In Boston, Jewish and Indian leaders gather to deepen a natural alliance
More than 50 business, civic and community leaders from Boston’s Indian and Jewish communities gathered recently for a convening designed not simply to celebrate friendship, but to build a more durable relationship between two of the world’s oldest and most resilient civilizations.
The gathering, titled “Building Bridges: India-Israel,” was co-hosted by Colette Phillips, founder and CEO of Get Konnected!, and Meena Bharath, founder of the Meher Foundation and former president of the Massachusetts Asian American Commission. Special guests included Benjamin Sharoni, Consul General of Israel to New England, and Shri Raghuram S., Consul General of India in Boston.
The event reflected a relationship that has been growing at several levels at once: between India and Israel, between Indian and Jewish communities in the diaspora, and among local leaders in Boston who see the two communities as natural partners in business, civic life, education, technology, philanthropy and culture.
India and Israel established full diplomatic relations in 1992, but the connections between Jews and India reach much further back. India is often described by Jewish historians and community leaders as one of the rare places where Jewish communities lived for centuries with comparatively little antisemitism. Indian Jews maintained distinct religious and cultural traditions while also becoming part of the broader fabric of Indian society.
That history gave the Boston gathering a deeper significance. This was not only a diplomatic reception or networking event. It was an attempt to translate historical goodwill into present-day relationships.
The Boston gathering also appears to be part of a broader national moment. In May, eJewishPhilanthropy published an essay on a Jewish-Indian alliance launched in Los Angeles, where Jewish and Indian community leaders gathered at Sinai Temple and BAPS Hindu Temple to explore deeper ties beyond ceremonial interfaith exchange. The Boston convening suggests that the same idea is beginning to take root in other cities: not merely celebrating shared history, but building practical relationships across campuses, professional networks, civic life and communal institutions.
“Get Konnected! is about building bridges across cultures, getting people to know one another,” Phillips said. “When people come together and truly learn about each other, barriers break down. We begin to find common ground, celebrating our cultural similarities rather than focusing on our differences. We build bridges of understanding, not walls of separation.”
Phillips said she was proud to join with Bharath “to bring together two communities that are both very close to my heart.”
Sharoni described the India-Israel relationship as a natural partnership rooted not only in strategy, but in shared values.
“Israel and India are natural partners — in business, in innovation, and in our shared commitment to democracy and human dignity,” he said. “It is heartening to see these bonds celebrated and strengthened right here in Boston.”
Raghuram emphasized India’s long tradition of religious pluralism and its historic friendship with Jewish communities.
“India has always welcomed people of all faiths, and our friendship with the Jewish community is one of the oldest and most cherished in the world,” he said. “Gatherings like this give me great hope that our two communities will continue to grow closer in the years ahead.”
For Bharath, the event was a reminder that the two communities share not only history, but habits of life: family, learning, resilience, enterprise and communal responsibility.
“India and the Jewish people share more than ancient histories — we share values of family, learning, resilience, and community,” Bharath said. “Events like this remind us that when we come together, we are stronger. The friendship between our two peoples is a model for how diverse communities can thrive side by side.”
Among the leaders attending were Sushil Tuli, founder and chairman of Leader Bank; Raj Sharma of the Sharma Group at Merrill Lynch; Rakhi Kumar, senior vice president of sustainability at Liberty Mutual; Nav Singh, former managing partner of McKinsey New England and board chair of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; Robert Leikind, executive director of the American Jewish Committee New England; Rabbi Bill Hamilton of Congregation Kehillath Israel; Debbie Coltin, president of the Lappin Foundation; Dr. Jennifer Skolnick and Jason Skolnick; and Dr. Ernest Fraenkel, MIT professor and co-founder of Kalaniyot, a campus organization dedicated to combating antisemitism at colleges and universities nationwide.
The timing of the gathering also mattered. At a moment when antisemitism remains a growing concern in Jewish communities and public discourse around Israel is often polarized, the Boston event offered a different model: communities choosing to know one another directly rather than through stereotypes, headlines or political abstractions.
It also reflected Boston’s own civic reality. Greater Boston is home to one of America’s significant Jewish communities and a growing Indian and South Asian presence deeply rooted in medicine, technology, finance, education, entrepreneurship and public service. The question raised by the gathering was not whether the two communities have enough in common. It was whether those commonalities can be organized into lasting relationships.
The answer, at least from those in the room, was yes.
The Boston convening suggested that the next chapter of Jewish-Indian partnership will not be written only by diplomats in New Delhi and Jerusalem. It will also be written in cities like Boston, where civic leaders, business executives, rabbis, philanthropists, educators and entrepreneurs decide that ancient friendship can become modern collaboration.
As Phillips put it, the work begins with people getting to know one another. From there, bridges can become institutions, and goodwill can become partnership.