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Chesed El Synagogue, Singapore, Singapore

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A Brief History of Jews in Singapore

The first Jews arrived in Singapore, a British colony and free port since 1819, in the early 1800s via Calcutta.[3] They were part of the Baghdadi Trade Diaspora, a group consisting mainly of  Baghdadi Jewish merchants who migrated from Ottoman Iraq eastward toward British Colonial India and beyond to escape Ottoman persecution and pursue economic opportunities.[4] Although they stood out in Singapore in their Iraqi garb and spoke Judeo-Arabic, they became very successful, trading freely with the Malay and Chinese majorities and other groups.[5]

Following the Suez Canal’s opening in 1869, Jews from various communities worldwide moved to Singapore, diversifying the community.[6] The majority were poor Baghdadi Jews, but wealthy Baghdadi Jews, Egyptian Jews, Ashkenazi businessmen working for European companies importing luxury goods, and Russian and Eastern European Jewish refugees fleeing antisemitism also arrived.[7] Singapore’s Jews became stratified along class lines, with the majority, poor Baghdadi Jews, living in a tightly knit community they called the mahallah, or enclave, around Middle Road in south central Singapore.[8] Rich Jews lived in mansions around the island and distanced themselves from their indigent brethren.[9] While Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews prayed together at the Maghain Aboth synagogue, they tended not to socialize with each other.[10]

The rifts in the Jewish community continued to grow until shattered by World War II.[11] Singaporeans initially felt the British would protect them, but Japan conquered the island on February 15, 1942.[12] Many Jewish women and children left right before the Japanese occupied, and those who stayed spent the war under Japanese occupation.[13] However, Jews were allowed to practice their faith, and Jewish residents in Singapore were declared “neutral,” meaning they were neither considered enemies nor allies of Japan.[14] Then, in April 1943, one hundred Jewish men were declared “enemy subjects” and interned, and the rest of the  Jewish community- an additional 472 people - was interned with them from March 1945 until the end of the war in Singapore in August 1945.[15] However, although several Jews were randomly arrested, tortured, and killed during the occupation, they were not murdered en masse like their Chinese neighbors.[16] 

Life in Changi prison, where a hundred Jewish men were interned along with many other Singaporeans, broke down social barriers as all Singaporeans waited out the war together in captivity.[17] The Japanese surrendered to the Allies on August 15, 1945, and the British reoccupation began on September 5, 1945.[18] The British colonial government was unable to house Singaporean residents or provide medical supplies after the war, and overcrowding, homelessness, and disease were prevalent.[19] Many middle class Jewish families who had left during the war chose not to return, and the Jewish population continued to decline over the next forty years.[20]

In the aftermath of the war, poverty and destruction were rampant.[21] The Jewish Welfare Association (later Jewish Welfare Board (JWB)) was founded by about half a dozen community members on June 27, 1946 to help the poor, and also aided those who wished to make Aliyah, or immigrate to Israel, but couldn’t afford it.[22]

By the 1960s, Singapore's Jewish population numbered about 500 individuals.[23] Some Jews who had escaped to India before the Japanese Occupation had returned, some Jews left, and the Jews that stayed were playing new and important roles in various fields, including in Singapore’s politics before and after its independence in 1965.[24] 

There were seven hundred Jews in Singapore after WWII, but only about 250 individuals remained by the mid-1980s.[25] As Singapore grew into a prosperous nation, however, more Jews began to arrive, and as of 2024, there are about 2,500 Jews residing there.[26]

A Brief Biography of Sir Manasseh Meyer

Sir Manasseh Meyer was born in Baghdad in 1843 and was raised in Calcutta.[27] He attended St. Joseph’s Institution, a Catholic boys’ school,[28] in Singapore from the age of fifteen[29], where he stayed with his uncle Joshua Rafael Joshua, a successful opium trader and trustee of the original synagogue of Singapore.[30] Meyer returned to Calcutta, where his uncle had business connections, after graduating from St. Joseph’s in 1864 to study Hebrew and learn his uncle’s business.[31] 

After spending some years working in business among the Baghdadi Jewish community in Rangoon, Meyer returned to Singapore at the age of thirty.[32] He established Meyer Brothers, a “diversified import and export firm that grew into the most successful Singapore-based Jewish company involved in the opium or ‘India’ trade.”[33] His brother Reuben joined the firm in Singapore, while his brother Elias headed the Calcutta branch.[34]

Meyer used his “spectacular profits” to buy real estate and build “magnificent” buildings,[35] and would become known as the “richest Jew in the Far East.”[36] He also grew into a community patriarch, dominating and shaping the identity of Singapore’s Jewish community for sixty years.[37] He is estimated to have owned more properties in Singapore than any other single person, perhaps even owning more than half the island’s real estate.[38] He bought most of his properties between 1885 and 1892.[39] His personal residences were the “crown jewels” of his real estate holdings.[40] 

Meyer maintained his Baghdadi Jewish identity in many ways. He financed publications of the most renowned Baghdadi hakham, or rabbi, of his time, Yosef Hayyim, to be distributed to Baghdadi Jewish communities throughout the Baghdadi Jewish Diaspora, and he maintained a personal relationship with him.[41] 

Visitors on fundraising missions for the Jewish communities of Ottoman and later Mandatory Palestine were always welcomed and received “generous contributions” from Meyer, who eventually helped found and became the president of the Singapore Zionist Society in the early 1920s.[42] Meyer also took on the responsibility of providing Jewish education to boys whose families could not afford it by building the Talmud Torah Hebrew School, situated behind Maghain Aboth Synagogue, and ensuring its continuation by generously funding the Sir Manasseh Meyer Talmud Torah Trust.[43]

His philanthropy was not limited to Jewish causes.[44] He donated generously to his former school, St. Joseph’s Institution, and was one of the four largest contributors to Raffles College, built in the neighborhood of Bukit Timah in 1919 to celebrate the British colony’s centennial.[45] He contributed 150,000 Singapore dollars[46] to Raffles College, which was used to build the Manasseh Meyer Science School.[47] The building still stands today and is a designated national monument on the Bukit Timah campus of the National University of Singapore (NUS).[48] Meyer was knighted in 1929 for his public service by King George V (r. 1910-1936).[49]

Chesed-El History

By 1901, the Jewish population had more than doubled since Maghain Aboth Synagogue opened in 1878, from 172 to 462 individuals.[50] The synagogue was becoming crowded, especially on holidays, and disputes arose between community members over the best way to manage it.[51] Manasseh Meyer had become very wealthy by then, and decided to build a personal synagogue, which he named Chesed-El,[52] Hebrew for “God’s Mercy/Goodness.” Bieder writes that “In building Chesed-El, Meyer was following a precedent set by David Sassoon, the wealthiest merchant in the Baghdadi Diaspora,” who had built his own synagogue in Poona, India.[53] Meyer built his “elegant white stucco synagogue” next to his main home, Belle Vue.[54] It could comfortably accommodate three hundred people.[55] Bieder writes: 

"Chesed-El is perhaps the most beautiful of all the synagogues built by the men of the Baghdadi Trade Diaspora. A jewel box of a structure, the graceful cream-coloured building, designed by R.A.J. Bidwell of Swan and MacLaren, combines features of Roman and Greek architecture, including gold-trimmed columns and many large arched windows. The double arches above the gallery of its airy interior are perhaps Chesed-El’s most dramatic and pleasing architectural feature, and its fine acoustics allow worshippers seated on the main floor or in the gallery to fully appreciate the ritual chanting."[56]

The 2005 book, The Chesed-El Synagogue: Its History & People : Celebrating the Centenary of Chesed-El, 5665-5765, beautifully describes the synagogue as such: 

"The doors of the synagogue face west towards Jerusalem. The entrance porch incorporates a triple arch and was designed to be large enough for a horse and carriage to pass through…Once inside, a welcoming coolness brings relief from the tropical heat. The floor is laid with grey marble and tall columns tower overhead, Two rows of elegant columns on either side of the main hall lead the eye towards the Ark - the most holy place in the synagogue where the scrolls containing Biblical scripts are kept. The leaf design at the top of the Corinthian columns is painted in gold and each column has three decorative rings of gold at points along its length. The columns rise to support arches decorated with delicate gold motifs. The arch design is repeated in the many graceful double windows. The synagogue is well suited to the tropical climate with its high ceilings, thick walls and many windows which catch any passing breeze and allow for cross ventilation. Thus the building is kept bright, airy and cool. Chesed El was among the first buildings in Singapore to use gas lighting. These gas lights have since been replaced with electric lights and crystal chandeliers. The original gas pipes, however, remain hidden above the ceiling…. In Chesed-El, the original mosaic tiles have been preserved on the floor of the platform. The relatively new lattice iron railings surrounding the platform were manufactured by the same company in Scotland that made the original railings for the synagogue…In Chesed-El, there is a special balcony on the second level for the women while the men use the main hall on the first level. The balcony runs along three sides of the synagogue allowing the women to hear the prayers in the hall and view the Ark. The balcony just above the entrance facing the Ark was reserved for the women of the Meyer family…The balcony is surrounded by a metal railing with elaborate lattice-work in which the initial “M” is embedded at specific intervals. The letter “M” can also be spotted on the decorative moulding near the ceiling. This is very unusual as most synagogues do not have icons or symbols inside."[57]

Meyer opened Chesed-El to the entire Jewish community, and many members from Maghain Aboth began to also pray there.[58]  However, it was far from the mahallah where the poorer Jews lived, and many could not get there.[59] Therefore, Bieder states: 

"In time, the community began referring to Chesed-El as the synagogue of the rich and Maghain Aboth as the synagogue of the ordinary people. Eventually, Meyer hired poor men from the mahallah to make up the minyan of ten men needed to perform daily services and even paid the rickshaw fares of these ‘minyan men’ so they could ride to Chesed-El."[60]

Chesed-El was dedicated on Friday, April 14, 1905, at 8 AM, on Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat right before Passover.[61] Meyer himself led the service and recited a sermon written by the most revered Baghdadi rabbi of his day, Hakham Yosef Hayyim (b. 1835-d. 1909).[62] 

Meyer’s daughter, Moselle Nissim, was twenty-two years old when Chesed-El was built.[63] She would become known as the “Queen of the Community,'' and the “pre-eminent Jewish matriarch and role model in colonial Singapore.”[64] She was described as a “gentle and soft spoken” woman known for her commitment to the Jewish community and her hospitality.[65] All her life, Belle Vue was “always open to visitors,” and for Shabbat dinners she “routinely had 20 or 30 guests.”[66] In 1929, as the Great Depression was hitting Singapore, Nissim started the Jewish Women’s League, which provided food, shelter, and health care to poor Jews.[67] The League distributed “nourishing and high-energy foods'' to needy families, provided free medical service and rent, and even paid water and electricity bills for the poorest members of the community.[68] In addition to supporting her local community, Nissim donated to the Zionist cause while also supporting non-Jewish charities.[69]

In 1930, Manasseh Meyer died, leaving trusts to ensure the upkeep of Chesed-El and the Talmud Torah school.[70] Nissim took over the Belle Vue mansion, which was later occupied by the Japanese during World War II along with Chesed-El.[71] Bieder writes: 

"After the war, Mrs. Nissim’s first job was to restore Belle Vue, which was dirty but not seriously damaged, and to repair the Chesed-El Synagogue. Though the Japanese had not harmed Chesed-El’s Torah scrolls, they had stored heavy goods and ammunition in the synagogue, and removed the parochet, the benches, the elevated platform in front of the Ark and a cast iron balustrade around the platform. After supervising restoration of the synagogue, Mrs. Nissim hired Sion David, a devout father of 12, who had famously carried his shofar with him to internment, to be its hazan [cantor] and made sure the synagogue once again had a daily minyan of ten men."[72] 

Chesed-El’s survival was of great importance to Nissim, and before she died, she asked her friend, Felice Isaacs[73], to promise that she would find a way to keep Chesed-El open for services at least once a week and for the High Holy Days.[74] 

Moselle Nissim passed away in 1975.[75] As Bieder writes, “the spirit of this gentle woman lives on in Singapore, in the memory of those who knew her and at the Chesed-El Synagogue that she loved.”[76] Singapore’s National Heritage Board declared Chesed-El a national monument in 1998.[77]

When Nissim died, the community was too small to sustain two synagogues, but Mrs. Isaacs worked for years to keep her promise, and after a series of renovations to Chesed-El in the 1990s and 2000s, she succeeded.[78] Bieder writes:

As a result of Felice Isaacs’ hard work to keep her promise to Moselle Nissim, members of Singapore’s extended Jewish community now have two beautiful Orthodox Sephardic synagogues to worship in during their most important holidays.[79]

Mrs. Isaacs oversee the Singapore Jewish Charities Trust, the Reuben Manasseh Meyer Trust, the Albert and Flora Shooker Trust, the Amber Trust, and the Chesed-El Synagogue Trust and was honored at the hundredth anniversary celebration of Chesed-El Synagogue for “...her years of dedicated service in preserving its historic legacy.”[80] The celebration was attended by Singapore’s then president S. R. Nathan and his wife, and “as always, the empty chair of Sir Manasseh Meyer stood in the front of the sanctuary to the left of the Ark under the warm glow of crystal chandeliers.”[81]

Chesed-El Today

Chesed-El Synagogue, like other historic structures in Singapore, is situated among apartments, malls, and sleek glass and metal buildings. With its creamy white facade, columns, arched windows and ornate decoration, it immediately draws the eye. 

Next to the doors of the synagogue, an inscription reads, “Built by Mr. Manasseh Meyer 1905 Architect R. J. Bidwell of Swan and Maclaren.” Inside the synagogue, cream columns are ringed in gold and arched windows overlook a central wooden bimah, or the focal point of the synagogue sanctuary where services are led, with more decorations and inscriptions adorning the walls and the Ark. The Hebrew inscription near the top of the synagogue wall above the Ark translates to “Know Before Whom You Stand, in front of the king of kings of kings, the Lord” a common inscription over the Ark in synagogues.[82] Verse 8 from the Book of Tehillim, Chapter 5, is also inscribed above the Ark. It translates to “Lo, in Thine abundant love I enter Thy house; in reverence to Thee I bow towards Thy holy temple.”[83] To the left of the arch of the Ark, the Hebrew abbreviations of the Ten Commandments are inscribed side by side, as if on two tablets. On the top right of the ark, a quote from Genesis, Chapter 49, verse 22 translates to “A charming son is Joseph, a son charming to the eye; [of the] women, [each one] strode along to see him.”

Chesed-El holds multiple services a week, attended by descendants of Singapore’s Baghdadi Jewish families as well as newer immigrants, which include Israelis and Ashkenazi Jews. Written behind the seats in the men’s section downstairs and on the railings of the women’s section upstairs are the names of the synagogue’s donors, many of them recognizable figures in Singapore’s Jewish history. 

The Rabbi’s office is within the synagogue on the second floor opposite the Ark. It is an airy room with a glass wall separating it from the women's section, through which you can see the office’s wooden bookcases and windows letting in plentiful natural light.

The Ark itself has an astounding collection of ornately decorated Torah scrolls, each one donated by a member of the community. Like other Sephardic traditional Torahs, they are contained in wooden or metal engraved cases, and some are covered in fabric.

Next to the synagogue is the Reuben Meyer Centre building, built in 2019 with funds from the Reuben Meyer Trust.[84] Its first floor has a large dining area where the congregation goes for meals after services, and it also contains Ganenu, a Jewish preschool, on the upper floor.

In the beautiful synagogue and in the Jewish community that fills it, Manasseh Meyer’s legacy lives on.

Contributions by Alana Bregman (alana@shanelani.com)

Singapore, Singapore

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