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Nahoum & Sons Bakery, Kolkata, India

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Background: While Mumbai and the Sassoon family are perhaps the faces of the Baghdadi Jewish diaspora in India, they certainly do not tell the whole story. Shalom Obadiah Cohen, a merchant from Syria, arrived in the Northeastern Indian city of Kolkata in 1798 [1]. He arrived in Kolkata via a city called Surat, through which many Baghdadi Jews transited, including the Sassoons and those that settled in Mumbai. He, it could be argued, was the forebear of a Kolkata Baghdadi-Jewish community that at one point exceeded 4,000 Jews. In Kolkata, Cohen traded in precious jewels and stones for several years before becoming a court jeweler to Muslim Moghul ruler Ghazi Al-Din Chayder in the city of Lucknow in 1816. With the subsequent arrival of Ha-Cohen’s family members and business partners—such as Jacob Tzemach Nissim—as well as the arrival of Moses B. Simon Duwayk, Kolkata began to emerge as a thriving hub of Jewish life, attracting not only Baghdadi Jews but also Jews from Yemen and Cochin [2]. 

The Jewish community of Kolkata had a vibrant cultural, intellectual, and institutional presence. Three main synagogues solidified a strong institutional presence. The Neveh Shalom Synagogue was built in 1831 by the patriarch of Kolkata Jewry Shalom Obadiah Cohen. The Beth El Synagogue, explained in greater detail below, was built in 1856, and in 1884 the Magen David Synagogue was built in memory of Baghdadi Jewish merchant David Joseph Ezra [3].

Culturally and intellectually, Kolkata’s Jews flourished with the establishment of a Hebrew printing press by Eleazer B. Aaron Saadiah Iraq Ha-Cohen in 1840. According to an article from the website of Tel Aviv’s Museum of the Jewish People, Iraqi was a “scholar and poet [and] an expert printer who probably cast his own type. The products of his press, some of them his own writings, are comparable with the best European productions of the time.” Iraqi’s press was active until 1856. In 1871, Ezekiel B. Saliman Hanin established another printing press. From 1873-78 he published a weekly in Judeo-Arabic called “Mevasser.” In 1878, the press began publishing another weekly called “Perach” (flower/blossom), spearheaded by Elijah B. Moses Duwayk Ha-Cohen. Lastly, R. Solomon Twena published two more weeklies: “Maggid Meisharim” (1889-1900) and “Shoshanna” (1901) [4].

Further information about the Baghdadi Jewish community of Kolkata can be found in the Judeo Arabic journals of former community members such as Shalom Ha-Cohen, Moses B. Simon Duwayk Ha-Cohen, and Eleazer b. Aaron Saadiah Iraqi Ha-Cohen as well as the observations of Western travelers such as Jacob Saphir and Solomon Reinman. These journals are housed in the David Sassoon Library in Mumbai. The key leaders of the Kolkata Jewish community included Sir David and Lady Ezra, Elias Meyer, and the Jehuda, Masliah, Jacob, Gabbai, Elias, and Kurlander families [5].

After World War II, The Jewish community of Kolkata entered a period of steep economic and political decline. Many Jews emigrated to England, Australia, America, and Israel. By 1969, the Jewish community of Kolkata numbered only 700 souls. By 1997, the Jewish community of Kolkata had dwindled even more, with only two Jewish schools remaining [6]. Today, the Jewish community of Kolkata is in the double digits. Jewish residents Aline M. Cohen, Secretary of Jewish Affairs in Kolkata, and Flower Silliman are fighting to keep the community alive and reintegrate it with world Jewry [7].

Site: In the mid-19th century, Israel Nahoum emigrated from Baghdad to Kolkata. There he established a Jewish bakery that still exists today in Hogg Market [8]. According to Uttara Gangopadhyay of Outlook India, “no mention of the Jewish community in Kolkata is complete without the mention of Nahoum (Nahoum and Sons).” Today, Israel’s grandson Isaac Nahoum runs the bakery, which is most famous for its fruit cakes. According to Isaac, when he was young, the bakery’s clients were primarily European or Anglo-Indian, but nowadays they are a diverse crowd of Hindu Bengalis, Muslims, Christians, and Chinese.

Isaac, along with most Baghdadi Jews of India, left Kolkata following Indian independence for fear that the Baghdadi Jews’ allyship with the British would make them a target [9]. Also, many feared that the violence between Hindus and Muslims of India would quickly envelop the Jews, too. Isaac, however, later returned. In a recent article for the Jerusalem Post he is quoted saying, “when my brother David passed away, I decided I would take up the mantle and run the business. We’ve stuck to the original recipes that my grandfather had […] but, we also moved with the times to have more savory-type things like cheese samosas and chicken patties. I also introduced fish pantras (fried-stuffed savory crepes), vegetable chops, and egg chops to the menu.”

Isaac now splits his time between Kolkata and Israel [10].

Kolkata, India

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