Satamkar
Template:Notability? Satamkar (also Satamker) is a Bene Israel family who lived for centuries in its Indian village before returning to Israel or settling throughout the world.
Origins
The Satamkar family has its origins in the village of Satamba/Virjoli (18°20′37″N 73°05′34″E / 18.343726°N 73.092846°E), Roha taluka, Raigad district, Maharashtra, near the West Coast of India, south of Mumbai. This family belongs to the Bene Israel community, one of the three groups of Indian Jews. According to tradition, the Bene Israel came to India about 2000 years ago.
Life in Kolaba
They have been living in the Kolaba (today: Raigad) District for close to eighteen centuries. The ancestors used to dwell in villages from which they took their surnames (SATAMKAR = from SATAMBA, PENKER = from the town called PEN, ASHTAMKAR = from the town called ASHTAMI, etc. ...). SATAMBA means, in Marathi, 'Seven Mangoes'. For centuries their principal occupation was oil pressing. They extracted oil from a kind of sesame seed called til and were known as Shaniwar Telli ("Saturday oil pressors"), because they did not work on Saturday.
The Bene Israel names are derived from Hebrew/Aramaic words. Of the about 160 surnames, practically all have been traced to Hebrew roots.[citation needed] For example satam means to shut/to close/to seal. The word kar originates from ikar, the Hebrew word for farmer. The final name originally was Satam Ha Ikar, as in the English expression farmer Brown or farmer Jones. In time it Indianized to Satamkar. Rohe means Shepherd, Masil means saviour or Life guard, Shir-Kol means Song-Voice and so on.-Ref Nissim Moses.
The first occupation of the Bene Israel in the Konkan Region was farming and oil pressing. The village that developed around the resident Bene Israel family at that location took its name. That is why many villages in the Konkan, which had large Bene Israel populations and a synagogue, never had the equivalent kar. E.G. Panvel, Alibagh, Thane, Revdanda, Dharamtar, Mandva, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Poona etc. because the Bene Israel never took the name of the villages.
Settling throughout India
At the end of the 18th century and, mostly, during the 19th century, the men enlisted in the Army and joined the British colonial government, in the civil service, the railways, the Post office, Customs and Excise. From that time, they settled in all parts of India (present India and Pakistan). Many lived in Mumbai as carpenters or contractors ('maistry').
Members of the SATAMKAR family lived in Satamba/Virjoli until the 1970s. At the beginning of the 19th century, some left their village for Mumbai, Nandgaon, Maharashtra and other places.
This was the belief because the Bene Israel forgot Hebrew/Aramaic of their ancestors. Hence they assumed that they took the names of the villages as their local neighbours did, but most of their names have roots in Hebrew,
Emigration from India
Between the 1960s and the 1980s most of the Satamkars emigrated to Israel. Some of them are now living in the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Brasil and other countries around the world. However, the family is still present in India.
People with the surname Satamkar
- Daniel Abraham Satamkar (known as Daniel Abraham) – Founder of "D. Abraham & Sons" Shipping Company in Mumbai [1] and trustee and former president of the Thane Synagogue.
- David Ezekiel Satamkar – President and Treasurer of the Ghosale & Virjoli/Satamba Bene Israel Community; he was also Representative of the Jewish Central Board in Bombay
- Hanoch Satamkar – Film actor and assistant director.[1]
- Soloman Satamkar- Carpenter
- Nathan Soloman Satamkar – Musician.[2]
- David Soloman Satamkar – Musician.
- Abigail David Satamkar - Music teacher
- Benjamin Nathan Satamkar – Musician.
- Shegulla Nathan Satamkar (Shegulla Elijah Kasukar)- Indian classical dancer
- Rephael David Satamkar - Musician in the Hindi film industry and percussionist
- Reena Nathan Satamkar (Reena Elijah Dighorkar)- Indian Classical Danser
- Hananiel Nathan Satamkar – Musician in the Hindi film industry and guitarist.
- Suzan David Satamkar (Sonali Sunil Pendse)- Sitarist and Indian classical dancer
- Daniel Rephael Satamkar - Musician and pianist
Gallery
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Film actor Henoch Satamkar and his bride
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Old tombstones in the Satamkar's Cemetery
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Daniel Abraham Satamkar, founder of D. Abraham & sons
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David Ezekiel Satamkar and his wife
References
- ^ Religion and Society. Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society. 1991.|pages=
- ^ "Shir Hodu".|title=Shir Hodu (Jewish Song From Bombay Of The 30s), by Nathan Solomon Satamkar |publisher= LegalSounds
- Shirley Berry Isenberg, India's Bene Israel, a Comprehensive Inquiry and Sourcebook, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1988
- Yoel Moses Reuben (Satamkar), The Jews of Pakistan, a Forgotten Heritage, Mumbai: The Bene Israel Heritage Museum and Genealogical Center, 2010
- Bene Israel, Ms 654/1, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem,
External links
- The Satamker Family Website
- Stamker, Facebook, משפחת סטמקר המורחבת
