The Bene Israel, also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" or "Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there centuries ago. Starting in the second half of the 18th century, after they were taught about normative Sephardi Judaism, they migrated from villages in the Konkan region where they had previously lived to nearby cities throughout British India—primarily to Mumbai where their first synagogue opened in 1796 but also to Pune, Ahmedabad, and Karachi, where they gained prominent positions within the British colonial government and the Indian Army.
The history of the Jews in India dates back to antiquity. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in the Indian subcontinent in recorded history. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jose of the 2nd-century CE mentions the Jewish people of India in his work Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer, saying that they are required to ask for rain in the summer months, during their regular rainy season, yet make use of the format found for winter in the Standing Prayer, and to cite it in the blessing, 'Hear our voice'. Desi Jews are a small religious minority who have lived in the region since ancient times. They were able to survive for centuries despite persecution by Portuguese colonizers and nonnative antisemitic inquisitions.
Synagogue architecture often follows styles in vogue at the place and time of construction. There is no set blueprint for synagogues and the architectural shapes and interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. According to tradition, the Shekhinah or divine presence can be found wherever there is a minyan, a quorum, of ten. A synagogue always contains a Torah ark where the Torah scrolls are kept, called the aron qodesh by Ashkenazi Jews and the hekhal by Sephardic Jews.
The Ohel Leah Synagogue is a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at the junction of Robinson Road and Castle Road, in the Mid Levels on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong.
Baghdadi Jews or Iraqi Jews are historic terms for the former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants from Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
David Sassoon was the treasurer of Baghdad between 1817 and 1829. He became the leader of the Jewish community in Mumbai after Baghdadi Jews emigrated there.
The David Sassoon Library and Reading Room is a famous library and heritage structure in Mumbai, India. The idea for a library to be situated in the center of the city came from Albert Sassoon, son of the famous Baghdadi Jewish philanthropist, David Sassoon.
Solomon F. Sopher is the president of the Baghdadi Jewish community in Mumbai, India. He also serves as the Trustee of the David Sassoon Fund, and as the chairman and managing director of Sir Jacob Sassoon Trust, which manages the Knesset Eliyahoo synagogues in Mumbai, as well as the Magen David and the Ohel David synagogues at Pune, India.
The Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, also Knesset Eliyahu and the Blue Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 55, Dr. V.B. Gandhi Marg, in the Kala Ghoda neighborhood, Fort, in downtown Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra, India. Completed in 1884, it is the second oldest Sephardic synagogue in Mumbai. The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, and Oberoi Trident are nearby.
There are many synagogues in the Indian subcontinent, although many no longer function as such and today vary in their levels of preservation. These buildings dating from the mid-sixteenth through the mid-20th century once served the country's three distinct Jewish groups—the ancient Cochin Jews, and Bene Israel communities as well as the more recent Baghdadi Jews.
The history of the Jews in Hong Kong starts when Jews were among the first settlers after Hong Kong became a British colony in 1841. The first Jews arrived in Hong Kong from various parts of the British Empire as merchants and colonial officials. Among the first wave, the Baghdadi Jews stood out especially, including representatives of the influential families of Sassoon and Kadoorie. The construction of the Ohel Leah Synagogue in 1901 marked the beginning of a fully fledged religious life for the city's local Jews.
The Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in downtown Yangon, Myanmar. Completed in 1896 to replace an earlier wooden synagogue that was erected in 1854, the current stone synagogue is the only synagogue in Myanmar.
The Magen David Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Byculla, Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra, India.
The history of the Jews in Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, in India, began in the late eighteenth century when adventurous Baghdadi Jewish merchants originally from Aleppo and Baghdad chose to establish themselves permanently in the emerging capital of the British Raj. The community they founded became the hub of the Judeo-Arabic-speaking Baghdadi Jewish trading diaspora in Asia.
General Henry St Clair Wilkins was a British army officer who served the East India Company in India, Aden and later in Abyssinia. He was also a noted architect and is credited with having designed several buildings.
The Ohel Rachel Synagogue is a Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 500 North Shaanxi Road, in the Jing'an District of Shanghai, China. Built by Sir Jacob Elias Sassoon in memory of his wife Rachel, it was completed in 1920 and consecrated in 1921. Ohel Rachel is the largest synagogue in the Far East, and one of the only two still standing in Shanghai. The congregation worships in the Sephardic rite.
David Joseph Ezra was a leading merchant, property developer and communal leader of the Baghdadi Jewish community in Kolkata, India. He was one of the key developers behind nineteenth century Kolkata, and was responsible for many of its most celebrated Victorian buildings and synagogues.
Ezekiel Judah also known as Yehezkel Yehuda, or Yahuda, or Ezekiel Judah Jacob Sliman, was a Jewish communal leader, trader of indigo, muslin, and silk, philanthropist, and Talmudist from Baghdad. He migrated to India, where he led the Baghdadi Jewish community of Kolkata and established the city's first synagogues.
Rachel Sassoon Ezra, known as Lady Ezra, was an Indian philanthropist and community leader, a member of the Sassoon family, and wife of banker David Elias Ezra.
