Table Of ContentThe Baghdadi Jews in India
This book explores the extraordinary differentiation of the Baghdadi Jewish
community over time during their sojourn in India from the end of the eighteenth
century until their dispersion to Indian diasporas in Israel and English-s peaking
countries throughout the world after India gained independence in 1947.
Chapters on schools, institutions and culture present how Baghdadis in India
managed to maintain their communities by negotiating multiple identities in a
stratified and complex society. Several disciplinary perspectives are utilized to
explore the super- diversity of the Baghdadis and the ways in which they suc-
cessfully adapted to new situations during the Raj, while retaining particular tra-
ditions and modifying and incorporating others. Providing a comprehensive
overview of this community, the contributions to the book show that the legacy
of the Baghdadi Jews lives on for Indians today through landmarks and monu-
ments in Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata, and for Jews, through memories woven by
members of the community residing in diverse diasporas.
Offering refreshing historical perspectives on the colonial period in India, this
book will be of interest to those studying South Asian Studies, Diaspora and
Ethnic Studies, Sociology, History, Jewish Studies and Asian Religion.
Shalva Weil is Senior Researcher at the Research Institute for Innovation in
Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and Research Fellow in
the Department of Biblical Studies and Ancient Studies at the University of
South Africa.
Routledge South Asian Religion Series
5 Health and Religious Rituals in South Asia
Disease, Possession and Healing
Edited by Fabrizio M. Ferrari
6 Time, History and the Religious Imaginary in South Asia
Edited by Anne Murphy
7 Cross- disciplinary Perspectives on a Contested Buddhist Site
Bodhgaya Jataka
Edited by David Geary, Matthew R. Sayers and Abhishek Singh Amar
8 Yoga in Modern Hinduism
Hariharānanda Āraṇya and Sāṃkhyayoga
Knut A. Jacobsen
9 Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia
Living with Bengali Bauls
Kristin Hanssen
10 Religion, Space and Conflict in Sri Lanka
Colonial and Postcolonial Contexts
Elizabeth J. Harris
11 Religion and Technology in India
Spaces, Practices and Authorities
Edited by Knut A. Jacobsen and Kristina Myrvold
12 The Baghdadi Jews in India
Maintaining Communities, Negotiating Identities and Creating Super-
Diversity
Edited by Shalva Weil
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/asian
studies/series/RSARS
The Baghdadi Jews in India
Maintaining Communities, Negotiating
Identities and Creating Super-D iversity
Edited by Shalva Weil
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 selection and editorial matter, Shalva Weil; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Shalva Weil to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-i n-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-20325-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-19787-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
This book is dedicated to General J.F.R. Jacob (1921–2016), an Indian war
hero of Baghdadi Jewish origin, who negotiated the surrender of Pakistani
forces in Dhaka in 1971 leading to the establishment of Bangladesh as an
independent nation. General Jacob (or “Jack” or “Jake”, as he liked to call
himself ), a friend of this editor, was also influential in Indian politics. He
joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 1990s and served as
Governor of Goa, Daman and Diu (1998–1999), and as Governor of
Haryana and Punjab (1999–2003). Throughout, General J.F.R. Jacob was
both loyal to India, a proud Jew and a fierce supporter of Israel. General
Jacob will remain part of Indian and Jewish history for many generations
to come.
The Editor gratefully acknowledges the generous financial assistance in the
publication of this volume provided by Abraham D. Sofaer and Marian Scheuer
Sofaer, Palo Alto, United States of America and Isaac Sofaer, born in Bombay,
currently resident in Bangkok, Thailand.
Figure 0.1 Frontispiece. General J.F.R. Jacob (1924–2016), hero of the Indo-Pakistan
War 1971, and Governor of Goa and Punjab, in his New Delhi home (courtesy
Sanjeet Chowdhury).
Contents
List of figures ix
Notes on contributors xi
Acknowledgement xiv
PART I
Sociological and historical perspectives on the Baghdadi
Jews under the Raj 1
1 Super- diversity among the Baghdadi Jews of India 3
SHALVA WEIL
2 Negotiating identity in a changing world: from British
colonialism to Indian independence 21
JOAN G. ROLAND
PART II
Diversified religious life 37
3 The Baghdadi synagogues of India: their design roots,
aesthetic and history 39
JAY A. WARONkER
4 Music traditions in the Baghdadi Jewish communities of
Bombay and Poona: continuity, new horizons 57
SARA MANASSEH
viii Contents
PART III
The Baghdadis of Maharashtra: formal and informal
education 81
5 Jewish schools, their entrepreneurs and their educational
landscape in Bombay 83
SHAUL SAPIR
6 Jewish sports and sectarianism in pre-i ndependence
Bombay 95
NATHAN MARCUS
PART IV
The Baghdadis of Bengal: formal and informal education 113
7 Muslim students in the Jewish Girls’ School, Kolkata:
a changed legacy 115
JAEL SILLIMAN
8 Sport, gender and socialization: the experience of Jewish
and Parsee women in colonial and post- colonial Bengal 125
SUPARNA GHOSH BHATTACHARYA
PART V
Print and digital dissemination 143
9 Jewish press in India in Baghdadi Judeo- Arabic as an
indispensable source for the history of Iraqi Jews in the
nineteenth century 145
ZVI YEHUDA
10 Archival cartographies: multi-l ayering Calcutta’s Baghdadi
Jewish histories 163
JAEL SILLIMAN
Index 181
Figures
0.1 Frontispiece. General J.F.R. Jacob (1924–2016), hero of the
Indo- Pakistan War 1971, and Governor of Goa and Punjab,
in his New Delhi home vi
1.1 David Sassoon Library and Reading Room founded 1847,
Bombay, 2018 6
1.2 Yonah ben Isaac ben Mordechai ben Yom Tov in Arabic
dress, with Meyer on lap and Alec at side, two grandchildren
from his son Jacob, Calcutta, 1910 10
1.3 Tabernacle sculpture by Calcutta-b orn, London- based artist
Gerry Judah 17
2.1 American servicemen, Maghen David Synagogue, Calcutta,
Simchat Torah (Festival of “Rejoicing of The Law”) 1944 27
3.1 Ohel David synagogue exterior, Pune 43
3.2 keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai 49
3.3 kippot (skullcaps) offered to visitors, keneseth Eliyahoo
Synagogue, February 2018 50
4.1 Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles) celebrated by Mozelle and
Yahya Hemi and family in the sukkâh (tabernacle) erected in
their bungalow garden, Bombay, 1953 61
4.2 Family of Ḥazzân (Cantor) Mordecai Shalom b. Ezra
(d. 1919), Poona, 1932 63
4.3 Wedding portrait of George Sopher and Rachel Ani, Bombay,
July 1948 69
4.4 Habonim picnic, Bombay, 1962 70
5.1 Sir Jacob Sassoon High School, February 2018 87
6.1 Jewish Advocate, April 1941. Waterpolo Quadrangular
between “Zionists” (sic) and Parsis, Bombay, 1941 101
7.1 Jewish Girls’ School Carnival, kolkata, December 2018 119
7.2 The Geniza (storage area for worn-o ut holy books and papers
prior to burial) in Narkeldanga Cemetery, Calcutta, 2015 122
8.1 Restored Beth El Synagogue interior, kolkata, December
2017 128
9.1 The Jewish Gazette (Pēraḥ), Calcutta, 9 September 1881 156
