| Total population |
|---|
| 4,000 (est.) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| India 250 (chiefly Mumbai, Gujarat and Calcutta) |
| Languages |
|
Traditionally, Arabic, Turkish and Persian, now mostly English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali. |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
Baghdadi Jews, also known as Iraqi Jews, are Jewish emigrants from Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, who fled religious persecution and formed immigrant communities in their new homelands. Baghdad and Iraq in general used to have one of the largest, if not the largest Jewish community in the Middle East and Central Asia, and these new immigrant communities also included Jews as part of the Persian and Mughal courtiers.[1] Records of Jewish tradesmen traveling from Baghdad can be found from the early 17th century, and around the mid 19th century a large portion of the community started immigrating to South and South-east Asia as well as to the west, creating new communities while preserving their unique traditions.
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The main Baghdadi Jewish communities in Asia are found in India, Yangon (Rangoon), Singapore, and Shanghai. The ethnic Jewish community in Penang is now extinct with the passing of its last member in 2011. Some smaller Jewish communities, such as the one in Bangkok, trace their first founders to Baghdadi Jewish traders who worked and settled down in the region.
In 1730, Joseph Semah arrived from Baghdad to Surat and set up the Surat Synagogue and Cemetery here. Surat was a main port for trade in 16th and 17th century and East India company set up his head quarter for murchant, it is located in Western India part of Gujarat State and commercial capital of Gujarat now. Arabic-speaking Jews came to India as traders in the wake of the Portuguese, Dutch and British. These "Baghdadis," as they came to be known, especially the Sassoons of Bombay and the Ezras of Calcutta, eventually established manufacturing and commercial houses of fabulous wealth.[2] The majority came from Iraq, thus giving the community its name, though smaller groups came from other countries such as Syria and Afghanistan and assimilated into the Baghdadi group. Unlike other Jewish communities in India, whose oral tradition attest to a presence in India going back as long as 2000 years, the Baghdadi communities were established relatively recently (in the past few centuries). The Baghdadi community usually wear Western clothing, as they assimilate to the local community in appearance.
Persian speaking jews closely related to Baghdadi Jews from Afghanistan and Iran came with the Ghaznavad, Ghori and Mughal invasions of Mahmud (11th century), Muhammad (12th century) and Babur (16th century). The most obscure of Indian Jews, they were traders and courtiers of the Mughals. Jewish advisors at the Court of Akbar the Great in Agra played a significant role in Akbar's liberal religious policies and built a synagogue there. In Delhi, one Jew was tutor to the Crown Prince, Dara Shikoh; the teacher and student were later assassinated by Aurangzeb when he usurped the throne. Jews traded freely in Kashmir, the Punjab, and throughout the Mughal Empire.[3]
Indian Baghdadi cuisine is an Indian hybrid cuisine, with many Arab, Turkish, Persian and Indian influences. Famous Baghdadi dishes include Beef curry, Baghdadi Biryani and Baghdadi Jewish parathas. A Baghdadi version of Tandoori chicken is also popular (using lemon juice to cook the chicken instead of cream used in the usual Indian recipe). Other Jewish Baghdadi communities have mixed their original Iraq Jewish dishes with influences from the local cuisine where they settled.
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