Kol Zimra: the Sound of Song

Dr. Musleah has authored three books. In 1973, he published “On the Banks of the Ganga, The Sojourn of Jews in Calcutta,” in which he described in detail the life and institutions of Jewish settlers from the closing years of the eighteenth, to the mid–twentieth, centuries. Derived from Indian and local Jewish sources, it is the leading record of a Jewish habitation so far into the Orient and a useful contribution to the overall understanding of Indian Jewry. The volume has been out of print. This author's second publication is a book of pizmoneem – hymns and songs of a religious nature – he edited and translated into English, accompanied by tapes of ago–old melodies. Ingrained in his memory is the nostalgic scene of his family seated in the brightly illuminated Calcutta Sukka and at Sabbath and other festive occasions. The volume was prepared for Jewish communities of Iraqi extraction who wish to perpetuate their ancestral heritage.