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F ON'

Remnants Of Jews
In Singapore

BARBARA KINGSTONE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

At one time, the Jewish 1833 only there were only three;
population in Singapore but by the 1840s the numbers
numbered about 6,000. To- had increased to 22. All were
day it numbers approxi- traders and as their families be-
mately 250. gan to arrive, numbers
But this particular Sat- The Moghain shot up to 43.
It was this group which
Abath
urday, when I arrived at
Maghain Aboth Syna- Synagogue in took strict measures to en-
Singapore.
sure its children would
gogue (Shield of our Fa-
thers) at the start of the "live and die as Jews."
Shabbat service, I thought per- At this point, a small piece of
haps the numbers of people had land on Synagogue Street in Sin-
been overstated. There was less gapore Town was leased by the
than a minyan while I sat in the government and became a place
upstairs of the Orthodox shul of worship. With a small but ob-
with two other women. servant population, the first Jew-
The Hasidic rabbi is Belgium ish cemetery was established in
born Rabbi Mordechai Abergel. 1843 by three Jews from Calcut-
During the next hour, the syn.- ta. The Old Cemetery, then in a
agogue began to fill up. By the swampy area, now considered
end of services there were about central Singapore, was leased for
50 men and 10 women, an ac- 99 years.
ceptable number considering the
size of the community.
The small but devoted Jewish
Singaporean population is proud
of its history in this very pricey
city. In Eze Nathan's book, The
History of Jews In Singapore, the
author states that the Jews of this
area came mostly from

A

In over
100 years,
not much
has been changed.

Mesopotamia and were The first synagogue was built
Sephardic.
But Askenazi
Jews
in the
area much
of Singa-
were
also migrating
to this
area,
pore commercial
and look very
like

which was to become an orderly what S'poreans call a shop house
multi-racial society. (the store at the bottom and liv-
It was Stamford Raffles who ing quarters on the upper floor).
had
this Penang,
vision Malacca
and ultimately
unified
and Sin- However, it was sold after only a
gapore under the title Straits Set- few decades.
By 1870 there were 172 Jews
tlements.
The first records of Jews in Sin- in the community — most of
Sephardic descent — but since
gapore
dates
from
1830
— and
then there
were
only
nine.
By few lived in the area of the syn.-

agogue, it was left unattended
and deteriorated. A trio of men
were given the opportunity to
buy land to erect a new syna-
gogue with the provision that it
must be built within three years.
Unfortunately the option was
lost and taken over by the gov-
ernment.
A new site was obtained in 1873
on the street then known as
Church Street. Construction fi-
nally began in 1878. In over 100
years, not much has been
changed.
Before entering Maghain
About Synagogue, I looked in at
the mikvah housed in a small y
building across the courtyard
from the synagogue. The first
thing you notice once inside the
synagogue is a large dome over
the west wall, which is equally
spectacular from the outside. The
benches downstairs are carved
wood while the women's section
has cushioned chairs, each with
a bronze nameplate, from dona-
tions by members.
The hall is brightened by the
many high windows. The carved
teak bima is in the center of the
expansive hall below. At the end
of this space are three large teak
doors with a metal grill topping
it. This is for the Torahs, which
are believed to have come from
Baghdad and Calcutta.
As I leave, I recall the
psalmist's quote, "Peace withii(
thy rampart, prosperity within
thy palace." Singapore Jews have
prospered and survived as Jews
in Asia.

❑