page_title: Synagogues in India
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Synagogues in India / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Interiors in wider view of Magen David Synagogue, Kolkata
context_page_description: There are many synagogues in India, although many no longer function as such and today vary in their levels of preservation. These buildings dating from the mid-sixteenth through the mid-20th century once served the country's three distinct Jewish groups—the ancient Cochin Jews, and Bene Israel communities as well as the more recent Baghdadi Jews.
  The Jews in India had very peaceful existence compared to Middle East and Europe where they were persecuted repeatedly. They built numerous synagogues throughout India and almost all of them exist to current day. Most of Jews in India voluntarily made Aliyah after creation of Israel but a sizable Jewish community remains who use these synagogues actively, the ones not used for praying are now museums of Indian Jewish history.
context_section_description: The Jews of India waited centuries to build their first synagogues, praying in temporary structures or private houses. The buildings that were eventually built vary greatly in their scale, style, and visual orientation. Some, particularly those belonging to the Baghdadi Jews based in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Pune, are grand and built in various Western styles using fine materials and elaborate detail. Constructed by the Baghdadi Jewish community who first came from Iraq, Iran, and a handful of other Near Eastern countries and settled in India permanently beginning in the 18th century is a Neo-Baroque synagogue in the Fort section of Mumbai, a Renaissance revival one in central Kolkata and, in English tradition, a neo-Gothic structure in fine condition sitting within an open site in the Camp area of Pune. The largest synagogue in Asia outside Israel is considered to be in Pune (Ohel David Synagogue).
  Found within all Indian synagogues is a central bimah (platform where the religious service is led), a Sephardic Jewish tradition. Other features of Indian synagogues are free-standing wooden benches, a profusion of hanging glass and metal oil lanterns, large shuttered windows with clerestories, a chair for the circumcision ceremony and one for the prophet Elijah, and separate seating areas for men and women.
caption: Interior of Magen David Synagogue of Kolkata
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