Bombay: Exploring the Jewish Urban Heritage by Dr. Shaul Sapir

I read “Bombay: Exploring the Jewish Urban Heritage” by Dr. Shaul Sapir on the recommendation of a Swapbook friend, Aadil Desai. Aadil is an avid reader, collector of antique books, maps & collectibles and a Mumbai story-teller. He leads many walks around Mumbai and shares stories about the city, its history, architecture and culture. So when Aadil recommended this book there was no doubt in my mind that it was a must read.

Bombay: Exploring the Jewish Urban Heritage by Dr. Shaul Sapir

The author, Dr. Sapir is a professor of historical geography at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. He was born in Byculla, Bombay but immigrated to Israel in the sixties, though with an ever burning desire to return to Mumbai. In this book, which draws upon his extensive and meticulous research, he tells us the fascinating history of the small Baghdadi Jewish Community in Bombay (Jews of Iraqi origin), how they prospered as businessmen here and their unique contributions to the urban landscape of the city. Dr. Sapir covers this history through some of the famous Jewish personalities in Bombay, their stories, sites and the famous landmarks (many of them are still surviving). Alongside this, he also covers Mumbai’s history and evolution into a modern metropolis with many pho­tographs from the exten­sive col­lec­tion of Dr. Rob­bins.  

This book is a must read for everyone who loves reading or learning about Mumbai, its history, its evolution, architecture, Jewish history & culture and of Mumbai’s famous personalities. It provides a good background on the multiple Jewish communities that resided in India i.e. the Baghdadi Jews, the Jews of Kochi, and the Bene Israel Jews and the Sons of Menashe and of the Baghdadi Jew neighborhoods of the 1950s i.e. Nagpada’s Jew Garden, Ballard Estate, Masjid’s Samuel Street, Israeli Mohalla, Sassoon Docks, JJ Hospital and Parel’s Sassoon Mills. It also covers important contributions made by the Baghdadi Jews in the field of education, healthcare, finance, trading, industry, culture and youth empowerment.

This book is a treasure trove of information and I totally recommend it to everyone. As a Mumbai-kar I have lived all my life here but had missed so many sites and architectural details mentioned in this book. I especially loved the stories of David Sassoon, his vision for the city and his contribution to several important fields and  landmarks (not just limited to the David Sassoon Library). Though I walk around exploring Mumbai frequently, I realized that there are synagogues (in different colors) in Mumbai I haven’t visited, so many small Jewish design elements in buildings I have been blind to and so many contributions of Jews that I haven’t paid attention to. I learnt of their lives in Bombay, their unique Jewish traditions, communities, clubs and festivities and now can only hope to witness this in Israel someday. It’s sad to see that such few Jews remain in the city they have contributed so much too.

Unfortunately this book is out of print and I had to contend with a soft copy available on Kindle. But for these kind of books, you need a hard copy – to flip back and forth through the pages, mull over the beautiful photographs and to stand in the locations mentioned in the book and refer to the notes / book in your hand. So I tried looking for it with all the second hand booksellers I know but unfortunately have still not found a copy. However my search continues and if anyone of you come across a copy, do consider pointing me it that direction.. 🙂