emerge. During one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to Israel, Mr. Reuben said he skipped a banquet with Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to meet with some of the 42,000 Indian citizens who live in Israel, many of them Jewish. 

“That is the bond that he has, the deep bond,” Mr. Reuben said of Mr. Modi, noting that the prime minister went “off script” to declare that for Israel, India would waive its prohibition on granting Overseas Citizen of India cards for those who serve in foreign militaries, noting Israel’s mandatory conscription policy. 

Mr. Reuben also took issue with the U.S. State Department’s designation of Jews as among the religious minorities facing persecution in Hindu-majority India.  

“When you come and see what is the reality, you won’t believe it,” Mr. Reuben said. 

The Hanukkah celebration, which Indian Consul General Lakshmanan called a “local reflection of global friendships,” has continued yearly, save for a hiatus during the pandemic. 

“Tonight’s festival carries a beautiful symbolism: lighting the menorah not only illuminates our surroundings but also brightens our hearts with compassion and hope,” Mr. Lakshmanan said before an Indian dance troupe performance. “In that spirit, may we continue to light each other’s paths through understanding, shared values, and a collective desire to build a better world.”