Baghdadi Jews - History

History

In 1730, Joseph Semah arrived in Surat from Baghdad and established the Surat Synagogue and Cemetery. Surat was a main trading port in the 16th and 17th centuries; the East India Company used the city as a trade transit point, beginning in 1608. Surat is located in Western India, in Gujarat State, and is the modern commercial capital of Gujarat. Arabic-speaking Jews came to India as traders in the wake of the Portuguese, Dutch and British. These "Baghdadis," as they came to be known, especially the Sassoons of Bombay and the Ezras of Calcutta, eventually established manufacturing and commercial houses of fabulous wealth. The majority came from Iraq, thus giving the community its name, though smaller groups came from other countries such as Syria and Afghanistan and assimilated into the Baghdadi group. Unlike other Indian Jewish communities, whose oral traditions attest to their presence in India as long as 2000 years ago, the Baghdadi communities were established comparatively recently (in the past few centuries). Members of the Baghdadi community usually wear Western clothing, as they assimilate to the local community in appearance.

Persian speaking Jews closely related to Baghdadi Jews from Afghanistan and Iran came with the Ghaznavad, Ghori and Mughal invasions of Mahmud (11th century), Muhammad (12th century) and Babur (16th century). The most obscure of Indian Jews, they were traders and courtiers of the Mughals. Jewish advisors at the Court of Akbar the Great in Agra played a significant role in Akbar's liberal religious policies and built a synagogue there. In Delhi, one Jew was tutor to the Crown Prince, Dara Shikoh; the teacher and student were later assassinated by Aurangzeb when he usurped the throne. Jews traded freely in Kashmir, the Punjab, and throughout the Mughal Empire.

The community largely emigrated abroad following Indian independence. They primarily feared that an independent India would become hostile to Jews, and also emigrated out of economic concerns, fearing that India would become communist once the British left. After Indian independence, there was a continuous migration of Baghdadi Jews to Israel. Many others went to the United States and United Kingdom.