Exodus from Singapore
By JOSEPH G. SASSOON
! Baghdad and the Middle East . them. Many have made consider-
Singapore, founded in 1819, was able fortunes by investing in va-
Singapore's Jewish communi -1 at the time making great strides cant land and landed property.
r-7
Elias Meyer and Nathan Roads
ty center, that once helped to as a port.
Today the community main _ are familiar names.
transform the island from a fish-
Prominent among them was
ing village into what it is today- tains two large synagogues, but
< a bustling center of international is finding it difficult to hold Sir Manesseh Meyer, a business-
man
who was knighted in 1915
a ,7; trade—is rapidly dwindling.
daily services because of a lack
Ts
What was a community of of a minyan. As the community for his many public services.
7 -1 1 400 Jews after the Second dwindles many of the syna- Historical records of Singapore
'
World War has now shrunk to gogue's beautiful, silver-emboss- praise Sir Manesseh for "his
600. Many families, during the ed Torah scrolls are being sent public beneficence to all his own
people and to every working
past few years, have left for Is- to Israel.
r.)
There is no trace left of cause in Singapore; his private
rael. Australia, Britain and the ,
United States to settle down to I Singapore's first synagogue, charities and kindliness; his
new lives. Others continue to built around 1840. However, character as a true citizen. He
leave.
in the heart of Chinatown was a Municipal Commissioner
of Singapore between 1893 and
Why are the Jews of Singa- there is a Synagogue Street
1900, and was the largest im-
where the first synagogue was
4 ,3 pore—primarily of Sephardic or-
porter
and exporter trading with
supposed to have been built.
", igin—leaving this great, British,
India.
The Jewish Welfare Board
E.-. Southeast Asian port, which has
5 been a haven of refuge, security runs the affairs of the communi-
•
and racial tolerance during the ty while the youth, who are more
than ever before taking a lead-
past 132 years?
ing role in the community have
The answers to the question,
their own organization, the Men-
44 according to Frank Benjamin. orah. Club, which sponsors social
E ., editor of the Singapore Menorah ,
-
and cultural affairs.
Club (youth organization) bulle-1
A second volume of Dayenu
Of late, an increasing number
tin. lies in three main reasons:
of the youth have moved away cartoons, by Henry Leonard,
1. They leave Singapore out
from their fathers' businesses, has been published by Crown
of a belief that they and their and have gone into professional (41 Park Ave. S. NY 16), under
children will be able to lead occupations — teaching, account- the title "Never on Shabbas."
fuller lives in Western com- ancy, law and engineering. -
The first Dayenu volume was
munities and will have greater
A Talmud Torah (Hebrew entitled "Open Your Mouth
opportunities in education and School) is run for young chil- and Say 'Oy'."
employment; 2. because oth- dren. who are taught Hebrew.
The new collection. contain-
ers who have left are encour- songs. dances and Jewish his- ' ing cartoons that have ap-
aging them; 3. out of a feel- tory by a teacher who was peared in more than 50 Eng-
ing of insecurity that the brought here from England.
lish-Jewish publications — in-
present self-governing state
Since the end of World War cluding The Detroit Jewish
was moving towards Commu-
II. a leading lawyer and politi- News — is the result of the
nism.
cian. David Marshall, led the collective efforts of Rabbi
However. the government's re- way in organizing the cornmuni- Henry Rabin and Leonard Priti-
cent declaration that it was non- t y which was in a dormant state kin. It includes a glossary of
Communist. and its decision to before the war.
Hebrew and Yiddish words in
merge with Malaya. which has
Marshall. president of the explanation of some of the
an anti-Communist government. hoard for several years and Sing- terms in the cartoons, and a
ha, allayed the fears of many apore's first Chief Minister un- ist of the periodicals subscrib-
people. Benjamin concluded. der a new constitution in 1955. , ing to the Dayenu series
( Singapore lies at the southern t oday heads Singapore's Workers
As in the cartoons that en-
tip of the Malayan Peninsula. Party.
liven the pages of the English-
The foreign policy of the island
During the years, there have Jewish newspapers. the repro-
is still controlled by Britain.)
been a number of cases of in- ductions in "Never on Shabbas"
offer many laughs. The posses-
The prosperous little .Jewish
termarriage by Jews, with Eu-
community began settling in
ropeans and Asians, but these sor of this popular - priced
Singapore around 1830, as trad-
paper - backed collection w i 1 1
have been few and far be-
ers and merchants from India,
tween. Such marriages are al- find a pun for every occasion
on
the Jewish calendar.
ways frowned upon by the
community.
Dinner at DARBY'S
Attempts at conversion of N.Y. Launches Joint
is a real treat
Jews by missionaries have been Defense Appeal Drive
made since the first Jews set-
• Visit Our New
NEW YORK (JTA) — More
tied in Singapore, but their ef-
SKYLIGHT
ROOM, Cocktail 1
forts have failed, despite the than 400 Jewish business and
Lounge and Bar
I fact that Jewish children in philanthropic leaders launched
the 1962 national campaign for
AFT ER
i Singapore attend missionary
• TH EATRE
the Joint Defense Appeal at a
schools.
Snacks . . . al
dinner inaugurating a drive for
Delight
The
prosperity
of
the
Jews
of
LUNCHEON
$6,0100,000 for programs to
Singapore can be observed by
A Pleas ur e
roads and streets named after combat bigotry and prejudice
and progote democratic liber-
ties. The JDA is the fund-
Don Frohman Chorus raising
arm of the American
Res. UN 2-7642
Jewish Committee and the
Mumford High,
SEVEN MILE at WYOMING
Anti - Defamation League of
May 27
Bnai Brith.
Harry Brand t. motion pic-
ture exhibitor and civic leader,
was honored at the dinner with
an award for his "distinguished
leadership on behalf of human
Eat 'Em in Your Car
rights." The principal address
was delivered by Dore Schary,
Or
playwright and producer.
es
(Copyright, 1962,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Dayenu Cartoons
in a Paperback:
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Kaiser Loses Israel Port Project; Other
U.S. Firms Bid for Darn in Dead Sea -Area -
TEL AVIV, (JTA) — Last-
minute pressures exerted by Sol-
el Boneh, the construction arm
of the Histadrut, Israel's Federa-
tion of Labor, removed the Amer-
ican Kaiser Engineering Company
from the Ashdod port construc-
tion project.
The American firm was invited
to replace the French partners of
Solel Boneh in constructing the
southern port. The move was
made in an effort to make up
for a nearly year-long gap in the
construction time-table. However,
the conditions offered by the
American firm were rejected by
Solel Boneh which chose, in-
stead, to name another group of
Solel Boneh contractors as the
third partnre in addition to the
French firm.
Meanwhile, three United States
firms are among five overseas
companies taking part in a bid
to build a big dam at the south-
ern tip of the Dead Sea. The
dam is designed to increase pot-
ash production 300 per cent. Con-
struction will be carried out un-
der supervision of the Dutch firm
in the combine.
Another American firm, Stern
and Rogers, of Denver, will soon
begin work on a $. 14,000,000 pot-
ash plant at Sdom, with an an-
nual capacity of 400,000 tons.
The only President who didn't
use the personal pronoun "I" in
his inaugural speech was Theo-
dore Roosevelt.
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