Arrivals & Departures: Jewish Community in Bombay
Duration: 00:56:27; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 47.827; Saturation: 0.080; Lightness: 0.375; Volume: 0.068; Cuts per Minute: 1.630; Words per Minute: 86.956
Summary: Interview with Solomon Sopher (SS) I
Interviewer: Madhusree Dutta. Shot by Avijit Mukul; Kishore
This interview is part of a series of study on the cemeteries of different communities in Bombay. In order to trace the multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious composition of the city the history, anecdotes, location and class structure of cemeteries were studied. This cemetery is known as the cemetery of the Iraqi Jews, also known as Baghdadi Jews. Baghdadi Jews are one of the early settlers in the city. They first came as traders to the port city. They are known to be affluent and philanthropic community. Many public institutions of Bombay were build by them. But the sense of community was restricted to the Jews of central Asia. The local Marathi Jew community, known as Bene Israeli, were not accommodated either in the cemetery or at the synagogue. Even the European Jews who came during/after the IInd world war were resented initially. The universal Jew brotherhood concept was not applicable. Race affinity was worked out more on the line of linguistic and regional identity than on religious one. After the inception of Israel the community suffered a sudden drop in populace as many chose to migrate to the ‘promised land’. Hence the local Jews were accommodated, or even invited, to take part in the religious rituals in mainstream functions.
There are tales about a special cemetery for the European Jew sex workers in the first half of 20th century. But Mr. Sopher refused to endorse it.
M: Mr Sopher would you please on camera introduce yourself and your relationship with this place?
SS: My name is Solomon Sopher and I am chairman and managing trustee of the Sassoon trust and allied trusts and one of them in the Jewish burial grounds where we have a Jewish cemetery at Chinchpolkli which is here, where we are at the moment placed and another one which also belongs to the Iraqi Jewish community which is at Pune at Koregaon park.
Solomon Sopher, comes with his full entourage and settle for an interview. It took us many visits for him to agree to this interview.
Jewish burial ground (cemetery) in Bombay and Pune.
Chinchpokli
Koregaon
baghdadi jew
burial ground
cemetery
citizens
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history
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jew
koregaon park
migration
sasoon trust
Jewish Cemetery, Chinchpokli, Bombay
Sassoon Docks
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bagdadi jew
bank
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david sasson
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IInd world war
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legacy
marathi jew
religion
ritual
sabbath
sex worker
slum dwellers
suicide
synagauge
tomb
tradition
As far as this cemetery is concerned it has a long history where - it is difficult to explain what all happened in the last 100 years. But what I could definitely express is that at the time when the cemetery was built and made for the Jewish Iraqi Jews it was definitely a place where people felt that at least they would have a good burial as the Jews always believe that it is important to have a burial that is normally sanctified by the almighty
Camera zooms in to a mid shot of Solomon Sopher. The local commuters' train ply in th background towards the Chinchpokli station. Iraqi Jew community came to India in late 18th and mainly in early 19th century. For the Jews 20th century, (with persecution in central Asia, migration to all over Europe and some parts of India, persecution during Nazism, inception of Israel and Israel emerging as an indomitable military force) is a history of sharp fall and rise. The history of this cemetery; its location, status and validity need to be understood in the context of international happenings.
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David Sasoon's name is integrated with Bombay through his various philanthropic contributions - such as David Sasoon dock, David Sasoon library, Sasoon hospital in Pune etc. Possessing an exclusive burial ground for a community obviously is a mark of how it was well settled in the society and within the state administration.
M: So Jewish People trusted India and Indian soil…
SS: Well of course that was there. The Iraqi Jewish community which we belong to have come to India almost 175 years ago and in the last 175 years the philanthropists namely the Sassoon family have done a lot for India they have done a lot for Bombay. And at that very time , when Jews started multiplying in India, Bombay it was at that very time they felt it important to have a Jewish cemetery . There was one Jewish cemetery earlier which was built close to the Jewish settlements at Nagpada and Byculla, and then afterwards I was told , because I was not born 175 years ago, the municipality took possession of it and made it into a garden.
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Jews dead bodies were carried manually on shoulders and not in carriages. As carriage would mean an outside intervention and thus polluting.
So at that time it was felt that we would have a cemetery which would not be far away from the residence of the Jewish people because the Jewish people who are buried normally - there were no hearses that we were allowed to the body in , they would put them on their shoulders and bring them to the burial ground. I mean that was a religious aspect at that point of time. And that was year's back. Because at that time there were so many Jews…as much as 10000 or …more. I 'm talking about the Iraqi Jews mainly… they could have reached up to 15000.
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So at that particular time the Jews needed a place to be buried… it was very much necessary that the bodies would not be carried by a hearse because that was a religious aspect at that particular time, that was what we were told as children. And they carried the bodies on their shoulders and bring it to the cemeteries. And it seems the majority of the Jewish population, the ones which come from Iraq, were very close to the Chinchpokli area , and were living at Nagpada and Byculla, so this was the ideal place for them to be buried.
When Mr. Sopher uses the term Jews he does so in a generic sense. But he actually talks exclusively about Iraqi Jews whose identity is defined as much by religion as by the linguistic or regional affinity.
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Bene Israelis, the Marathi speaking Indian Jews, though not allowed in the main cemetery, were given a separate ground for burials.
(camera position changes. The frame is adjusted to include more the surrounding location with passing trains and the high rise buildings in the background. Meanwhile Mr. Sopher briskly freshens up and gives some instruction to his attendant.))
M: So was it Mr. David Sassoon that negotiated this place?
SS: Well it was after David Sassoon passed away and this was done somewhere in 1900 and …a few years around that time… where they had thought …just before the 20th century…. we required this place also for the burial of the Jewish people of India and Bombay. There is also another cemetery at Dalial Road also. Property belonged to us but we gave it to the Bene Israel Jews to be buried over there.
M: They aren't buried over here…
SS: they aren't buried over here….
(general talk, M appologises for making him sit under the hot sun)
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M: Sir you said at one point there were 50000 Iraqis here….
SS: 15,000, maybe more
M: So what are the professions, the reasons why they came to India?
SS: Well after the crusade of the Arabs against the Jewish in Iraq the Jewish people…the Iraqi Jews found a haven in Bombay. And the founder of the empire…the David Sassoon thought of coming to India and he was a great merchant who did lots of Imports and Exports of many items and because of that he built the Sassoon docks and also the Sassoon hospital in Pune and the David Sassoon library and he felt that it was necessary to have synagogues built. So he was responsible for a synagogue to be built at Byculla, which was the Magen David Synagogue and the other one which is at Pune which is called the Lal Devan actually which is the Ohel David synagogue. The Ohel David synagogue… in that campus is buried Mr. David Sassoon. He died in 1864 at the age of 72..
Persecuted by the Arabs the Iraqi Jews came to Bombay. Their initial activity was sea trade. The most famous name among the Iraqi / Indian Jews is David Sasoon whose name is integrated with Bombay through his various philanthropic contributions - such as David Sasoon docks, David Sasoon library, Sasoon hospital in Pune etc. Such was the scale of the Sasoon enterprises that to facilitate the movement of their commodities they built the famous Sasoon docks.
1864
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David Sasoon Library
Hillgrange high school
India
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Khatau mills
Lal Deval synagogue
Magen David synagogue
Ohel David synagogue
Pakistan
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Sassoon Docks
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David Sasson and his family played the role of benevolent patriarch and helped the Iraqi Jew migrants through various business concerns and philanthropic activities. As Mr. Spher talks about the contribution of David Sasoon in settling the migrant Iraqi Jews in Bombay, the local train carrying many new migrants passes in the background.
He (David Sasoon) was responsible for quite a few enterprises and after that the Sassoon family was instrumental in founding the Bank of India, Mr Albert Sassoon was the founder of Bank Of India and then there were the Sassoon mills - all these mills which are lying somewhere in Dalial road today, which were called the Khatau mills, and this property, this used to belong to the Sassoon's and Sassoon family. David Sassoon and his entire family felt that if the Iraq Jews had come to India then he wanted to do something for them. And what did he do for them? To see that they are employed in his establishments and there were a lot of Iraqi Jews working in the mills at that time because he wanted to see that they were free from poverty and standing on their legs. Later on of course the Jews have done quite well for themselves- they had businesses, they were educated
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Few of the Iraqi Jews climbed high in public life in India. Some affluent Jews also supported various philanthropic projects. Though synagogues and cemeteries are the main public visibility of this community's existence in this country.
We had among many others Mr Mayar Nissim who was mayor of Bombay, and he was an Iraqi Jew. And we had many other Iraqi Jews who have climbed to the high levels, even in the army… General Jacobs, who won us the last war, the Pakistan war, he is also an Iraqi Jew. And as far as the working part of the Jewish people were...they founded quite a few things. There were quite a few personalities like Ms. Kelly who was the founder of the Hillgrange high school, where thousands of students were educated. The Sassoon family also built the school in memory of Jacob Sassoon, the grandson of David Sassoon. In 1902 the school was built so that Iraqi Jewish students would be able to study Jewish education as well as integrate themselves with India and Bombay.
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David Sasoon whose name is part of Bombay landmarks is buried in Pune.
Interview stops as some aircraft passes by. Mr. Sopher takes the opportunity to change his handkerchief. He is profusely sweating under the afternoon sun. His female assistance hands over chit of papers with message, takes instruction from him - brisk business conducted in the short break.
M: David Sassoon's memorial is here…so was the body brought here later?
SS: No there is no memorial of David Sassoon himself over here but his son Enais Sassoon and his grandson Jacob Sassoon, they are buried over here. But as far as David Sassoon himself is concerned he was buried at the Pune synagogue, Ohel David synagogue, also known as the Lal Deval to all people in Pune. What is interesting is …
M: Sir, I came in the morning and I was going around. In the 20th century some European people came here and they were also buried here , what do you know about that?
SS: Well, As I told you earlier on this cemetery was actually completed by 1878. In the 20th century , that was just about wartime, in 1945… Right about 1945, just at the end of the war there were a lot of European Jews that came to Bombay and at that particular time we had a normally been … the cemetery was reserved only for Iraqi Jews but then the trustees of our Jewish people allowed the European Jews also to be buried over here. They came as refugees, some of them and some of them were affluent Jews, European Jews were doing business in Bombay. They could have still been here but I believe…
The European Jews who escaped or chose to come to Bombay during/after world war II did not find an easy refuge under the overarching religious brotherhood.
Wide shot of the cemetery with surrounding tombs and a mausoleums in the background. More local trains pass by with familiar noise.
As he talks about the arrival of European Jews, camera pans along the tombs and the running train. The interview get disrupted a few times due to audio disturbances. But Mr. Sopher resumes with remarkable ease and precision.
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SS: So, In about that time after the war and much before the war also I am quite sure there used to be a lot of European Jews also. And we have got them buried on the right side of where …we made a special place for them…we would try to find out the German Jews, the Hungarian Jews, the English Jews …they are all buried on the right side up there. There were quite a lot of German Jews that were doctors they started some relief association for the Jewish victims who came from Europe after the war from Austria, from Hungary, from Poland.
Static wide shot. Mr. Sopher points out to a space in furtherest corner as the earmarked place to bury the European Jews refugees in post IInd world war years..
Austria
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SS: So the Jewish ..the European Jews especially started a Jewish relief association for the Jewish families came from Poland, Hungary and Germany at that time.
M: SO you accommodated them here?
SS: So they had to be accommodated over here. Those who died were buried over here and we are quite religious to see only those Jewish people whose antecedents are Jewish can be buried over here…because there were different kinds of groups where we don't permit…
SS: under the circumstances we were very bigoted in seeing although the European Jews would say that they are Jewish we would not certify them as Jews unless we would know that their antecedents were absolutely correct and proper - in that both the husband and wife came from Jewish families
The European Jew refugees in India were asked to prove the authenticity of their Jew antecedents in order to get access to the burial ground. Even then the non-Iraqi Jews, meant Europeans and nobody lesser, were allowed to use only a specially marked corner of the ground.
Europe
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Hungary
Poland
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M: Also because… I was going through some history that there were a good number of European Jew sex workers around that time … do you know anything about them? How they came about and where they were buried ?
SS: Sex workers?
Well frankly speaking about sex workers I don't know. But there is one thing that is sure, is that if there was any one who was of ill fame or we knew that they were having any kind of ….or they were doing some business of ill fame, or there were whores or prostitutes they were buried in a very separate corner.
M: Is this a generally bury them separately or did the authority here just decide?
SS: Well the point is this, it's a custom that they are not to be buried along with the Jewish people , point 1 and apart from those Jewish woman and also those Jewish people who commit suicide, anyone who commits suicide, he is not allowed to be buried along with all these tombs which you see. But if you want to know, its exactly on that corner there, there are no tombs also permitted for them…they are buried over here….who commit suicide and the prostitutes.
Not only the less authentic Marathi/Indian Jews and the European Jews of lesser antecedents found it difficult to find a place in the authorized cemetery to rest after death, there were also other categories. Sex workers and the people who committed suicide were buried in a segregated place without the dignity of a tombstone.
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India
M: Sir, about Bene Israeli, we have talked to a few people but nobody is very articulate, can you tell us something about them since you are a very articulate person. They are also Jew, but they are obviously not from the same clan
SS: Well, I don't want to get into any controversy but our Jewish community claims to be very very orthodox. That means I am talking about the Iraqi Jews. We were very bigoted, very hard, seldom do we allow people on a Sabbath, on a Saturday for eg I don't take a telephone on a Saturday, I don't travel apart from going to a synagogue , we aren't permitted to travel on a Saturday, and in the earlier times when David Sassoon and the English were the rulers of India there used to be trams. And in the trams we would have passes that were bought on a Saturday so that no money transaction was ever made on a Saturday, so we have tram passes for Jews who would want to go to the Colaba synagogue or who would have to travel in case of some emergency and they would buy them before the Sabbath comes in. Not only that I would like to mention over here that Bank of India which was founded by Mr. Albert Sassoon was closed on Saturday and whoever they used to deal with, whether it was Hindus or Christians, they would be open on Sundays. That was the first part of the Bank of India when it was established on Sundays the bank was open and on Saturdays, because of Jewish regulations it was closed.
The local Bene Israelis could never match the rigid standard of religious observance set by the Iraqis. Orthodox Jew might have been a term coined by the xenophobes for vested interest, but according to Mr. Sopher it was not too far from the reality.
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SS: Now coming to the point where you asked me about Bene Israeli's Jews. Now the Iraqi Jews at the time, when the Bene Israeli Jews were coming to the synagogue, at the Magen David synagogue in Byculla, we were not very sure of their identification whether they were Jewish.
The Bene Israeli Jews adopted many cultural motifs from the land - such as using flowers, speaking Marathi instead of Hebrew, etc. The migrant Iraqi Jews found these practices blasphemous and the presence of the local Jews polluting. They kept the local brethren away from their sacred places, but donated separate synagogue and burial ground for them.
Wide shot of the cemetery with the city in the background, behind the wall of the property of the miniscule minority community, Iraqi Jews. As Mr. Sopher talks about blasphemous ways of the Marathi speaking Jews in his confined space, the life outside of majority Marathi people flows by.
Magen David Synagogue, Byculla
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SS: Because, as they claimed to have come over 2000 years ago, it was difficult for them to follow all the customs of the Jews... And we found in them that many things which we do, they were not doing.
Solomon Sopher: For example, on the 8th day, the Jewish son has to be circumcised.
photo reference
SS: We were not sure whether the Bene Israelis were circumcised. And as they say that in the early 50's and the early 40's, the Bene Israeli jews, some of them were orthodox but the majority of them did not know the laws.
SS: They were speaking Marathi, they were having flowers when burials were taking place when we don't allow flowers to exist at all! We don't allow flowers to be photographed with a photo of my own mother whom I loved very much and who died several years ago…
SS: It's just like not worshipping god and worshipping your own mother.
Caste hierarchy in monolithic Judaism! On occasions when the Bene Israelis were allowed in the main synagogue, they were prohibited from the central space of worship. Political recognition from Isreal only could change this hierarchical structure.
Camera in mid shot - now excluding the reference of the outside world behind the compound wall.
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SS: Then there was another sector which was very important…when the first born is a son to a Jewish parent, on the 40th day he is offered to the Cohen which is called the Pydhoni, and the Bene Israeli Jews most of them did not know of this custom. When they used to come to our synagogues, and we accepted them to come at that particular time - yet most of them were not allowed to come on the teba which is supposed to be the place where our Tora is read, where the scrolls, the five books of Moses are read on Monday, Thursdays and Saturday especially on every Saturday for the 52 weeks in a year. So they were not given the opportunity to come on because we were not sure of their ancestors, we were not sure of them. Not until the state of Israel recognised the Bene Israeli Jews in 1973 - did the Iraqi Jews accept to allow them to start praying with us.
And it is these Jews…I don't blame the Bene Israeli Jews and I don't have anything against them…infact today they are the ones filling up the minyans -which is supposed to be that we must have 10 people is our synagogues to pray and if it was not for them we would not have the 10 people. And we accepted it. Our forefathers were very bigoted , and very staunch very strong and they felt it was not possible, I mean it was not possible to allow them to pray along with us. But once the establishment of the state of Israel had permitted them in 1973 to be accepted as Jews we had no objection to them praying in our synagogues and from that time onward we have allowed them to pray along with us. But I can tell you one thing, as far the Iraqi Jews are concerned, there is hardly any inter-marriage amongst the Baghdadi Jews and the Bene Israeli Jews because if somewhere down the line if the mother was not converted and she was not Jewish then the children are still not Jewish according to us.
M: So the burial ground is also different?
SS: yes. We infact …our trustees who had another burial ground at their disposal which also belonged to the Sassoon trust had given it to them and they are buried at Dalial road. The property belonged to us and we gave it to them as kind of a gift to them to be buried there.
Two things changed the status quo: a) Israel recognized the Bene Israelis as authentic, b) with large number of Iraqi Jews migrating to Israel they had to start depending on the Bene Israelis for filling up the required number of people in various religious rituals. But at the core the race/religious/regional identity remains as rigid and insular.
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M: Many Jewish people of various communities must be going to Israel now, that must be one of the reasons why the population of the Jewish community must be going down. How do you look at that phenomenon?
SS: Well, thank god they did go away from here, otherwise we would not have place to bury them… no, the point is they went, they started going because there was a very big scare, that after India got independence, our great leader Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mahatma Gandhi and Late Vallabhai Patel, although they were rich and coming from good homes especially Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel, there was a scare that communism would come into India and communism of that high order. So Jewish businessman felt that it was important for them to try and leave India before India turns communist. Luckily for us we still have not a communist regime in Maharashtra but all the same there were tendencies and that's how I suppose they started leaving.
India
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The Jews feared that after independence India might turned into a communist state and cease private properties and businesses. They particularly feared about the leading members of the National congress - Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Seems the promises made before independence about socialist economy created such fear among the propertied gentry.
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Apart from that the establishment of the state of Israel just about the time that India got independent in 1948, Israel got its independence. And there were stories that people who went from India who were living in chawls and who were not so affluent were getting better lives in Israel. And that started the process in the 50's of Iraqi Jews going to Israel. Some went to London, some went to Australia, some went to Canada, and little by little the population of the Iraqi Jews decreased. I have one case as an example….one of the people …he happens to be my cousin…not rich or affluent over here, maybe max earning 25,000-50,000 a month, today he is third richest Jew in England, not only that the third richest Englishmen - my mother's brother's son… whose father is buried here my uncle. And the opportunities offered abroad are always better than those offered here for people who are enterprising, hardworking, and for people who want to find other spheres of settlements.
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M: Do many people take the bodies from here and bury it over there? Of there ancestors? How is that happening?
SS: Well, there are many cases where the remains of the dead are removed to Israel. The reason is that we Jews believe the messiah will come sometime at…I hope its today or tomorrow but the messiah will definitely come, and the first place the messiah will come is at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, so there are many Jewish people who wanted to be buried over there. In fact the remains of my ex-chairman of the trust Mr Moses Altoon was taken to the Mount of Olives by my nephew when he died 8 years ago and there are many cases where they are talking the bodies.
Many of the Bagdadi Jews died in India when their 'promised land' Israel was not fully functioning. The family members are now opening their graves and relocating their mortal remains in the now fully acquired and evolved 'promised land', often at huge cost.
Camera angle has changed. A long shot of Mr. Sopher in the foreground and the cemetery and the dirt road at the background. From this angle the space looks like any other serene heritage space. The contest over rights to be buried, the land deed, the bursting population in surrounding areas are completely absent in this frame.
Mount of Olives, Jerusalem
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SS: Infact only last month in September, we had one such case where a lady who died at the age of 46 by the name of Neha Cohen, she died in 1948. Around about that she died. Her remains were taken after 56 years.
M: to Israel?
SS: Infact this was one case, where the family of this Mrs Cohen brought a specialist, who they must have paid $ 2000-3000 who went inside the tomb and saw that all the bones of the body were placed such that as though the body was just made. So you could see the entire process of the body from the teeth to the head after 56 years. That this specialist found two bones missing, it was mixed in the sand. He had put it into correct order. And it was something unique to see. With the sand the entire frame of the body, was made and the two bones which were missing, he at last found it and it took him 3 hours to look for those two bones. And he succeeded, and they took remains of the body to Israel and the remains were buried only last month.
Story of mortal remains (!) of a woman being relocated in Israel, after 56 years of her death. Wondering about the immigration formalities applicable to the dead.
Camera zooms in on Mr. Sopher to hear the sensational story.
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David Sasoon was a stickler of time. Most of the clocks in public places in Bombay are donated by him. The Sasoon family contributed to many public institutions in Bombay and Pune.
Bombay
David Sasoon Library
Magen Sasoon synagogue
Sassoon Docks
Victoria garden
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M: Well sir, I have limited knowledge. Is there anything else that you would like to tell us? Anything you think we should know?
SS: Well , I must tell you something since we are talking about what David Sassoon did. Well he was a man who was a great philanthropist and he was very minute about timing. If he said he would come at 3.30 in the evening for a shot or shooting he would. So wherever you see a clock tower in Bombay, whether its at Victoria Garden, or the Sassoon docks, or at the Davis Sassoon library or if you see it at the Magen David synagogue, or if you see it at the Pune synagogue, you will come to one conclusion, that Mr. David Sassoon had a very important hand to play, or
Philanthropist David Sassoon and his family founded several public institutions in Bombay and Pune which are acknowledged through plaques and portraits. In an interesting twist the icon loving Indians have turned those into idols.
David Sasoon Library
Institute of Science
Jacob Sasoon high school
Pune
Sasoon hospital
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SS: Or at the Institute of Science where he gave a big donation to the institute to be founded. Apart from that the Sassoon hospital in Pune, you'll see a Hebrew inscription...
Solomon Sopher claims that the public institutions run by the Jews in Bombay are accessible to all communities. Since a large part of urban poor in Bombay is Muslim, it is that community who benefit most from these institutions. It could be result of the secular and strategic vision of the pioneers in the community and/or that practically there are not many Jews to serve to.
Byculla mechanics
EE Sasoon & Jacob Sasoon high school
Messina hospital
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SS: Many of those who visit the Sassoon hospital, from the main staircase, they'll see the Hebrew inscription of the whole entirety of what he said and what he meant to society.
photo reference
SS: And then when you go up on the left side you see his portrait, a small portrait, a photograph. It's only a photo, where millions of Indians garland it daily, day in and day out. Those who go to the hospital as sick people and come back as robust and well. They garland the photograph of late David Sassoon.
SS: Then there is the David Sasson library, almost 155 years old, running up to today, many scholars were educated at that library. I am the nominated member of David Sasoon library, and I see what is going on once in a while and many great scholars like Accountant General of India were educated there at the David Sasoon library through expensive books which they couldn't lay there hands on otherwise.
Apart from that we have the Sassoon docks, the Byculla mechanics and lastly when the late David Sasoon died his entire beautiful bungalow was given to the Messina hospital over here. It has Jewish inscriptions on the staircase of it. It was the palace of the late David Sasoon. Then came Jacob Sassoon, who wanted a school to be built, so he donated a large amount of money and the Sir Jacob Sassoon was founded in 1902 and the EEE Sassoon was founded to augment… to add to the necessity of students having education where I am managing trustee and chairman of school. We have more than 700 students, at the moment not one of them is practically Jewish they are all Muslims. But there is one thing which is there - we Jewish people don't have any animosity or hatred is ever imbibed in our synagogues we are told to love humanity and human beings. So if there is ever any school that teaches national integration that is EE Sassoon and Jacob Sassoon high school where we are teaching….where mostly 98% of students are Muslim.
Apart from that we have charities, we see that the poor Jewish people are given monthly rations, and if there is anybody in need of medical care, other than Jewish people we help them too.
I for one have been responsible for many operations where people couldn't afford it. at least 6-7 operations where I was personally responsible for operations for poor people who got a new lease of life through heart operations, who might have been dead otherwise. Some were Jewish some were not Jewish. Some were young and some were old.
Other charities and relief.
affluence
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Let the dead sleep, evening is setting in. Though we have spent the afternoon here talking loudly.
SS: Apart from what I told you, this cemetery over here, we believe that the dead will one day arise, so I would normally never like to give an interview around the dead because they cant tell us if we are right or wrong, but may their souls rest in peace and may they all help us in our daily chores, you and me together.
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SS: This is where Sir Jacob Sassoon was buried, grandson of Late David Sasoon and founder of Jacob Sasoon school and charities. This is a mausoleum built in his honour.
Tour of the cemetery.
Mr. Sopher in nevy blue shirt walks through the tombs in sepia taint, a local train in almost the some colour passes in the background making the familiar noise of the world alive. Close shot of Mr. Sopher, camera pans to the interior of the mausoleum through the door, a streak of afternoon sun falls through the door. Counter shot from the interior, the sunlit exterior through the door and the tomb stone in the forground.
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Land, real estate, homelessness and private property: these issues chase a cemetery too. As Mr. Sopher laments camera pans over the vast expanse of the cemetery with lower middle class housing buildings dotting the background.
SS: Well let me tell you very frankly , I was a small child in the 60's and at that time there were no slum dwellers over here, in fact if you look there the entire cemetery wall its with stones but that portion over there, is only a wall. Because that was the gate where Jewish people entered let me tell you about my grandmother who… when her son died, was carried in by that gate in 1961, and there were no jhopad patties (shanties) here, there were no slum dwellers here
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And all the time on one side we have slum dwellers on the other side we have the robbers coming and encroaching on our cemeteries from the railways. We had a lot of trees, which were a big help, but we cut it down, because the robbers used to hide behind the trees and we couldn't see them On the one hand we did that and on the other hand there was a case made by the tree society to not cut trees and so we didn't know who actually was responsible for taking the wood of the trees. This happened in the last 10 or 15 years. On the other hand we have kept all these security people they come , these encroachers who have come over here, have taken a lot of our marble. They have reversed the marble writings and if you see some temples over here behind the house…behind the cemetery on the temples are marble robbed from our cemetery. We try our best, we put lights, security forces but too expensive because our trust is not rich we depend on charities. As you know a few lakhs was a lot of money because it had value but it did not multiply at the same rate as inflation in 50 years…we are trying our level best…lots of tombs being broken by slum dwellers, encroachment, robbers hiding wares in the cemetery. In the rain, grass grows lots, becomes high/big, becomes difficult to see who is hiding in the grass?
The slum dwellers encroach into the burial ground, the land of dead get populated, illegally. The stolen marble of Jewish cemetery adorn the Hindu temples.
Handheld free shot of Solomon Sopher in mid and the cemetery in background.
cemetery
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Antop hill, Mumbai
In a metropolis of the dimension of Bombay, land is the most precious. Does the need of the present population supercede the right of the dead for a space to rest?
M: you must be knowing about this European cemetery taken over by slum next to Chinese in Antop Hill?
SS: Well I have heard about it but I haven't been there, hope and pray it doesn't happen to us. As long as I live, its the dead who need to be respected. Take it as far as possible.
M: this place better protected. Many cemeteries in Antop Hill, so more vulnerable? Is there any Jew cemetery in Antop hill?
SS: Not that I know of. Not a question of vulnerability. But we try our best. Same everywhere even in Pune. Smoking charas. Unfortunately police force is not that efficient…or not helping us in a big way…
Pune
antop hill
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chinese cemetery
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european cemetery
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SS: There is one more tomb I would like to show you - because of lack of space. And that is of the son of David Sasoon… that means his father (points at another tomb). Before I became a trustee they made his tomb absolutelu open… because of lack of space. Like you kept one tomb here, there are more Jewish people and we have no alternative than to break this part and try burying them.
Tour of the cemetery. Everybody in Bombay, dead or alive, living under the threat of being dislocated.
Bombay
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SS: I want you to see that one.
Solomon Sopher walks through the cemetery. Handheld camera follows him. Evening is setting in. The setting sun glares through in some angles, in other part already the darkness has set in. Large trees, moss on the tombs, deserted vast land, geometrical pattern of rows of tmbs and the guardian of the space walks through.
Construction and reconstruction, reorganizing spaces and laying new layers of uses and functions over the old ones are some of the common exercises of contemporary urban life.
SS: This is the tomb of Late Elias David Sasoon…son of David Sasoon, as I read from here born in Baghdad on 27thof Vach 1820 and died on 22nd of Vach 1880 and was buried here. Why this tomb was broken - because we had no space to bury the dead, so we had to break the mausoleum which was surrounding this tomb… and all these rows of tombs that you see here could be made possible to bury… because of the space we made open by breaking the mausoleum of late Elias Sasoon. He was son of David Sasoon and responsible for a lot of good work for the community as well as for the people of Bombay
bury
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Baghdad
Germany
Hungary
Isarel
Poland
SS: you know over here, this is the area where you see European Jews were buried specially after WWII, when Jews left Poland, Hungary, Germany, they were all buried and their families had worse deaths than themselves in Germany, by Hitler, in the gas chambers most were killed. Where 6 million Jews were massacred, such unkindness evening the 20th century. For the Jews Hitler will remain hated and hated for generations to come, I only hope we get the opportunity like we got in Israel to look into some of misdeeds of his henchmen like Adolf Eichmen.
The memory of the second world war, the justification to Israel. Even though the right of access of the victims of world war II to the cemetery was contested, it can be conveniently forgotten now. Invoking the common cause in history of the last century justifies the current violence by the 'promised land'!
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xenophobia
M: Did some of them come earlier? Before the war?
SS: They just ran away. They fled from Europe. Pregnant woman and old women- all ran so scared that their children would go into gas chambers. The victims of Nazism, how can the Jews ever forget? How can any living Jew forget? It's not in keeping with the 20th century. Absurd. Not enough words to express our feelings. And here lie some victims.
More rhetoric on world war and persecution of the Jews.
20th century
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Let them be in peace!! (with or without tombstone).
SS: in this area, where the Jews who commit suicide are buried. Infact Jews who commit suicide no prayers are said for them. As such they have according to us a very difficult passage to reincarnation. Because according to us what god wants, he takes and nobody should come in his way. Apart from this, very much over here that wall that I was telling you up to 1960's before encroachment of the slum dwellers took place… and the women of ill fame were few but they were also buried very much over here in this quarters without tombstones.
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Top angle pan shot of a running train behind the cemetery wall, tomb stones are in the forground. Camera pans to Chinchpokli station and the housing buldings next to it. Evening.
Static shot of some old tombs. Evening light, ageing tombs, overgrown moss around it.
Shots of plaques in memory of dead Jewish people. Some are locals and died of normal causes. Some are victims of nazi pogrom, died all over Europe and the surviving family members have placed the plaques in Chinchpokli cemetery in Bombay. There is also a plaque placed by two daughters of the deceased and the daughters were the first generation actress of Hindi cinema - famous Pramila and Romila.
Wide shot of the road with people and vehicles passing by. The blue gate of the cemetery in the background. Do the passer bys realize what stories are stored behind the gate.
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