A look at one of the few surviving and currently accessible synagogues built by the Jews of Calcutta
Written by Taste of Calcutta with images by Abir Ganguly & Krithika Saptarishi
Magen David Synagogue (Hebrew for Shield of David) is hidden behind a bustling street of hawkers and their makeshift shops at the junction of Brabourne Road and Canning Street. Regular services at the Synagogue have stopped more than 10 years back. Even the Saturday services had to be discontinued a couple of years back as a congregation of at least 10 adult males is required for services. With the dwindled population of Jews in Calcutta, that is a difficult task to fulfill now.
In Calcutta, the name of Ezra is associated with a number of prominent buildings like Esplanade Mansion, Ezra Mansion and Chowringhee Mansion. David Joseph Ezra made this fortune in the real estate trade in Calcutta. His son, Elias David Ezra, built the synagogue in 1884 in memory of his father.
The synagogue was designed by a Christian in the Italian renaissance style which explains the tall clock tower which you can spot from the outside. The entrance is through an arched door which has the star of David and Hebrew inscriptions.
The inside of the synagogue is beautiful with chequered marble floor in some places and mosaic in others. High up are lit gleaming chandeliers, some originally gas-lit and featuring Belgian glass. All around are stained glass windows and ornate floral pillars which were shipped from Paris.
In the middle of the hall there is a raised platform called bimah from where the rabbi would read from the Torah.
Magen David follows the pattern of other Baghdadi synagogues in India and Myanmar by having a particularly prominent architectural feature: a sizeable heckal (ark). The heckal is always positioned on the wall nearest to Jerusalem as per synagogue convention, is set within a high half-domed apse here which is painted a deep blue with gold stars to represent heaven. In the centre of the painted firmament that contains drawings of the 10 Commandments by the flanked by the Menorah (the ancient Hebrew lampstand) and surrounded by many symbols.
Below the dome are 3 arched doors, with Parochet or curtains hanging, separating this holiest of the holy spot from the rest of the synagogue. It is where Torah scrolls kept. At one point there were one hundred or more Torah scrolls displayed in glass cases. Today, a far lesser number of Torah scrolls remain at Magen David. Most of them were taken away as the population left Calcutta.
Filling the sanctuary, in Baghdadi and other Indian synagogue fashion, are several long wooden benches and chairs . Two sets of stairs from either side of the hall lead to the galleries upstairs. As per Orthodox synagogue custom, the ground floor is where men sit, whereas the gallery level is the women’s seating area.
Aline Mordecai Cohen, the secretary of the Jewish community in Kolkata visits the synagogues every Friday evening and Saturday to light the holy lamp. The synagogue is lovingly looked after by Rabul Khan who is the third generation caretaker of the Maghen David.
Images by Abir Ganguly & Krithika Saptarishi
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