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The intellectual leadership of the Kolkata community amongst the Baghdadi Jewish community in Asia and its higher educational level can be noted in the fact that of all the memoirs written of Indian Baghdadi Jewish almost all were written by members of the Kolkata community.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1m_okSx7ds4C&pg=PA6|title=Jews and India: Perceptions and Image|last=Egorova|first=Yulia|date=22 February 2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-14655-0|language=en}}</ref> | The intellectual leadership of the Kolkata community amongst the Baghdadi Jewish community in Asia and its higher educational level can be noted in the fact that of all the memoirs written of Indian Baghdadi Jewish almost all were written by members of the Kolkata community.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1m_okSx7ds4C&pg=PA6|title=Jews and India: Perceptions and Image|last=Egorova|first=Yulia|date=22 February 2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-14655-0|language=en}}</ref> | ||
== Emigration == | == Emigration == | ||
Following Indian Independence majority of the Baghdadi Jewish population began to rapidly emigrate to London, to where the richer Baghdadi Jewish merchant families had been drawn for a generation. The community was deeply affected by the [[Great Calcutta Killing|Great Kolkata Killing]] of 1946 that saw 4,000 killed and 100,000 made homeless in seventy-two hours of Hindu-Muslim communal violence.<ref name="katz"/> Rioting between 1945 and 1947 also killed numerous Europeans. Scenes of devastation that unsettled the Baghdadi Jewish community included vultures feasting on piles of human remains in the streets of Kolkata.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/3879963/vultures-of-calcutta-the-gruesome-aftermath-of-indias-1946-hindu-muslim-riots/|title='Vultures of Calcutta': The Gruesome Aftermath of India's 1946 Hindu-Muslim Riots|last=Cosgrove|first=Ben|website=Time|language=en-us|access-date=21 January 2020}}</ref> Both the extreme violence of [[Partition of India|Indian Partition]] between Hindus and Muslims and the [[Bengal famine of 1943|Bengal Famine]] witnessed during World War Two frightened the Baghdadi Jewish community and led them to believe there was no future for them in the city.<ref name="yisrael"/> | Following Indian Independence majority of the Baghdadi Jewish population began to rapidly emigrate to London, to where the richer Baghdadi Jewish merchant families had been drawn for a generation. The community was deeply affected by the [[Great Calcutta Killing|Great Kolkata Killing]] of 1946 that saw 4,000 killed and 100,000 made homeless in seventy-two hours of Hindu-Muslim communal violence.<ref name="katz"/> Rioting between 1945 and 1947 also killed numerous Europeans. Scenes of devastation that unsettled the Baghdadi Jewish community included vultures feasting on piles of human remains in the streets of Kolkata.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/3879963/vultures-of-calcutta-the-gruesome-aftermath-of-indias-1946-hindu-muslim-riots/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601082348/http://time.com/3879963/vultures-of-calcutta-the-gruesome-aftermath-of-indias-1946-hindu-muslim-riots/|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 June 2015|title='Vultures of Calcutta': The Gruesome Aftermath of India's 1946 Hindu-Muslim Riots|last=Cosgrove|first=Ben|website=Time|language=en-us|access-date=21 January 2020}}</ref> Both the extreme violence of [[Partition of India|Indian Partition]] between Hindus and Muslims and the [[Bengal famine of 1943|Bengal Famine]] witnessed during World War Two frightened the Baghdadi Jewish community and led them to believe there was no future for them in the city.<ref name="yisrael"/> | ||
Mass emigration began in a moment of extreme economic dislocation. In the space of a few years the transnational colonial trading system in which they had prospered was dismantled. In India, new economic regulations enacted by the Indian Government restricted imports and controlled foreign exchange, seriously hampering the business of the Baghdadi Jewish merchants families which led the community.<ref name="yisrael"/> | Mass emigration began in a moment of extreme economic dislocation. In the space of a few years the transnational colonial trading system in which they had prospered was dismantled. In India, new economic regulations enacted by the Indian Government restricted imports and controlled foreign exchange, seriously hampering the business of the Baghdadi Jewish merchants families which led the community.<ref name="yisrael"/> | ||
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The Jewish community established five independent synagogues in Kolkata, out of which regular prayers are only heard in one. The first synagogue, now known as the Old Synagogue, was built by Shalome David Cohen.<ref name="je1">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1906 |title=Calcutta |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia |publisher=Kopelman Foundation |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3917-calcutta |accessdate=27 January 2013}}</ref> | The Jewish community established five independent synagogues in Kolkata, out of which regular prayers are only heard in one. The first synagogue, now known as the Old Synagogue, was built by Shalome David Cohen.<ref name="je1">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1906 |title=Calcutta |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia |publisher=Kopelman Foundation |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3917-calcutta |accessdate=27 January 2013}}</ref> | ||
One of the pivotal figures in building the synagogue of Kolkata was [[Ezekiel Judah]]. Ezekiel Judah was an esteemed talmudist who led the Baghdadi Jewish community in Kolkata in spiritual matters during his lifetime, building two synagogues. He was a leading indigo merchant who traded in silks and muslins.<ref name="abraham">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqAaAAAAIAAJ|title=The Origin and History of the Calcutta Jews|last=Abraham|first=Isaac Silas|date=1969|publisher=Daw Sen|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/164753/9/09_chapter%205.pdf|title=Economic Life: Trade and Other Occupations|website=shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in | One of the pivotal figures in building the synagogue of Kolkata was [[Ezekiel Judah]]. Ezekiel Judah was an esteemed talmudist who led the Baghdadi Jewish community in Kolkata in spiritual matters during his lifetime, building two synagogues. He was a leading indigo merchant who traded in silks and muslins.<ref name="abraham">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqAaAAAAIAAJ|title=The Origin and History of the Calcutta Jews|last=Abraham|first=Isaac Silas|date=1969|publisher=Daw Sen|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/164753/9/09_chapter%205.pdf|title=Economic Life: Trade and Other Occupations|website=shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in}}</ref> A descendant of [[Solomon Ma'tuk|Solomon Ma’tuk]] his family name was seen as highly aristocratic amongst Iraqi Jews.<ref name="abraham"/> One of his sons by his first wife was a leader of the Jews in Baghdad.<ref name="parasuram">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3LNtAAAAMAAJ|title=India's Jewish heritage|last=Parasuram|first=T. V.|date=1982|publisher=Sagar Publications|language=en}}</ref> Another son conducted a Yeshiva in Jerusalem founded by Ezekiel Judah at which ten scholars constantly studied the Torah and recited prayers.<ref name="parasuram"/> For a year after Ezekiel Judah's death, his sons invited scholars from Jerusalem, Syria and Baghdad as well as the poor of Calcutta to study the Torah.<ref name="parasuram"/> | ||
In 1825, Ezekiel Judah built the Neveh Shalom Synagogue on Canning Street. It was rebuilt in 1911. In 1856, Ezekiel Judah and David Joseph Ezra built the Beth El Synagogue on Pollock Street. It was rebuilt and extended in 1886 by Elias Shalom Gubbay.<ref name="je1" /> In 1884, Elias David Joseph Ezra built the [[Magen David Synagogue (Kolkata)|Magen David Synagogue]] in memory of his father David Joseph Ezra. | In 1825, Ezekiel Judah built the Neveh Shalom Synagogue on Canning Street. It was rebuilt in 1911. In 1856, Ezekiel Judah and David Joseph Ezra built the Beth El Synagogue on Pollock Street. It was rebuilt and extended in 1886 by Elias Shalom Gubbay.<ref name="je1" /> In 1884, Elias David Joseph Ezra built the [[Magen David Synagogue (Kolkata)|Magen David Synagogue]] in memory of his father David Joseph Ezra. | ||