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Jacob Ballas Centre, 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.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3]

Following the Suez Canal’s opening in 1869, Jews from various communities worldwide moved to Singapore, diversifying the community.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] Rich Jews lived in mansions around the island and distanced themselves from their indigent brethren.[7] While Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews prayed together at the Maghain Aboth synagogue, they tended not to socialize with each other.[8]

The rifts in the Jewish community continued to grow until shattered by World War II.[9] Singaporeans initially felt the British would protect them, but Japan conquered the island on February 15, 1942.[10] Many Jewish women and children left right before the Japanese occupied, and those who stayed spent the war under Japanese occupation.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13] However, although several Jews were randomly arrested, tortured, and killed during the occupation, they were not murdered en masse like their Chinese neighbors.[14] 

Life in Changi Camp, where a hundred Jewish men were interned along with many other Europeans, broke down social barriers as all Singapore residents waited out the war together in captivity.[15] The Japanese surrendered to the Allies on August 15, 1945, and the British administration resumed on September 5, 1945.[16] The British colonial government was unable to house Singapore residents or provide medical supplies after the war, and overcrowding, homelessness, and disease were prevalent.[17] 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.[18]

In the aftermath of the war, poverty and destruction were rampant.[19] 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.[20]

By the 1960s, Singapore's Jewish population numbered about 500 individuals.[21] 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.[22]

There were seven hundred Jews in Singapore after WWII, but only about 250 individuals remained by the mid-1980s.[23] 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.[24]

A Brief Biography of Jacob Ballas

Jacob Ballas was born in Amara, Iraq circa 1920 or 1921 into a religious Baghdadi Jewish family.[25] Despite growing up in poverty in Singapore’s mahallah, or unofficial Jewish quarter, Ballas excelled in his studies at St. Andrew’s School, an Anglican boys’ school that many Jewish boys attended, and made many close Singapore Chinese friends and colleagues throughout his life.[26] He went from being a car and later insurance salesman to becoming the first “Asian”[27] and only Jewish Chairman of the Stock Exchange of Malaya and Singapore.[28] As Chairman, he helped grow, modernize, and restructure the Exchange and the stock market of the newly independent Singapore to make it one of the highest performing in the region.[29]

He also started a successful brokerage firm, J. Ballas and Co.[30] He reflected on his own bitter memories of childhood poverty and the lack of generosity from his wealthy Jewish brethren, and because of this was determined to be generous with others.[31] He was also inspired by his Singaporean friend, Lee Kong Chian’s[32] idea of providing multiple monthly bonuses to his employees.[33] Ballas made sure to give his staff ten percent of the company’s profits in businesses, with the idea that if Ballas himself doubled his income, his workers would too.[34] He took in multiple partners in the 1970s, including Freddy Lee Thiam Yew, the brother of Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew.[35]

Ballas thought that the supposed “charity” he experienced in his childhood, in which wealthy Baghdadi Jews gave out meager amounts, such as a dollar here and there, created a “beggar’s mentality” and discouraged the poor from being able to help themselves.[36] Once he became wealthy,

“[Ballas decided] to give to organisations that would take care of and educate the poor, helping them lift themselves out of poverty. ‘Life is all about giving,’ he said. ‘We must not be self-centered in this world. As far as I am concerned anybody who is willing to ask, I am willing to help…’”[37]

Ballas was the one of the few Jews from the mahallah who became a multimillionaire.[38] His

“...resentment of the rich colonial Jews, who he felt had failed to give their poor a helping hand, drove him from an early age to find friends among Chinese neighbours and schoolmates; throughout his life they became business partners, colleagues, clients and friends.”[39]

Ballas had 

“…grown up with the Chinese. They trusted him, and ultimately he found his success among        them. ‘The Chinese are my people,’ he said. ‘I have a nickname - among them, I am a Chinese Jew.”[40]

Before the war, Ballas didn’t interact much with other Jews.[41] This changed as he spent time with the Jewish community during the war and learned about the horrors of the Holocaust.[42] His Jewish identity and his firm belief in the importance of the State of Israel strengthened during this time.[43]He became active in the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) in 1961 and served as its President from 1989-1999.[44] He supported the community by financing things like synagogue repairs, helping those in need, and revitalizing and expanding the community with his friend Frank Benjamin.[45][46] Ballas also gave his time and money to support his country, and served as Director, Chairman, or Trustee of numerous Singaporean organizations and charities, including on the Board of Governors of St. Andrew's Junior College and the Board of Advisors of the Universities Endowment Fund.[47]

Ballas passed away on January 18, 2000.[48] He had 

“...optimistically set Singapore Jewry on a forward path while respecting the traditions of the past, providing continuing care for the Jewish poor and infirm, and supporting improved education for all Jewish children, no matter where they came from, or who their parents were.”[49]

Joan Bieder, former senior lecturer at The University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and author of the book The Jews of Singapore, writes:

“Jacob ensured that his generous philanthropy would last long after his death by bequeathing the majority of his wealth to charity. Half his bequests went to Israeli charities and half to those in Singapore. His Singaporean bequests were divided equally between secular and Jewish causes.”[50]

In Singapore, his estate funded the following: 

-       The Jacob Ballas Centre[51] 

-       The Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which was co-funded with the Singaporean government and Ballas’s close friend and business tycoon, Ong Beng Seng.[52]

Jacob Ballas Centre History:

Before Ballas passed away, he and his friend Frank Benjamin, who succeeded Ballas as JWB’s President, were planning to build a multi-purpose community center.[53] They wanted this center to “...include an auditorium for banquets, parties and bar-mitzvah celebrations; a boardroom for Jewish Welfare Board meetings; a kosher kitchen; a kosher store, and apartments for the rabbi and the hazan [cantor].”[54] 

In November 2007, the Jacob Ballas Centre, a “high-rise and beautiful” seven-story building, was built next to Maghain Aboth Synagogue with a “stunning bequest from the Jacob Ballas Estate.”[55] It is currently the “hub of all Jewish activity in Singapore.”[56] It has quarters for the Maghain Aboth Rabbi and family members, offices, a mikvah, a rooftop Sukkah, a banquet hall, and a kosher market and restaurant. It also contains a small Synagogue, Ohel Yaakov synagogue, on the sixth floor. The stained glass windows of the Synagogue draw the eye even from outside the compound. This Synagogue is sometimes used for Ashkenazi services, and also serves as a place of study for Yeshiva boys visiting from various Orthodox communities,[57] mainly Chabad, in the United States and Europe.[58] In December 2021, Singapore’s first Jewish museum was opened on the first floor of the Jacob Ballas Centre.[59] The Jews of Singapore Museum “...traces the 200-year history of the Jews [in Singapore],” and includes sections on prominent Jews in the community and country.[60] Contained within it is the Jacob Ballas Memorial Room, a celebration of the life and legacy of Jacob Ballas. Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugan was the guest of honor at the museum opening.[61] He told reporters:

“If you look at the roads–Frankel Estate, Meyer Road... Jews have made a tremendous contribution. They've added to the richness of our history and our society today, and I'm very glad that this museum showcases the history for future generations.”[62]

Bieder adds that the Jacob Ballas Centre is a 

“…fitting testimony to Ballas’ concern for the community that would survive long after his death. ‘That’s the finality of what he can do,’ said Frank Benjamin. ‘Through his estate, he still supports the community. The legend of the man continues.’”[63]

Jacob Ballas Centre Today:

The Jacob Ballas Centre remains a thriving center for Jewish activity in Singapore. While it is next to the Orthodox Maghain Aboth synagogue and mostly visited by Orthodox Jews, the Elite Kosher Mart in the building is visited by all Jews, including those from the Reform community, to stock up on matzah for Passover, wine for kiddush, and Israeli snacks. Those who keep kosher visit to stock up on meat, dairy, and pareve goods, and the store almost always has customers in it. 

The Awafi Kosher restaurant was the first and, until recently, the only kosher restaurant in Singapore.[64] It operates daily except for Saturdays.[65] The Jacob Ballas Centre offices, the chief Rabbi’s apartment, and the Synagogue are always in active use.

In 2021, a man planning to attack Jews leaving the Maghain Aboth Synagogue compound was arrested by Singapore’s Internal Security Department.[66] They discovered his plans to stab three Jewish men and leave for Gaza to join Hamas, and nabbed him before he could carry out the attack.[67] Singapore’s government has a blanket zero-tolerance approach towards hate crimes and is committed to having a harmonious community.

 After the onset of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, entry to the compound became limited to those accompanied by a member of the community or to those with an invitation. Nevertheless, the Jews of Singapore Museum is temporarily accessible by appointment with advance security clearance.

Contributions by Alana Bregman (alana@shanelani.com)

Singapore, Singapore

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