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Magain Shalome Synagogue

Coordinates: 24°52′00″N 67°00′44″E / 24.866761°N 67.012323°E / 24.866761; 67.012323
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Magain Shalome Synagogue
  • Urdu: مگین شلوم کنیسہ
  • Hebrew: בית הכנסת מגן שלום
The former synagogue in 1893
Religion
AffiliationOrthodox Judaism (former)
RiteNusach Sefard
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusSynagogue (1893–1988)
StatusDemolished
Location
LocationJamila Street[Note 1] and Nishtar Road in Kalanagar, Ranchore Line, Karachi, Sindh
CountryPakistan
Magain Shalome Synagogue is located in Sindh
Magain Shalome Synagogue
Approximate location of the former synagogue in Sindh
Geographic coordinates24°52′00″N 67°00′44″E / 24.866761°N 67.012323°E / 24.866761; 67.012323
Architecture
Completed1893
Demolished17 July 1988
[1]

The Magain Shalome Synagogue (Urdu: مگین شلوم کنیسہ; Hebrew: בית הכנסת מגן שלום) was a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, that was located in Karachi, Pakistan.

The synagogue was built by Solomon David Umerdekar in 1893, when the region was still under British rule as India.[2][Note 2][3] The synagogue was destroyed in 1988 by the orders of then President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq,[4][3] following which a shopping plaza was built in its place.[5][3]

History

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Construction of the synagogue completed in 1893, and was further extended in 1912 by Umerdekar's two sons, Gershon Solomon Umerdekar and Rahamim Solomon Umerdekar.[2] A community hall named "Shegulbai Hall" was built by Abraham Reuben Kamerlekar in memory of Shegulabai Solomon Umerdekar.[who?]

In 1916, the Jewish community of Karachi, India, opened a Hebrew school on the synagogue premises, and later constructed the Nathan Abraham Hall in 1918. The synagogue had a main signboard which designated it as the "Bani Israel Masjid”, owing to the region's Muslim-dominated and Urdu-speaking society.[2]

The synagogue soon became the centre of a small but vibrant Jewish community, one of whose leaders, Abraham Reuben, became a councillor on the Karachi city corporation in 1936. The Partition of British India along religious lines between Hindus and Muslims in August 1947 saw the city of Karachi fall within the borders of the new Muslim-majority state of Pakistan, following which the synagogue's front affiliation signboard was changed, designating it under the "Pakistan Bene Israel Community". Less than a year later, the synagogue was attacked and set on fire by Muslim rioters following the 1948 Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel. During this time, several Jews all over Pakistan were attacked, eventually driving parts of the community to flee to neighbouring India.[6][7] However, the frequency of attacks on Jews in Pakistan increased after each of the Arab−Israeli Wars in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. By the early 1970s, the Pakistani Jewish community had largely left for Israel or India due to the Jewish exodus from Muslim states, effectively rendering the synagogue to be largely dormant.[7]

On 17 July 1988, the synagogue was demolished[7] and eventually replaced by a shopping plaza (Madiha Square) in the Ranchore Line neighbourhood of southern Karachi.

Post-demolition extractions

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In 1989, the original ark and podium were reportedly stored by a non-Jew in Karachi, while a Torah scroll case was taken by a Jewish American woman to the United States. In 2004, she donated the synagogue's registers covering the period of 1961–1976 to the Israeli Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem. In these ledgers, a circumcision was recorded in 1963, and several weddings in 1963–64. In 1973, only 15 names were written down, of whom nine were listed as "left Karachi".[2]

[edit]
  • Interior of the synagogue, c. 1940s
    Interior of the synagogue, c. 1940s
  • Synagogue entrance, c. 1951
    Synagogue entrance, c. 1951
  • Courtyard fountain, c. 1951
    Courtyard fountain, c. 1951
  • The synagogue's rabbi, photographed with his son, c. 1951
    The synagogue's rabbi, photographed with his son, c. 1951

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Formerly known as Corner Synagogue Street.
  2. ^ Corroborated by the encryption on the gravestone of Mr. Soloman David and an interview with Mr. Emanuel Matat who was born and lived for about thirty years in Pakistan and prayed in Magen Shalom.

References

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  1. ^ "The Jews built Karachi, but we built shopping plazas on their synagogue". The Express Tribune. 2 November 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Magen Shalom, the Last Synagogue in Pakistan? « SYED HAROON HAIDER GILANI". Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "News Article". css.ethz.ch. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Pakistani Jews and PTI". Daily Times. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  5. ^ Balouch, Akhtar (3 October 2013). "Karachi's 'Yahoodi Masjid'". Dawn. Pakistan. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  6. ^ Daiya, Kavita (4 February 2011). Violent Belongings: Partition, Gender, and National Culture in Postcolonial India. Temple University Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-59213-744-2.
  7. ^ a b c "No more in Karachi". Dawn. Pakistan. 27 February 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
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