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Maghain Aboth Synagogue, Singapore, Singapore

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BACKGROUND

Singapore was yet another stop on Baghdadi Jews’ path eastward. According to Jonathan Goldstein, Baghdadi Jews arrived in Singapore in the mid-nineteenth century after their sojourn in East and West India. Goldstein argues that the Baghdadi Jews of Singapore constituted what historian David Sorkin terms ‘port Jews,’ a category originally meant to describe Sephardic and Italian merchant Jews who settled in port cities in central Europe, the Mediterranean, and the New World in the early modern period.[1] Summarizing Sorkin’s argument, Goldstein explains the particular nature of port Jewish communities, which leveraged their commercial acumen to gain privileged statuses in their host countries, and also cultivated a Jewish identity and community that tended to be modern, intellectual, and secular, yet still undeniably Jewish.[2] Goldstein contends that the Jews of Singapore were another example of port Jews, claiming that they “enjoyed residential permission, civic inclusion and full commercial privilege in Singapore from their moment of arrival.”[3]

Sir Menasseh Meyer might be the most well-known Baghdadi Jew of Singapore. Born in Baghdad in 1846, Meyer grew up in Kolkata before moving to Singapore in 1873 to assist his uncle in his ventures in the opium trade. Like many Baghdadi Jews of Singapore who grew disillusioned with the fickleness of the opium trade, Meyer also became involved in real estate. He greatly expanded the real estate of his uncle’s business, growing it to encompass the Adelphia and Sea View hotels. By 1900, he was the proprietor of nearly three-quarters of the real estate on the island. Many considered him the wealthiest Jew of the Far East, exceeding even the Sassoons.[4]

According to Goldstein, the Jews of Singapore were simultaneously steeped in both religious and secular life. That is, Baghdadi Jews of Singapore such as Meyer and another merchant by the name of Abraham Solomon were intent on adapting aspects of the modern British lifestyle and educating their children in English, yet they were still committed to inculcating Singapore with a Jewish character, establishing Jewish synagogues and institutions to achieve this end.

Menasseh, an ardent Zionist, also imbued Singaporean Jewry with a commitment to the stewardship of the Land of Palestine. In addition to drawing inspiration from the forefather of political Zionism Theodor Herzl, Menasseh also drew inspiration from the Baghdadi proto-religious Zionist Rabbi Hakham Joseph Hayyim.

During World War II the Singaporean Jewish community suffered at the hands of the Japanese, who persecuted and incarcerated the Jews of East and Southeast Asia. Of those who survived the war, many left for Australia, Canada, and the United States. Those that stayed, however, maintained a close-knit Zionist Jewish community. One such member was David Saul Marshall who, in 1955, was elected Singapore’s first Chief Minister. “In that capacity,” argues Goldstein, “[Marshall] gave Singapore its first measure of internal self-government and set the colony on its path to complete independence, which was achieved shortly after Marshall left office.”[5] According to Goldstein, the Jews of both colonial and independent Singapore enjoyed equality because they were viewed as economic assets and importantly,  they were considered a bridge between Singapore and Israel, after whom Singapore hoped to model itself in certain ways.[6] 

Importantly, the “strengthening of Baghdadi Jewish life and of ties between Singapore and Israel” in the first decades after the war “occurred simultaneously with the almost complete disintegration of Jewish communal life in Iraq.”[7] Facing persecution and hostility, over 150,000 Jews left Iraq for Israel between 1949 and 1950.

While Singapore for a time housed a diverse Jewish community that even included Israelis and European Ashkenazim, the Singaporean Jewish community that has survived is largely Baghdadi in origin. As late as 2003, there were about 180 Jews in Singapore’s Jewish community. One gains a peek into Jewish life on the island from an excerpt of Goldstein’s article:

“An American academic who attended a Sabbath service in one of the Baghdadi synagogues in Singapore in 2000 observed both the recent diversity and traditional characteristics of the community. She wrote:

On the right side sit the old-timers, the men of Baghdadi origin who lived through the Japanese occupation. On the left side sit the wealthier members of the community and the younger generation of Jews and expatriate Israelis, some of whom have become important, active members of the community…When Frank Benjamin, President of the Jewish Welfare Board, stepped down from participating in the Torah service, he walked the room and wishes Shabbat shalom to all. The gesture is heartfelt and inclusive, consistent with his determination to bring all Jews living in Singapore together … Frank Benjamin and others are determined to keep their [community] vibrant and alive without sacrificing the basic orthodox traditions that inspired Singapore’s first Baghdadi Jews over 160 years ago.”[8] 

Today, Singapore’s Jewish community has increased to 2,000-3,000 thanks to an influx in Jewish and Israeli expat immigration. Singapore’s Chesed El and Maghain Aboth Synagogues are both still in use, although have been closed temporarily during the COVID-19 crisis.[9]

SITE

In the 1870s, Singaporean Jewish merchants Abraham Solomon, Joshua Rafael Joshua, and Joshua’s nephew Manasseh Meyer became the Trustees for a new synagogue that would serve the burgeoning and prospering Baghdadi-Jewish community of Singapore. Previously, a small “shop-house” synagogue was all that the small Jewish community of Singapore had at their disposal.[10]

The Trustees gained permission from Singapore’s Attorney General Thomas Braddell to sell the old synagogue and purchase land for a new one on Waterloo Street near St. Andrew’s Cathedral and, crucially, the mahallah: the street near Middle Road where many of the more pious, observant, and poorer Baghdadi Jews lived.

Construction of the synagogue was completed on March 29, 1878 and was followed by the Jewish Synagogue Ordinance issued by the Government of the Straits Settlements—a string of British territories in Southeast Asia—which acknowledged the right of Singaporean Jews to use this synagogue as a house of worship. On March 4, the synagogue was consecrated and named Maghain Aboth (“Shield of our Fathers”). It was designed to hold one hundred worshippers.

In her book The Jews of Singapore, Joan Bieder describes the architecture and make-up of Maghain Aboth:

“The original Maghain Aboth was a one-storey building with a tall, covered carriage entrance. The railings and gateposts that protected its outside perimeter were presented by Leon Katz, owner of Katz Brothers, a German Jewish firm that had operated in Singapore since the 1860s. Like all synagogues, in the East, Maghain Aboth’s front doors faced west toward Jerusalem. Inside the synagogue, the central bimah, the raised platform where the Torah is read, was made of solid teak, as was the Ark that holds the Torahs located at the West end of the building. The Torahs within the Ark came from Baghdad. Male worshippers sat on wood and cane benches, but even though the building had high ceilings, a separate balcony for women was not in the original plan. However, in 1893, architectural plans for a three-sided gallery were drawn up, and Manasseh Meyer is credited with having paid for the construction of a women’s section. Even so, women rarely attended synagogue in the early days except on the most important of Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). Maghain Aboth did include a well, but at first it had no surrounding structure for a mikvah , the small, enclosed ritual bath for women.”[11]

According to Bieder, the Maghain Aboth Synagogue, filled with song chanted from the mouths of Baghdadi hazans, is a symbol of the thriving and diverse Jewish community of colonial Singapore, where Arabic-speaking Jews dressed in traditional Baghdadi garb (robes and turban) prayed alongside and together with Jews that dressed in Western-style suits. Specifically, Bieder imagines an opening ceremony of the synagogue that included Abraham Solomon, Sassoon Aaron Gubbay, Manasseh Meyer, and Joshua Rafael Joshua, joined together, but representing different eras and interpretations of the Baghdadi-Jewish community in Singapore and the Baghdadi-Jewish diaspora more generally.[12] 

On May 19, 1884, Abraham Solomon, the Singaporean Jewish community’s “first patriarch,” died at the age of 86. He was buried in the local Orchard Road Jewish cemetery, his tombstone engraved with his Judeo-Arabic name: Abraham Shalom Seliman. Bieder comments on the symbolism of Abraham’s multiple names: “The use of his Baghdadi name on the headstone may reflect a cultural divide that continued between the original Orthodox Jewish community, which remained isolated except for business, and mainstream colonial society. By shortening and anglicising his name to Solomon and interacting with colonial officials, he bridged the divide, expanded beyond his Baghdadi roots and found commercial success in a British colonial society.” [13]

Following Abraham’s death, the Jewish community of Singapore named a road, Solomon Street, in his honor. 

In 1893, a balcony for women was added to Maghain Aboth, and in the early 20th century Manasseh Meyer built a Talmud Torah school for poor and underserved Singaporean Jews at 22-B Bencoolen Street, behind Maghain Aboth. Meyer chose Ezra Meir, a Baghdadi Jew who worked as the chazan at Chesed-El Synagogue, to be the teacher. According to Bieder, “Meyer understood that the perpetuation of Judaism depended in large part on educating every young Jewish person. He not only established the school, he also assured its permanent existence by generously funding the Sir Manasseh Meyer talmud Torah Trust.” [14]

In 1922 marble floors were added and nearly everything was renovated aside from the original bimah and Ark. According to Bieder, the synagogue was “turned into a spacious, high-ceilinged two-storey building with tall windows that held 300 people.”[15] Until the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, this new and improved Maghain Aboth was often filled to the brim with worshippers. During the Japanese Occupation, Bieder writes that “community members gathered there for services and moral support, and some, including David Marshall’s mother Flora Marshall and the aged Abdullah Shooker, lived for a time in the nearby Talmud Torah.”[16] As the Japanese interned the Jews of Singapore in Changi Prison, Maghain Aboth fell out of use. It was used by the Japanese to store pig iron. After the war, although the Jewish population had decreased dramatically, Maghain Aboth still stood, its Torahs untouched.

On November 24, 2004, the Republic of Singapore and Singapore’s Jewish community celebrated the 125th anniversary of the consecration of Maghain Aboth Synagogue, which was designated a National Monument in 1997. 100 people attended the celebration, including President Mr. S.R. Nathan of Singapore and his wife Urmila Nandey, Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Shoham and his wife Mrs. Shoham, United States Ambassador Frank Lavin, the Chairman of Singapore’s National Heritage Board, Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh, and Singapore’s Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan.

“In celebrating Maghain Aboth,” writes Bieder, “they were honouring the foresight of Singapore’s original Baghdadi Jewish community in creating an enduring foundation for their growing community. In 1878, that relatively isolated group of Arab-speaking Jewish men, many of them dressed in the robes, turbans and gabardine vestments of the Orient, had stood in the same sanctuary and proudly consecrated their imposing new synagogue. They had no way of knowing that more than a century later, the aptly naked ‘Shield of Our Fathers’ they were founding would stand fast, providing an enduring home for a changing community.”

Bieder also relays the moving words of Singapore’s Chief Rabbi Mordechai Abergel: “Standing in front of the Ark that held an impressive collection of Baghdadi Torahs, Rabbi Abergel considered the question, ‘What is a synagogue?’

‘The synagogue is Judaism’s greatest contribution to humanity,’ he said, ‘the domain of public worship now accepted by all organised religions.’ For Jewish people who visit or live in Singapore, he said, the synagogue is ‘a house of gathering that brings all Jews in the Diaspora together as if they were one being. It is the house where we cease to be in exile, if only for a fleeting moment.’”[17]  

Singapore, Singapore

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