Dear Sir: I make bold to address you on the matter which is of vital importance to every Bene Israel in India. a. Presumably you have read in the "Mebassar" of February 1963 that in January of this year the Kenesseth, by a majority, defeated Mr. Emma Talmi's Bill which sought to punish the marriage Registrars who attempted to impose restrictions on the performance of marriages between Bene Israel of India and other Jews in the State of Israel. The Government of Israel has accepted Bene Israel for the purpose of recruitment as bonded labourer to dig roads and trenches on the borders of the Israel State! But where marriage with other Israelis are concerned they have left the Bene Israel to the tender mercies of the ravenous Rabbinical wolves who seek to impose on them an inferiority status, in precisely the same manner as it was imposed on Jews in Eastern Europe, Hitler's Germany and Arab States. With the formation of Israel State these refugees from Arab State and Eastern Europe have now assumed the roles of arbiters to decide the purity of Jews from India and are attempting to the same inferiority status on Bene Israel which was imposed on the Jewry in Eastern Europe and Arabia. b. The second disturbing news published in the same issue of "Mebassar" is about the visit to India of Rabbis Goren Senior Chaplain to Israeli Armed forces, for the self-imposed task of finding out whether the Bene Israel community of India at all consists of even a fragment of "pure Jews".In this connection I may state that the Bene Israel community in India never intended to seek any recognition from the Jews outside India during its isolation for over 2,000 years. They remained true to Torah without the help of a Rabbi and kept themselves scrupulously aloof from intermarriage with local Indian communities by segregating the progeny of such intermarriages. Are we the descendants of these proud Bene Israel forefathers now prepared to submit ourselves to scrutiny by the descendants of those…

Dear Mr. Maragaonkar, Thank you for your invitation to the Conference of certain individuals convened by you. Although the propriety of your convening such a Conference is questionable, I shall not discourage you by altogether ignoring the issue. I regret, however, that I shall not attend the said Conference. The stand taken by this organisation with regards to the Bene-Israel problem in Israel is indisputable and we shall continue to fight till the issue is satisfactorily settled.Mr. I—the Jewish Agency, Bombay—has neither the authority, I am sure, nor has he the power to direct the moves of Rabbis. Whatever may be the case, the Orthodox Union refused even to discuss with this subject, leave alone accept his Rabbi.However, to put the records straight and to try and set your mind at rest, permit me to inform you that it has been the desire of the Orthodox Union to get a Rabbi to serve our community in India. It has now become possible for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and the Rabbinical Council of America, in collaboration with the Israeli Religious Ministry and the Jewish Agency in Israel, to arrange to deputize two Rabbis to India, of whom one is to stay for a period of one month and the other for four months. Before the second Rabbi leaves the shores of India, another Rabbi shall be with us for a period of at least two years, and before the departure of this Rabbi, our student Rabbi may be ordained and may return to India.All these Rabbis shall naturally be at the disposal of the entire community for all our religious problems, to guide us in the correct way of observing the different Misvoth and ceremonies, to attend to the husband-wife disputes, arrange Get whenever necessary, and also conversion according to the terms of Halacha.I, therefore, earnestly hope and pray that the Lord grant you wisdom not to rush headlong into conclusions which might be detrimental to the cause of the community as a whole.Yours sincerely,Sd/-(SAUL S. PENKAR…