The Baghdadi Jews in Calcutta and Bombay maintained a very strong sense of community and continued most of the Iraqi Jewish traditions they had brought with them. Jael Silliman – an author, scholar and activist, through her digital archive on Calcutta Jews ‘Recalling Jewish Calcutta’ has documented the life of the Kolkata Jews through photographs, recipes, personal memories from the community and historical data. During the early years, the Jews of Calcutta followed the rituals and traditions they had brought with them from their homeland. Though, over the years, their food started adapting local ingredients to create a unique Calcutta Baghdadi Jewish cuisine, it still retained its distinct Jewish identity through Jewish religious dietary laws called kashrut, which makes the food suitable or kosher for the community to eat.

The Baghdadi Jewish community thrived in India till 1940s. However, lack of economic opportunities and increasing migration to places such as Israel, UK, Canada, the United States and Australia, led to sharp decline in the population.

Today there are only about a few hundred Baghdadi Jews in India. Other Jewish communities like the Cochin Jews and Bene Israel can also be found in Maharashtra and Kerala. Most have moved out, but those who remain say they are deeply connected with this land, that has given them so much.