He was tortured, ostracized and kicked out of his home, but refused to give up his persistent struggle to convert to Judaism, a crime punishable by death in his Muslim country. In an exclusive interview, Fishel Benkhald talks about the price he paid for his stubbornness and shares his dream of visiting Israel and opening a kosher restaurant in Karachi. ‘After so many years in the dark,’ he declares, ‘I’m coming out and saying: Look at me, I’m a Jew.’

Fishel Benkhald sounded excited and optimistic. “It may be the arrival of Rosh Hashanah, which makes me believe in starting over. I’m looking forward to the eve of the holiday, when I shall tell my children about the Jewish tradition, and then we’ll eat apple in honey and pomegranate seeds.

“My children are young and I don’t want to force religion on them, but I believe it’s important for them to learn about the Jewish holiday customs. When we celebrate a holiday or Shabbat, they’re happy that their father plays with them, and I always let them taste holiday dishes and sweets. They also enjoy listening to me say all the blessings.”

A day after our conversation, however, the holiday preparations were disrupted when his landlord decided to kick Fishel, his wife and their two small children out, after discovering his tenant was Jewish.

“I’m used to packing up and moving homes,” Fishel says. “In the past two months, I’ve already been asked to leave two apartments. The landlords told me I was a target for the Taliban or ISIS, that they didn’t want to take responsibility in case their apartment would be set on fire or they would be harassed for renting it out to a Jew. So now I’m looking for a third apartment. I won’t fold to anyone. If I didn’t give in to my country, I definitely won’t surrender to landlords. I’ll show them this Jew is stubborn.”

Fishel has paid a heavy price for his stubbornness. Not only has he been kicked out of apartments, he has also been socially ostracized and has even experienced violence. Just a few weeks ago, when he tried to open a bank account and stated in the forms that he was Jewish, the bank refused to approve the account. That’s what happens to a guy who is half Jewish and half Muslim and has demanded that his country, Pakistan, recognize him as a Jew, although it is legally impossible for a person registered as a Muslim to convert.

Today, he is the only proclaimed Jew among the 190 million residents of Pakistan, where the passport states: “Valid for all countries of the world except Israel.”

In a first exclusive interview to an Israeli media outlet, Fishel Benkhald talks about his childhood and the difficult battle he waged to explore his mother’s roots. “After so many years in the dark,” he says, “I’m coming out and saying: Look at me, I’m a Jew.”

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5022328,00.html

Fishel Benkhald at the Jewish cemetery in Karachi. ‘Just like people come out of the closet in the LGBT community, I felt like I had come out of the Jewish closet’

But one time, when he took a further step forward, he almost paid with his freedom and life. He began discussing religious issues with a friend in an online chat. Then he told him he was Jewish. The two decided to meet for coffee in a crowded place.

“We talked about Pakistan and about Israel. I explained to my friend that only a Muslim could be prime minister under Pakistani law, whereas there was no such law in Israel. I added, however, that Israel had the right to maintain a Jewish majority. He didn’t like what I said, called his friends, and the discussion heated up. They assaulted me, knocked me down to the ground and started kicking me in the stomach and in the face. Then they called the police and told them I was an Israeli Mossad agent who was speaking out against Pakistan and against Islam. ‘He’s a Zionist criminal,’ they screamed.

“The police arrested me. I was tied to a chair for 18 hours, blindfolded. They interrogated me and hit me. They asked if I were a Mossad agent and how was I connected to Israel. I said I wasn’t a Mossad agent, but a Zionist who believed in the State of Israel’s legitimacy. I told them that like Pakistan, Israel had received independence from Great Britain, and I asked the police officers what was the difference. They showed me different torture devices and threatened to torture me until I took back what I said. I said to them, ‘Do what you want, but I’ll keep voicing my opinion.’

"Luckily, shortly before I was arrested, I took a picture of my bruised face and posted on Twitter that I had been beaten up for being Jewish. American journalists saw the tweet and contacted the police in Pakistan. After hours of interrogation, I was released.”

He completed his studies in Saudi Arabia and returned to Pakistan, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and mechanical engineering.

“My uncle took the entire contents of my parents’ house, including a menorah and candlesticks that had belonged to my mother. I had trouble accepting that her death would mark the end of our family’s Jewish roots. After all, there is no Jewish community or synagogue in Pakistan to offer you support and a place to pray. Even the cemetery in Karachi has been deserted for many years, without anyone visiting or coming there to say Kaddish.”

Benkhald’s bruised face after clashing with Muslims

A touch of Yiddish

Pakistan’s Jewish community was small and quiet. Some 2,500 Jews moved to Pakistan from Iran or India from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. Most lived in Karachi. The Magain Shalome Synagogue was built alongside other Jewish community institutions.

In 1947, the Brits left Pakistan and the country gained independence. A year later, upon the State of Israel’s declaration of independence, Pakistan adopted a clear and strict anti-Israel policy. Many of the country’s Jews immigrated to Israel. Some of the Jews who remained in Pakistan converted, married Muslims and assimilated. Few maintained their Jewishness in utmost discretion, but chose to declare themselves Muslim in the census registrations, out of fear of being harassed by the government.

In 1988, the synagogue was torched and destroyed, and a pedestrian mall was built in its place. It was a symbolic act, marking the end of Pakistan’s Jewish community. The last Jews of Karachi saw the synagogue go up in flames and became, at least outwardly, Muslim.

Pakistan has reported in recent years that there are 900 citizens registered as Jews in the census registration, but that figure includes citizens who were Jews in the past, or at least declared they were Jewish, and no longer observe Jewish mitzvot. Many of them are elderly people who decided to stay in Pakistan while their relatives immigrated to India or to Israel. Former members of Pakistan’s Jewish community built a new synagogue in Lod and named it Magen Shalom after the Karachi community’s old synagogue.

The religious radicalization process that has been taking place throughout Pakistan in recent years, and the support of many of its citizens for organizations like al-Qaeda or the Islamic State, have turned the country into a dangerous place for Jews.

In Pakistan, which upholds Sharia law, a Muslim person cannot convert. So imagine the amazement of the state’s authorities when a young man showed up and demanded to be recognized as a Jew.

The letter confirming Benkhald’s registration as a Jew

Dreaming of a bar mitzvah
Now, Fishel wants to revive Pakistan’s Jewish community, build a new synagogue and rebuild Karachi’s cemetery, which he visits occasionally to connect—through the dead—to his new Jewish life.

He is married and has two small children, who he is very protective of, "so they won’t suffer as I suffered as a child." They make Kiddush and celebrate holidays, and Fishel took his children to visit the cemetery when he was photographed for this story. He has submitted a request to register his children as Jews too, but the chances his request will be granted are small. “It will be hard for me to prove they’re Jewish, but I’ll fight for it. I want my children to grow up and marry Jewish women, and together we’ll reestablish the Jewish community in Pakistan.”

He’s afraid to expose his wife. “My choice to revive my Jewish roots isn’t her choice. She respects me and my religion. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

Why don’t you consider making aliyah?

“I’m not allowed to say I want to immigrate to Israel, because they’ll say I’m a Mossad agent and arrest me. My Pakistani passport explicitly states I am not allowed to visit Israel, but I do hope the State of Israel would perhaps signal Pakistan to allow me to visit the country of my forefathers.”

In light of the reactions you have received, don’t you fear for your life?

“Not really. I go outside and look around to see no one’s following me, but there isn’t much I can do beyond that. I have two good friends who know I’m Jewish and accept me. I’m accepted at the company I work for too, after proving to be a good employee. The company owner is a Shiite Muslim and the Shiites suffer from discrimination here too, so he understands the situation I’m in.

“On the other hand, ever since my picture was published, and I was marked as a ‘Jewish traitor,’ many of my former friends and neighbors have chosen to stay away from me. My brother gave an interview to a local news agency and said he didn’t share my struggle and wasn’t Jewish. My siblings have cut ties with me. I understand them. They’re afraid of facing problems. Not everyone can be the person he is. But I’m not going to give up.”