A Modern Jewish General
By: Shira Schoenberg
April 24, 2006 09:06 PM | Permalink
General Jacob keeps his parents’ ketubah (Jewish marriage certificate) (Shira Schoenberg)
NEW DELHI, INDIA -- In a dimly lit apartment here filled with antique furniture, Buddhist statues and old Indian paintings sits a war hero. He is Major General Jack Frederick Ralph Jacob, the Jewish general who commanded the Indian army through the 1971 war with Pakistan that resulted in Bangladeshi independence.
Now 83, the gray-haired General Jacob lives alone, with a servant to help him, and spends his days reading, surfing the Internet and working on his autobiography.
“The later it’s published the better,” he said. “I’m a very private person.”
Jacob was born into a Baghdadi Jewish family from Calcutta, whose ancestors came to India more than 200 years ago. His parents were Orthodox and kept a kosher home, he said, and Jacob has maintained a strong Jewish identity throughout his life. In 1941, when Jacob was 18, he decided to join the army. “I was inspired to fight the Nazis,” he said. “A lot of boys in Calcutta joined. I think I was first.” His three brothers, now deceased, followed his lead, joining the air force and infantry.
From that decision, Jacob embarked on what was to be a 37-year career in the military, the highlight of which was negotiating the 1971 surrender of Pakistan. He retired from the army in 1978, after becoming its highest ranking Jew, but remained involved in politics, with close ties to the National Party (BJP). He served as governor of Goa and Punjab in the 1990s before retiring to Delhi.
His Jewish observance became more difficult as his career progressed, he said. “How can you be kosher in the army?” he asked. “It’s not possible.”
But Jacob never forgot his roots. “I believe in God. I’m proud of being Jewish,” he said. He went to synagogue on high holidays and festivals. After his mother died, he donated her silver and her wedding dress to an Israeli museum.
Today, he keeps his parents’ ketubah, marriage certificate, in his apartment. Written in Aramaic with a hand-painted border of purple and green flowers with two yellow lions crowning the top, the document bears the date March 22, 1910, 10 Adar 5670, with the names Alias Immanuel and Sally Jacob. General Jacob himself never married.
Although Jacob says little about the work he has done to promote Indian-Israel relations, Sourav Roy, a staff writer with The Indian Express, called Jacob a “pioneer in the modern India-Israel relationship.” Jacob, Roy said, has connections in the highest echelons of the Israeli government and meets visiting Mossad agents in India, in attempts to bring the countries together.
Although Jacob has a strong Jewish identity, he does not believe his Judaism influenced his professional life. “I do it not because I’m a Jew, but because I’m a human being,” he said. “I respect every being, not because they’re Jewish or Christian, because they’re human. The roots are different, but all religious in the world should aim at doing good-Hindu, Jew, anyone.”