Baghdadi Jews

Prominent Baghdadi Jewish patriarchDavid Sassoon (seated) and his sonsElias David,Albert (Abdullah), andSassoon David Sassoon
Total population
50,000 in 1900[1]
Regions with significant populations
India100 (chieflyMumbai andCalcutta) Israel,United Kingdom,Canada,Australia,Singapore,Hong Kong, and theUnited States.
Languages
TraditionallyArabic,Persian,Judeo-Urdu andBengali. Now mostlyEnglish andHebrew
Religion
Judaism

Baghdadi Jews (Hebrew:יהודים בגדדים,romanized: Yehudim Bagdadim;Arabic:يهود بغداد,romanized: Yahūd Baghdād) or Iraqi Jews are historic terms for the former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants fromBaghdad and elsewhere in theMiddle East. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around theIndian Ocean and theSouth China Sea.

Beginning under theMughal Empire in the 18th century, merchant traders fromBaghdad andAleppo establishedJudeo-Arabic speaking Jewish communities inIndia, then in a trading network acrossAsia, following Jewish customs.^[2] These flourished under theBritish Empire in the 19th century, growing to beEnglish-speaking and British oriented.^[2]

These grew into a tight trading and kinship network across Asia with smaller Baghdadi communities being established beyond India in the mid-nineteenth century inBurma,Singapore,Hong Kong andShanghai.^[3][4] Baghdadi trading outposts were established further across Asia, and into Southeast Asia and Oceania, with families settling inJapan,Malaysia,Indonesia, andAustralia.^[5] Until theSecond World War, these communities attracted a modest flow of Jewish emigrants fromIraq, with smaller numbers hailing fromSyria,Egypt,Yemen,Iran, andTurkey.^[6]

TheSecond World War brought strife toIndia, theJapanese occupation of Burma,Hong Kong andShanghai, then swiftly the end of theBritish Empire in Asia. Dislocated by war, the violence of theIndian Partition, rising nationalism and the uncertainty of independence in bothIndia andBurma, an exodus began to the newly founded state ofIsrael,United Kingdom andAustralia.^[2] Their old trade routes severed by firstCommunist victory inChina, the ocean trade stifled inIndia andBurma by postcolonial nationalizations and trade restrictions, the Baghdadi Jews had emigrated almost in their entirety by the 1970s.^[7] Families of Baghdadi Jewish descent continue to play a major role in Jewish life, especially inGreat Britain where families such as theSassoons andReubens have enjoyed great prominence in business and politics.^[8][9]

Though Jewish traders from the Middle East had crossed theIndian Ocean sinceancient Rome, sources from theMughal Empire first mention Jewish merchants fromBaghdad trading withIndia in the 17th century.^[10]

India was far from unknown to the Jewish merchants of theMiddle East. Sinceancient Rome the caravan route from India had ended inAleppo and the spice trade had tiedBasra,Yemen andCairo to theMalabar Coast.^[11] However, it was Persian-speaking Jewish merchants, close trading allies of the Jews ofBaghdad,Basra andAleppo Jews who first struck into the Indian heartland.^[12]

As adventurers, mystics and merchants, they had been venturing to India since theMiddle Ages on the back of invasions of the subcontinent launched by Persian speaking rulers from what is nowIran andAfghanistan. Both Persian andMughal sources record Jewish traders following the 16th century Mughal invasion of India launched by EmperorBabur.^[12]

They rose to be traders and courtiers of the Mughals. Jewish advisors at the Court ofAkbar the Great inAgra played a significant role in Akbar's liberal religious policies.^[13] InDelhi, the syncretic Jewish mystic Sarmad Khasani was tutor to the Crown Prince Dara Shikoh before both were executed byAurangzeb.^[14] There were sufficient Jews inMughal lands for British travelers to report that synagogues had been established there, but of which no trace or Jewish record remains.^[12] These handful of Jews never established a permanent community but left legends and pathways for future settlers fromArabic speaking lands.^[15]

Records of Jewish tradesmen traveling from Baghdad can be found from the early 17th century. These trading outposts and emerging migrant communities also saw Jews become courtiers toMughal rulers.^[15] These merchants wandered widely across the subcontinent.Shalom Cohen, who would found theCalcutta community, was the court jeweller to the Nawab ofAwadh and travelled toPunjab where he held the same title at the court ofRanjit Singh the leader of theSikh Empire.^[16] Cohen, theCalcutta community would later recall, was even given the honour of riding with the Nawab ofAwadh on his personal elephant.^[17]

The first permanent Baghdadi merchant colony inIndia was established in 1730 inSurat, after theBritish East India Company had begun trading withBasra in 1723.^[18] In the early 18th century, trade betweenBasra andSurat grew whilst the Indian port was the main base of theBritishEast India Company until it decamped toBombay. Joseph Seemah fromBaghdad opened the Suratsynagogue andcemetery in 1730.^[19] The Baghdadi community in Surat grew and by the end of the 18th century, as many as 100 Jews fromBaghdad,Aleppo andBasra made up theJudeo-Arabic speaking merchant colony ofSurat.^[20] This was to become the first of a string of Baghdadi communities stretching fromBombay toKobe be established inAsia.

But it was around the early 19th century, in response to the tyrannical rule ofDawud Pasha, the Ottoman governor ofBaghdad, who persecuted, extorted and imprisoned the leading Jewish families of the city, that whole clans started crossing theIndian Ocean to seek safety and fortune inAsia.^[21]Dawud Pasha's misrule was when Baghdadi immigration towardsBombay andCalcutta became strong with the leadingSassoon, Ezra and Judah families departing for India.^[5] This episode of persecution was the beginning of the Baghdadi Jewish diaspora with records of whole clans departing the city forBombay,Calcutta,Aleppo,Alexandria andSydney.^[5]

Jewish life in the ancient communities of theMiddle East, had taken a turn for the worse in the mid 19th century.^[22] The pogrom and forced conversion of the Jews ofMashhad in 1839, the fear sown by threeblood libels inAleppo between 1841 and 1860, and the outbreak of plague, first strikingBaghdad in 1831, then returning with vengeance toBasra andBaghdad in 1841, encouraged Jewish clans in the decliningOttoman Empire to seek their fortunes elsewhere.^{[23][24][25][26]}

As Jews, primarily fromBaghdad,Basra andAleppo came to India as traders in the wake of the Portuguese, Dutch and British what became known as the Baghdadi communities grew fast. By the middle of the 19th century trade betweenBaghdad andIndia was said to be entirely in Jewish hands.^[27] Within a generation Baghdadi Jews had established manufacturing and commercial houses of fabulous wealth, most notably the Sassoon, Ezra, Elias, Belilios, Judah and Meyer families.^[28]

With the rise of British power inIndia, Surat declined in importance as British-controlledCalcutta andBombay became more important in trade.^[20] Baghdadi settlement shifted first toBombay and then principally toCalcutta, then the capital ofBritish India and the centre of thejute,muslin, andopium trades.^[20] Jewish merchants fromAleppo, traditionally the end of the historiccaravan route fromIndia, played an important role in founding theCalcutta Jewish cemetery, which was opened in 1812.^{[29][unreliable source?]}

Spurred by the immigration of some the leading Jewish families of Baghdad fleeing the persecution ofDawud Pasha, the first synagogue, replacing a small prayer room, was opened in 1823, and with the community expanding quickly a second followed in 1856. By the end of the 19th century, more than 1,800 Baghdadi Jews were living inCalcutta.^[20] In 1884, a third synagogue, which was to be the largest inAsia, was dedicated inCalcutta.^[30] Baghdadi Jews were also living and trading inChinsura andChandernagore outside Calcutta.^[5]

The rise in prominence ofCalcutta during the colonial era coincided with the rise ofopium trade withChina. TheEast India Company established amonopoly over the sale of Indian opium in 1773, actively promoting the export ofopium to China, defying prohibitory legislation from theQing government.^[31] Baghdadi Jewish merchants dominated the opium trade with a majority of opium chests auctioned from the colonial authorities being exported toChina by Baghdadi Jewish merchants, who competed withMarwari andParsee merchants for the trade.^[31] TheSassoon family eventually controlled 70 percent of the opium trade from India.^[26] Great fortunes were also made in the indigo, silk and muslin trade withDhaka where Baghdadi Jews partnered with Bengali Muslim merchants.^[31]

Around these booming concerns, the Baghdadi Jewish communities ofIndia began to take shape, both seeking and attracting Jewish immigrants from across theMiddle East to work for them.^[2] Following the shift in the centre of British rule fromBombay toBengal the Baghdadi community ofBombay initially lagged that emerging inCalcutta. This fortunes of the community were reversed whenDavid Sassoon and his family arrived in 1833.^[32]

Sponsored by theSassoon family, the first synagogue opened in 1861 and the second in 1888.^[33] Distinct fromCalcutta, whose settlement was principallyIraqi Jews andSyrian Jews, the Baghdadi Jewish community inBombay drew significant Jewish immigration from Persian-speaking communities inAfghanistan,Bukhara andIran as well Jewish families fromYemen. Jewish migrant were attracted from across theMiddle East to work in the factories and business concerns of theSassoon family.^[32] OutsideBombay a Baghdadi community was established inPoona where a synagogue, a school and hospital was established byDavid Sassoon and aHebrew printing press was in operation.^[5] A Baghdadi presence is also recorded inMadras.^[5]

FromIndia, the community expanded toBurma, and the ports ofSingapore,Hong Kong andShanghai. These were established along theopium route that ran betweenIndia andChina.^[34] InSingapore the elders of the community were initially the sons of Ezekiel Judah ofCalcutta.^[35] Meanwhile, the earliestBaghdadi Jew to settle inBurma was Azariah Samuel who arrived in the port of Sittwe on theBay of Bengal in 1841.^[36] Around the same time two brothers Judah and Abraham Raphael Ezekiel settled inMandalay and worked as bookkeepers for the Burmese royal court.^[34] From 1880 the community was permanently established, the trading success of other Baghdadi Jews in opium, teak, jute, and trading shops, attracted other Baghdadi Jews toMandalay and communities sprang up inRangoon andPathein.^[36]

Following the ban on the opium trade in the early twentieth century Baghdadi Jewish merchants invested in cotton and jute products as staple exports.^[31] The sudden spike in demand for jute sandbags, building blocks for the trenches on theWestern Front (World War I), made great fortunes amongst the Jewish merchants ofCalcutta.^[37]

At their heights, the communities ofBombay andCalcutta were at the heart of a communal kinship network linked by the ports of theIndian Ocean andSouth China Sea. One observer described the Baghdadi Jews communities as being "almost as familiar with each other as the Jews of Manchester are with Liverpool."^[38] The engines of the Baghdadi Jewish trading network were tightly knit family firms such asDavid Sassoon and Co or the Meyer Brothers, founded bySir Manasseh Meyer, with offices and agents established by family members in the each port of the network.^[38]

BeforeWorld War II there were upwards of 11,000 Baghdadi Jews in Asia.^[39] On the eve of war the Baghdadi population inCalcutta had reached 3500 and inBombay 3000.^[40] Across theBay of Bengal inBurma, bothRangoon andPathein elected Baghdadi Jewish mayors and the Baghdadi Jewish population peaked at 2500 Jews in the 1930s.^[36] However, not all the Baghadi Jewish communities of this era were permanently established with theJudeo-Arabic speaking community inSydney established by families fleeingDawud Pasha disbanding its congregation in the 1890s.^[5]

Those communities established beyondBritish India by Baghdadi Jews flourished during theBritish Empire and peaked in population shortly before theSecond World War at 1500 in Singapore, 1000 inShanghai, and 150Hong Kong prior to theSecond World War.^[40] TheSingapore community flourished under the leadership ofSir Menasseh Meyer and theHong Kong community under the influence ofE. R. Belilios.^[5] Both were opium merchants who engaged in significant philanthropic efforts establishing schools and synagogues. Baghdadi outposts are also recorded as having been established inCanton andTientsin.^[5]

WhilstSingapore,Hong Kong andShanghai were the only Baghdadi settlements to genuinely grow into large communities, beyond a small trading outpost, tiny portside settlements existed inMalaysia,Indonesia andJapan, as satellites of the stronger communities inIndia,Burma,Singapore andChina.^[41]

On the route betweenIndia andSingapore, a tiny Baghdadi community was inPenang, with a synagogue and Jewish cemetery, was established in the 1870s, but for most of its history never exceeded 50 families.^[42] Further south fromSingapore, inIndonesia, then theDutch East Indies, a tiny Baghdadi community of spice merchants was established inSurabaya inJava in the 1880s.^[43]

The most far flung Baghdadi outposts, never numbering more than fifty families, were established inJapan at the furthest reaches of the opium route. Baghdadi Jews fromIraq,Syria andEgypt, initially drawn to man the concessions ofDavid Sassoon established tiny footholds inNagasaki,Yokohama andKobe.^[44] The only Baghdadi synagogue in Japan, uniting small prayer groups, was Ohel Shelomoh opened by Jews from Aleppo in 1912.^[44] Initially established inNagasaki andYokohama, the Baghdadi traders relocated toKobe, which became its focal point, after an earthquake in 1923.^[45]

As imperial jurisdictions consolidated, the Baghdadi Jews found themselves in a liminal situation in colonialAsia. They were considered neither Indian nor Western, Asian nor European and partnered with both Western and Indian interests.^[46] Legally they lived in limbo, their citizenship often unclear, having inherited what was an early modern political order.^{[citation needed]}

Prior to theFirst World War the Baghdadi Jews were for the most part notionally subjects of theOttoman Empire. Starting from 1870 the communal leaders began aggressive lobbying with British colonial authorities to registered as European.^{[citation needed]} This was never granted to them.^{[citation needed]} Nor was admittance, with few exceptions, to the European-only clubs that were the center of life in the European colonial societies throughout Asia. Baghdadi Jews were denied access to European electoral rolls in India.^[47] Outsiders, and insiders, they clung fiercely to their Jewish identity.^[47]

BeyondIndia, Baghdadi Jews sought the legal status of French orBritish Protected Person inChina. With few exceptions for the wealthiest individuals, this was routinely denied by British government officials. Angst over their legal status grew in the run up toWorld War II.^[47]

As a result, the Baghdadi Jews were determined to prove themselves a loyalist community to British authorities throughout the colonial period. Baghdadi Jewish merchants operated as confidential agents of theEast India Company, offered aid to British soldiers during the 1756 incident known as theBlack Hole of Calcutta, and like many foreign andIndian merchants andmaharajas made substantial donations to the British military during the so-called 1857Indian Mutiny.^[30]God Save The Queen, was sung in the honour of the far off imperial sovereign in the schools founded byDavid Sassoon, who himself never spoke English.^[48][26]

The Baghdadi Jews, whilst spread across continents, operated a network of kinship and trust throughout the trading posts of theIndian Ocean. They were closely united by religious, language and family ties. Marriage, in particular, tied the Baghdadi communities together. Brides, and occasionally grooms, would be sent from one community to another. Business would often overlap with family ties, creating strong alliances. Synagogues, schools, and special funds, fastened a support networks sponsored by wealthy merchants. This kinship network meantJudeo-Arabic communities, typically established by fellow Jewish migrants from the same families and clans theMiddle East, which sprang up inBurma,Singapore,Malaysia andChina, were tightly woven into the Baghdadi community.^[34]

The life of the Baghdadi kinship network on the opium route is best seen in the case ofSir Manasseh Meyer.^[36] He was born inBaghdad in 1846 and received his primary education ofCalcutta, his secondary education inSingapore, before returning toCalcutta to learn bookkeeping and then moving toRangoon,Burma, to established a small business. From there he returned toSingapore, established an import-export business, based on anopium monopoly with India. He wasknighted in 1906 for his services toSingapore having sponsored the building of two synagogues and large scale real estate construction. However, throughout all his movement, he remained firmly within aJudeo-Arabic speaking Baghdadi network.^[34]

Within these Baghdadi communities, the majority were ofIraqi Jewish origin, but families fromSyria,Yemen,Egypt,Afghanistan,Iran and a handful ofSephardic Jews fromItaly andTurkey joined and assimilated into the Baghdadi community. For most, it was simply as eastern expansion to closely bound patterns of transnational Jewish kinship, trade and exchange that had existed for centuries, moved out of theMiddle East and theMediterranean into colonial Asia. Within the Middle Eastern Jewish world, the Baghdadi Jews were considered adventurers and entrepreneurs.^[39]

Quite unlikeAshkenazi Jews departing forAmerica, who were typically poor and scorned by their religious elders for doing so, theMizrahi Jews who departed for India included some of the leading Jewish families ofBaghdad, and were looked up as admired figures, patrons, and sponsors of religious life back inIraq.^[49] Both theSassoon family, which settled inBombay no later than 1832, and the Judah family, which left forCalcutta in 1825, were seen as the leading Jewish families ofBaghdad.^[50][51] Ezekiel Judah, who founded two synagogues in Calcutta, was a descendant ofSolomon Ma'tuk.^[5]

These great Baghdadi Jewish fortunes are deceptive, however, when it comes to what life was like for the overwhelming majority of the community. Far from wealthy, they lived on the edge ofpoverty, as peddlers, stall holders, mill workers, rickshaw men and other such jobs. The middle class Jews speculated in opium and acted as brokers.^[17] Great distance existed between the leading Baghdadi Jewish families, such as the Ezra family and theSassoon family, who grew ever richer and more British-oriented during this period, and the rest of the community.^[52] Politically, the Baghdadi Jewish resembled anoligarchy, with all power and authority to represent the community towards colonial authorities being vested in the leading families, as it had been traditionally in theMiddle East.^[48]

Initially the Baghdadi Jewish communities that developed inIndia^[53] retained close cultural and religious links toBaghdad. Intellectual life was strong enough in the mid to late-19th century to sustain a printed press inIndia of theBaghdad Jewish dialect ofJudeo-Arabic.^[54] Centered onCalcutta small Baghdadi Jewish publishing houses translated literary, historical, religious and anti-missionary tracts intoJudeo-Arabic whilst religious texts were also printed inHebrew.^[55] Baghdadinewspapers and periodicals inJudeo-Arabic, with someHebrew portions, were also published inIndia.^[56] This Baghdadi printed press began in 1855: with the support ofDavid Sassoon a periodical started inBombay catering to the merchant elite of the community.^[54] This was joined by four other BaghdadiJudeo-Arabicnewspapers and periodicals inCalcutta.^[54] Novels and literature from theEuropeanZionist andHaskala movements were translated intoJudeo-Arabic inCalcutta. At the turn of the 20th century, Jewish intellectual life inCalcutta appears to have waned.^[55]

In the 20th centuryBaghdad declined, and theBritish Empire became more important to the Baghdadi Jews. The wealthier Baghdadis adopted European clothes and soughtBritish education for their children whilst the poorer Baghdadis, especially women, continued to wear Arabic dress.^[55] The rise inBritish education and working in the British Empire resulted in Baghdadi Jews turning toEnglish as their first language, both for international trade and cultural prestige inIndia.^[54] In the 20th century the Baghdadi Jews wanted to assimilate into colonialEuropean society and be considered culturally and ethnicallyEuropean. Aside for religious observances, the Baghdadi Jews began to adopt elements of Western European lifestyles.^[55] But the Baghdadis remained marginal to colonial European society and were excluded for the duration of theRaj from many social clubs that limited admission toEuropeans.^[55]

SuchWesternization resulted in the closing of allJudeo-Arabic publications in India by the start of the 20th century.^[54] These were succeeded inCalcutta in the 1920s and 1940s by threeEnglish-language communalnewspapers sympathetic toZionism.^[55] Whilst many of the wealthiest Baghdadi families remained aloof fromZionism in the late 19th and early 20th century, the community's middle class establishedZionist associations inBombay andCalcutta.^[55]

Religiously the Baghdadi Jews did not train their ownrabbis but sought guidance and resolutions on matters ofJewish law from the rabbis of Baghdad, preserving the traditions and rituals ofIraqi Jews.^[57]Sermons up until theFirst World War were given inJudeo-Arabic, after which the use ofEnglish became predominant.^[57] After theFirst World War, the Baghdadi Jews began to refer their religious questions to theSephardic Chief Rabbi inBritain.^[20] Rites concerning circumcision, betrothal, and protections of the newborn preserved Iraqi Jewish customs.^[20] Baghdadi Jewish wedding celebrations gradually grew less Middle Eastern and more European in style in the 20th century.^[58]

Throughout this period, the leading Baghdadi Jewish families set themselves up as sponsors of Jewish religious life in theMiddle East.^[50] AcrossSyria andIraq, schools, synagogues, yeshiva and charitable foundations were supported by Baghdadi Jewish merchants ofBombay andCalcutta.^[50] Struggling communities across theMiddle East sought the support of patrons inAsia such as when Moise Sassoon ofCalcutta was called upon to byLebanese Jews to sponsor the construction of theMagen Avraham Synagogue ofBeirut. Almost all these works were destroyed after the starts or theIsraeli-Arab conflict brought about the flight and expulsion of these ancient Jewish communities in Arab lands. Today only thePorat Yosef Yeshiva in Jerusalem, founded by donations from the Baghdadi Jews of Calcutta, survives.

As theSecond World War saw most of the Baghdadi Jews ofBurma, as well as individual families from acrossAsia, flee from the Japanese Occupation ofBurma the Jewish population ofCalcutta, the heart of the Baghdadi network, swelled with refugees to over 5,000 strong.^[40] A small number of Jews fled the 1941Farhud pogrom in Baghdad forBombay. Even some of the leading Baghdadi Jewish families who had settled in Britain chose to return toIndia asthe Holocaust began the slaughter of European Jews. DespiteIndia offering this place of refuge, theSecond World War was the beginning of the end for old Baghdadi world.

The Japanese occupation ofBurma,Shanghai,Hong Kong,Singapore andIndonesia saw much of the Baghdadi community interned by the Japanese army.^[59] As the war ended, it was miraculously revealed to the rest of the Baghdadi world that in Japan itself, Rahmo Sassoon, leader of the tiny Baghdadi Jewish community of Kobe, had skillfully negotiated with Japanese authorities to ensure no Jews were harmed duringWorld War II.^[60] Despite this, the one Baghdadi synagogue of Japan, in Kobe was burnt down during an American air raid.^[44]

At the heart of the Baghdadi world, in India, the end of the war ushered in the implosion of the old order. At this point, ethnic strife, political violence and fear of civil war were widespread in India on the eve ofIndian Independence. The violent explosion of killings and refugees following thePartition of India exacerbated the Baghdadi fears for the future.^[30] Dislocated by war, with many fearing India and Burma would becomecommunist or hostile to business not in Indian hands or Burmese hands once the British left, the Baghdadi community began to leave Asia.^[61] Meanwhile, in theMiddle East the establishment of the state ofIsrael and the outbreak of theArab–Israeli conflict saw the start of theJewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands. InIraq, pushed by official intimidation persecution, almost the entirety of the ancientIraqi Jewish community had left for Israel by 1950.^[50]

First the leading families, then the rest of the community began to emigrate on mass. This began a continuous exodus fromBombay andCalcutta. The wealthier followed the path of theSassoon family toBritain, whilst the poorer were drawn to the new state ofIsrael or the easing of immigration restrictions inAustralia.^[62]Bombay andCalcutta were the heart of the Baghdadi world, the centers of trade, culture and communal life. Once these had fallen into decline, the outlying communities followed.

Postwar the imperial system and open borders that had made the transnational Baghdadi world possible disappeared. InShanghai, communist victory in theChinese Civil War in 1949 closed the trading links community depended upon. Those that has fled the Japanese occupation chose not to return. By 1950, the community had all but vanished. Meanwhile, InHong Kong, despite the benign conditions ofBritish rule, emigration saw Baghdadi Jewish numbers fall to less than 70 by the 1960s.

InBurma, independence in 1947 similarly imposed trade barrier and a nationalistic regime in which the Baghdadi Jews felt they had little place.^[39] InSingapore, with trade toChina,India andBurma blocked, and the Jewish community had shrunk to as low as 180 by the 1960s.

A final wave of emigration, pushing the much reduced communities inIndia andBurma to virtual extinction, was triggered by a wave of post-colonialnationalizations and trade restrictions in India and Burma in the 1960s. Elections inWest Bengal saw a government dominated by theCommunist Party of India (Marxist) take power inCalcutta in 1967. Nationalizations of legacy firms established during the colonial rule and currency restrictions saw a choking of economic life and the Baghdadi community shrink from 500 to under 100 by the 1970s.^[39] Meanwhile,nationalizations in Burma the 1960s saw the closing of synagogues and the last Rabbi leaving the country in 1969.^[63]

Despite this precipitous decline and dispersal of the Baghdadi Jewish communities, a handful of individual Baghdadi Jews would play pivotal roles in Asia's newly independent states. The firstFirst Minister ofSingaporeDavid Marshall was a Baghdadi Jew.^[64] In India, Lieutenant GeneralJ. F. R. Jacob, a Baghdadi Jew from Calcutta, won national fame as Major General and chief of staff of the Indian army that defeated thePakistan Army inEast Pakistan in theBangladesh Liberation War of 1971, later serving as governor of the Indian states ofGoa andPunjab.^[65]

The Baghdadi community, however, never saw their exodus as a tragedy. Memoirs written by Baghdadi Jewish authors spoke fondlyBurma,Singapore,Shanghai andHong Kong and of the fact inIndia they had never experiencedantisemitism, which was viewed as a unique treasure.^[2] The network of Baghdadi Jewish schools, both English, Jewish and aspirational in orientation had primed them for life in Britain or Israel, not in post-colonialAsia. Rather that focus on what pushed, these memoirs focus on what pulled the Baghdadi Jews to leaveAsia, chiefly a sense that the opportunities that had drawn their ancestors there had dried up, and new glittering prizes lay in the West.^[2]

In the early twenty first century the Baghdadi communities ofIndia andBurma are at the point of disappearing completely. However small Baghdadi communities ofHong Kong andSingapore have endured and Baghdadi synagogues still operate in both cities, though now greatly outnumbered in both by Jews from especially theUnited States,Israel,France and theUnited Kingdom draw to business in contemporaryAsia.

Today synagogues and associations upholding Baghdadi Jewish traditions exist inBritain,Israel,Australia and theUnited States. But in the historic Baghdadi communities in Asia only the synagogues originally founded by Baghdadi Jews in bothHong Kong andSingapore continue to operate regular services.^[66][67]

Families of Baghdadi Jewish descent continue to play a major role in Jewish life particularly inGreat Britain, to which the leading families were drawn after theSecond World War. Established in London, theSassoon family enjoyed the friendship of Edward VII, established abaronetcy and sawPhilip Sasson became a minister.^[8] Meanwhile, other Baghdadi families such as theReubens have played major role in theBritish economy whilst others have gained notable prominence in arts and journalism, such asGerry Judah andTim Judah.^[68]

Traditional Baghdadi Jewish cuisine is a hybrid cuisine, with manyArab,Turkish,Persian and Indian influences.^[69] Famous Baghdadi dishes include beefcurry, Baghdadibiryani and Baghdadi Jewishparathas. A Baghdadi version oftandoori chicken is also popular (using lemon juice to cook the chicken instead of the cream used in the usual Indian recipe). Other Baghdadi Jewish communities in Southeast Asia mixed their original Iraqi Jewish dishes with influences from the local cuisine.

Pre-World War Two Baghdadi Communities in Asia

Post-World War Two wider Baghdadi and Iraqi Jewish Diaspora.

• Meir Taweig Synagogue
• Shaykh Yitzhak Tomb
• Great Synagogue of Baghdad

• Sassoon Eskell
• Yosef Hayyim (Ben Ish Chai)
• David Abraham (executive), CEO ofChannel Four.
• Esther Victoria Abraham, Indian model and actress.
• Shalom Obadiah Cohen, community leader and founder of the Jewish community in Calcutta.
• Sassoon J. David, banker (founder ofBank of India) and member of theBombay Municipal Corporation.
• Brian Elias, composer.
• Eli Amir, writer
• Edward Isaac Ezra, opium trader and real estate developer.
• Brian George, Israeli-born character actor of Baghdadi-Indian Jewish descent; most well known for playing the role of a Pakistani shop owner, "Bhabu", onSeinfeld, US TV series.
• Silas Aaron Hardoon, real estate tycoon.
• Abraham Hillel, rabbi.
• David and Simon Reuben,^[71] tycoons.
• Shelomo Bekhor Hussein, rabbi and publisher.
• Joe Balass, filmmaker
• Lt GenJ. F. R. Jacob, Indian military commander in theBangladesh Liberation War of 1971; former Governor of Goa and Punjab.
• HakhamEzra Reuben Barook, a High Priest in Jerusalem in 1856; he traveled to India and settled in Calcutta. His name is mentioned in Rabbi Ezekiel Nissim Musleah's book titled "On the banks of the Ganga: The Sojourn of Jews in Calcutta.^[2]
• Gerry Judah, artist and designer.
• Tim Judah, journalist and historian.
• Lord Kadoorie
• Anish Kapoor, British Asian sculptor; Baghdadi Jewish mother
• David Saul Marshall, the first Chief Minister of Singapore
• Nadira, Bollywood actress
• Linda Menuhin, Iraqi-born Israeli journalist
• Ruby Myers, Bollywood actress.
• Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, merchant
• David Sassoon, merchant and founder of theSassoon family.
• Sassoon David Sassoon, English merchant.
• Gaby Dellal, film director
• Alan Yentob, television presenter and executive
• Samantha Ellis, writer
• Siegfried Sassoon, English poet during World War I, grandson of David Sassoon.^[72]
• Abraham Sofaer, actor.
• Jael Silliman, feminist scholar and historian.
• David Mordecai, photographer.
• Khwaja Israel Sarhad andKhwaja Fanous Kalantar, landowners, diplomats, and tycoons (seeKhwaja).^[73]
• Abraham David Sofaer, former federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Scholar at the Hoover Institute and Legal Adviser to the United States State Department.
• Nahoum Israel Mordecai, founder of Nahoum & Sons bakery, Kolkata, India.
• Shlomo Twena, rabbi, scholar, writer, translator and journalist. Editor of the weekly "Magid Mishri" newspaper

• "Baghdadi Jewish Community".Iraqi Jewish Archives. USA:U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Archived fromthe original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved2013-11-10.
• Indian Jews –Jewish Encyclopedia
• Calcutta Jews –Jewish Encyclopedia

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