In Search of the Bene Israel

<strong>IN SEARCH OF THE BENE ISRAEL</strong> explores a dwindling population of Jews in Western India thought to be one of the lost tribes of Israel, shipwrecked some 2,000 years ago. Filmmaker Sadia Shepard grew up a product of mixed Muslim-Christian households in Boston, where both faiths were celebrated equally. Her identity grew more complex with the discovery that her maternal grandmother was not Muslim, but in fact a descendant of Bene Israel, an insular Jewish community outside of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Fulfilling a deathbed promise to her grandmother, Sadia sets off in search of the missing pieces to her religious and cultural past. Traveling to India and Pakistan, her fascinating story draws together the traditions of an ancient people with a quest to grasp the meaning of home.