Cultural exchange and religious guidance along the shores of the Arabian Sea: Yemenite Jews in India and Indian Jews in Yemen

This chapter examines the relations between thousands of Yemeni Jews and the Jews of the Indian subcontinent in modern times. Starting in the eighteenth century, Yemenite rabbis and emissaries filled in religious functions in Jewish communities first in Cochin and among other groups. In the opposite direction, members of Bene Israel community served as officials and officers in the British army during the time it occupied Aden in 1839. These mutual relations formed intimate ties among various communities across the Indian Ocean.