Indian Perceptions of Foreign Jews?

In My Humble Opinion
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Forgive me please for generalizing-- obviously there is no singular attitude towards anyone amongst any large population on earth. But I’m curious as to what the overall cultural feeling is. I have read that India has been, historically, one of the least anti-Semitic nations in the world, but how does this translate to individuals’ attitudes? I’m going to be traveling in India and staying in some homes, and I’m just wondering if it will be a big deal to “come out” as Jewish. I assume that as a white American I’ll typically be read as Christian or a New Ager. I’m pretty much a secular, liberal, non-Zionist Jew. Are Indian Muslims affected at all by the poor Jewish-Muslim relations prevalent in other Asian countries? How does the average Hindu feel about Jews? I know native Jewish communities like the Bene Israel don’t seem to have any particular conflict with those of other religions, but I’m interested specifically in how people perceive American or otherwise foreign Jews. I can’t find much information on this topic at all. I’m interested to know how forthcoming I should be with this part of my identity when I’m there.

Don’t mean to sound paranoid in this thread-- I don’t have a persecution complex nor am I particularly worried about this issue; I overall very much believe in people’s basic goodwill towards others. I’m just interested in hearing about typical preconceptions people have there-- for example, in many parts of Europe or the Middle East, mainstream beliefs about Jewish people could be classified as negative; I’m interested in hearing about India.

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Most Indians either don’t care, or are too anti-Muslim to worry about Jews or Christians.

Seriously, Jews don’t really enter the radar of anyone I know back home. Perhaps someone will come along and say something different, but we don’t really care at all.

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Pretty much what **Anaamika **said. I think Jews are in such a minority in India that the average person is unlikely to have come across one - I can’t recall meeting anyone who was Jewish, for example, until I lived in England. With an estimated 6000 adherents in a country of over a billion, Judaism hardly makes a ripple, let alone a splash. I think that if you were to “come out” as Jewish, you’d spend a lot of time explaining the difference to people who really didn’t know what Jewish meant, and to anyone who did, they’d just nod and that would be it. I don’t think it’s a big deal one way or the other. My guess would be that most reasonably affluent people in an urban setting would know, while others might not. But if it’s an important part of your identity, and you don’t mind spending some time answering questions, I see no reason to hide it. You certainly aren’t going to get turfed out on your ear because of it. :wink: Curiosity and a whole lot of quite probing questions are far more likely than preconceptions.

Oh, and unless you are dressed in a clearly traditional manner, you are indeed going to be read as Christian/New Ager/Atheist. As as American, you will also be assumed (in the street) to be rich, and therefore have to put up with a lot of people trying to sell you a lot of things.

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Yup, what they said. I used to know some Jewish folk, and it never even occured to me that they were Jewish until much later. Really, it’s a non-issue.