'We are a tiny, miniscule community, but what keeps us together is a special bond. We are one family, we meet, we talk, we share with each other'

Delhi's last 10 Jewish families guard an ancient heritage

In the capital of one of the world's most religiously-diverse countries, a r[a]bbi who has never been ordained bends ancient customs, ensuring New Delhi's ten Jewish families a place to worship.

Unlike most synagogues, there is no separation of men and women as Jewish-born worshippers, converts and followers of other faiths chant Psalms in perfect Hebrew, with doors thrown open to all. The service leader never asks attendees what religion they follow, and envisions his daughter becoming India's first female rabbi.

"Being a small community, we cannot be so rigid, so orthodox," says Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, honorary secretary of the synagogue whose unpaid job of thirty years has overlooked religious convention to keep this tiny group together.

"Our openness, our liberal approach is what allows us to survive. For reading the Torah, you must require ten men, a minyan. But I made radical changes, because why should we discriminate between women and men? I count the women."

Jews have been in India for 2,000 years, but represent merely about 5,000 people, whereas the general population of the country is about 1.2 billion people.