Patrick Comerford
During my recent 36-hour visit to Singapore, I took time to search for the synagogues of Singapore – and the cathedrals, churches, mosques, shrines, pagodas and temples.
Today there are two synagogues in Singapore – the Maghain Aboth Synagogue on Waterloo Street and the Chesed-El Synagogue on Oxley Rise. The Maghain Aboth Synagogue (‘Shield of our Fathers’) is the oldest synagogue in Singapore and in South-East Asia. It was built in 1878, but its story goes back over 200 years to the early 19th century.
The first Jewish immigrants to Singapore were Jewish merchants of Baghdadi origin, who were trading between the then-British ports of Calcutta and Singapore. The migration of Baghdadi Jews began in the 18th and 19th centuries and was at its peak in 1817 due to the rule of the Ottoman Governor of Baghdad, Dawud Pasha, who persecuted Jews during his 15-year rule.
The first Baghdadi Jews in Singapore were Mizrahi or Sephardic merchants and traders, mainly from present-day Iraq and Iran. They spoke Arabic and after arriving in Singapore they adopted the Malay language, then the main language in Singapore.
The early Jewish settlers in Singapore first lived at Boat Quay, and moved later to North Bridge Road, Dhoby Ghaut, Mount Sophia and the Rochor vicinity. These early Jews also laid out a cemetery, the Old Cemetery behind the Fort Canning.
The British colonial government gave three Jews – Joseph Dwek Cohen, Nassim Joseph Ezra and Ezra Ezekiel – a lease in 1841 to build a synagogue in a small, two-storey shophouse near Boat Quay. The synagogue gave its name to Synagogue Street, which I wrote about last Friday evening (29 November 2024).
Synagogue Street was in the first Jewish quarter in Singapore, and the first synagogue in a shophouse on Synagogue Street hosted a congregation of 40. By 1858, the Jewish population of Singapore had grown to almost 20 families. Most of these Sephardi or Oriental Jews were born in India and traced their ancestries back to Baghdad.
Another group of Jews – the Ashkenazi Jews – arrived much later from Germany and other parts of Europe. They largely too engaged in trading and mercantile activities, but associated primarily with the Europeans and often distanced themselves from the Sephardi Jews in Singapore.
The synagogue on Synagogue Street continued to serve the Jewish community in Singapore until the 1870s. But its capacity was limited and the trustees realised the fast-growing Jewish community needed a larger building.
The community leaders sold off the old synagogue to the government, and in 1870, one of the synagogue's new trustees, Joseph Joshua, negotiated to buy a plot of land owned by the Raffles Institution at Bras Basah for $4,000 to build a new synagogue. However, not enough funds were raised within the agreed three-year period to build a new synagogue.
Thanks mainly to Sir Manasseh Meyer (1846-1930), the old synagogue was sold and the site for a new synagogue was acquired on Waterloo Street, then called Church Street because of nearby Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church.
The Maghain Aboth synagogue (מגן אבות, ‘Guardian of Patriarchs’ or ‘Shield of our Fathers’) was built in the neo-classical style and completed in 1878. The service of consecration for the synagogue took place on 4 April 1878. It is the oldest and the largest synagogue in South-East Asia and the second largest synagogue in Asia outside Israel.
By 1879, the community had grown to 172 members – 116 males and 56 females. Many of them were living in the new residential area around Waterloo Street and the surrounding areas of Dhoby Ghaut, Prinsep Street, Selegie Road and Wilkie Road.
But within the first few years, the building needed some changes. The architect’s original designs did not include seating for women, for example. At his own expense, Sir Manasseh Meyer erected a simple gallery for the women. But its simple design made it inadequate – with its makeshift wooden slats, the women were seen too clearly. A solidly-built gallery was added some years later and is still in use today.
Prominent Jews in the life of Singapore have included the philanthropist Sir Manasseh Meyer; David Marshall, who was Singapore’s first Chief Minister in 1955; Jacob Ballas, philanthropist, financier and stockbroker, who chaired the Singapore Stock Exchange; and Dr Yayah Cohen, who became Surgeon General.
There were over 1,500 Jewish inhabitants in Singapre by 1939. The Japanese invaded Singapore in 1942 and many Jews were interned during World War II. After the war, many Jews emigrated to Australia, England, the US and Israel, and by the late 1960s the community dwindled to about 450 people.
Today, Singapore has about 2,500 Jewish residents, mainly expatriates from Israel, America, Australia and Europe. About 180 descendants of the first Jews in Singapore still live there and the Rabbi of Singapore, Rabbi Mordechai Abergel, has described them as the only remaining indigenous Jews of Asia.
Both the Maghain Aboth and Chesed El synagogues are active in Singapore. The Maghain Aboth Synagogue is open throughout the year, with daily services three times a day. The Chesed El Synagogue holds Monday morning services and is open during the High Holydays.
Rabbi Mordechai Abergel and his wife Simcha moved to Singapore in 1994 and serve the community alongside Rabbi Netanel Rivni and his wife, who arrived in 2007. Rabbi Mordechai Abergel was born in France in 1968 and grew up in Belgium. He studied at the Rabbinical College in Morristown, New Jersey, and received his smicha or rabbinical ordination in 1992 at the Tomchei Tmimim Rabbinical Seminary in Brooklyn, New York, headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. He is also a trained shochet or ritual slaughterer.
A Jewish nursery day school began in 1996 and it was renamed the Manasseh Meyer School in 2008. The school has expanded into primary school, with classes up to fifth grade.
The Jacob Ballas Centre beside the Maghain Aboth Synagogue opened in 2007. The community centre includes offices and apartments for the rabbis, a women’s mikvah, a slaughtering room for kosher chickens, a kosher shop and a social hall.
The community services and activities include a women’s and a men’s mikvah, a Sunday Hebrew School programme, the Abdallah Shooker home for the aged, Chevra Kadisha or Jewish burial and funeral services, a kosher shop, Shabbat and holy day meals and catering, outreach programmes, a museum and synagogue tours. The Awafi kosher restaurant offers a menu that includes Indian, Middle East, Chinese and Western cuisine.
The congregation follows the Sephardic Orthodox rite, and while it is committed to Halacha, it is an inclusive community that welcomes all Jews from all denominations and backgrounds.
The synagogue has undergone extensive renovations in recent years. It was officially gazetted as a national monument on 27 February 1998, and is counted among Singapore’s most noted historical monuments. The community plans to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Maghain Aboth in 2028.
Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום
