I’ve heard rumors about a synagogue in Karachi, and there was something in the press years ago about an elderly Jewish lady living in Clifton. But here’s an actual Jew in Karachi!

“I am a doctor at a local hospital in Karachi,” a person saying he was Ishaac Moosa Akhir wrote to The Jerusalem Post in an e-mail. “My family background is Sephardic Jewish and I know approximately 10 Jewish families who have lived in Karachi since 200 years or so. Just last week was the bar mitzva of my son Dawod Akhir.” [link]

This story is a bittersweet reminder of a forgotten past; of the gentle, multicultural city that Ardeshir Cowasjee so wistfully writes about.

Update: More by Adil Najam.