In the summer of 1973 I visited India with my wife and our youngest son Chaggai.
In 1948 there had been about 29,000 Jews in India. 20,000 of these were “Bene Israel,” who lived mostly in Bombay and in the Bombay region. 6500 were “Baghdadi” Jews—descendants of Jews who had come to India from Syria and Iraq—who had their own communities in Bombay and Calcutta. 2500 Jews, the Black and White Jews of Southern India, lived on the Malabar Coast.
In the years that followed the number of Jews in India decreased sharply due to emigration, mostly to Israel. However in 1973 there was still a sizable Jewish community in Bombay consisting of six thousand Bene Israel and about two hundred Baghdadi Jews.
We stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel, one of India’s most famous hotels. Overlooking the bay of Bombay, it combines western comfort with eastern exotic splendor.
The hotel which was built more than seventy years ago, has served as host to rulers and princes and to leaders in the arts and sciences. In recent years it was augmented by a twenty-two story annex called the Taj International.
The twin-hotel with its 650 rooms and suites and a variety of restaurants, a shopping arcade and many other facilities, is a meeting place of world travelers and members of India’s high society. It is a luxury city by itself. Hosts of employees clad in multicolored uniforms man its stately portals and lavishly furnished lounges and hallways.
We met there a number of Jews from Europe and the U.S. who had come to India on business.
“I estimate that half of the Americans who stay at the Taj Mahal Hotel are Jews,” a man in the know told us. “There are many, however, who don’t want to reveal their Jewish identity, but there is a way to find out.”
“Tell the orchestra to play ‘Jerusalem the Golden’ or the tune of Kol Nidre and then mix with the guests and ask them whether they know the song or the tune. Naturally they would know.”
We visited the two synagogues of the Baghdadi community, the Magen David and the Keneseth Eliyah, which were built in 1861 and 1888, respectively. These large, magnificent sanctuaries were both built by the Sassoon family.
The Sir Jacob Sasson School, near the Magen David Synagogue, originally served the children of the “Baghdadi” community. When we were there most of the students were “Bene Israel”. There were also some non-Jewish Indians enrolled in the school.
The Magen David which has an impressive four-column façade and a high clock tower, bears the name of David S. Sassoon, the almost legendary Jewish merchant prince of India.
David Sassoon, who was born in Baghdad, came to Bombay in 1832. He founded a trading firm which grew into a commercial empire spanning many countries. He and his sons became known as the “Rothschilds of the East.”
David Sassoon established synagogues and a variety of Jewish institutions in India and in other countries in the East. He was also a great benefactor of the Indian people.
Several memorials were erected in his honor.
In Bombay I visited the David S. Sassoon Public Library. In its antechamber is a life-size statue of the great philanthropist.
On our first Sabbath in the city we were invited to a grand Kiddush by Freddy Sopher, a Baghdadi Jew, whom we had met at the Kneseth Eliya Synagogue. Sopher, who was of great assistance to us during our stay in Bombay, as well as others told me about the veneration in which David Sassoon is still held by the Indians.
David Sassoon died in 1864 at the age of 72 and is buried in a mausoleum in Poona, in the Bombay region, which was his summer residence. He built in Poona the Ohel David Synagogue and a large general hospital which to this day bears his name.
After India gained independence, the Indian authorities removed the names of Englishmen and other foreigners from streets and public institutions. A New Delhi official who obviously knew nothing about David Sassoon reproved the Poona Municipality for not changing the name of the David S. Sassoon Hospital. “We will not change this name. Sassoon was not an oppressor of the Indian people; he was our benefactor,” the municipality replied.
Some years before we visited India, an elaborate ceremony in honor of David Sassoon was held at his graveside with the participation of leaders of the Indian government. I do not recall what was the occasion. It was probably in 1963 when the Poona hospital celebrated its centenary. I was told that though the Jewish population of Poona had diminished considerably, the hospital still maintained a section for Jewish patients.
Many Baghdadi Jews were employed by the Sassoons. They were extremely well treated. The employees would receive bonuses on the occasion of the Jewish holidays. It was a dark day for the Baghdadi community in Bombay when in the 1940’s the news became known that the last Sassoons who were…
By: Tovia Preschel
Jewish Press
January 23, 1981