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Saying Mincha (Evening Prayer) in any city of the world
where there is a fairly good-sited Jewish community is
not a difficult matter, hut in Singapore, that great seaport
of the Orient he who would say the afternoon prayers
must depend on a bus that regularly picks up the mem
bers of a subsidized minyan. In this article Mr. IVhite
gives a vivid picture of Jewish life in far-off Singapore.
Prayers
Before Business
n Singapore
By David White
Riding through modern Singapore by bus.
Courte* of Dollar 81**®.* p
I I' was a masterful sales talk. The crowd bent
forward to inspect the shawls being displayed.
The hawkers dark beadle eyes darted right
and left as he held each multi-colored shawl before
the curious eyes of the onlookers, and swore “by
the beard of the Prophet.” Then came the secret
of its manufacture.
The impassioned discourse over, he began look
ing for customers. The fat lady bought the scarlet
shawl with the white peacock. Another took a
purple monstrosity. Between sales he kept up his
spiel.
Standing there in the center of the curious
tourists, he looked like a Mohammedan collosus
astride the world. His fez at a rakish angle, his
black hair tousled, his small beard playing up and
down with each lengthy smile, dusky face and
hooked nose—all added to the flavor of his sales.
Fair tourists returning from Singapore would tell
of the “dusky Mohammedan shawl merchant who
gave them such adorable buys.” What made me
perk up my ears was the whispered “mincha” of a
similar badged individual who had been selling
trinkets a short distance away. The entire conver
sation was in a foreign tongue, but the word
“mincha” intrigued me. The
hawker begrudgingly folded his
remaining shawls into a neat
bundle and followed the other.
He mistook the sudden move
ment on my part and specula
tively eyed the shawl 1 still held
in my hand. He didn’t answer
my request to be shown the
synagogue where the Mincha
services w’ere to be held, but
hurried along, motioning me to
follow. When we w’ere out of
earshot, he turned, gave me a
thorough inspection, and ex
tended his grimy hand—“Sho-
lom.” The other hawker came
along side and the two marched off to,an await
ing bus!
The bus, evidently a private one, made a num
ber of stops to pick up similarly garbed men and
their bundles. I was now’ the center of a curious
circle. Each pair of eyes burned into mine as
though they wanted to lay open mv soul and
see w’hat w as therein. They were not silent, these
newly-found Arabian looking friends, but chatted,
related anecdotes, and asked questions w’ith great
rapidity. They more or less had opinions of the
Jews of the United States and
freely gave them—few', if any, com
plimentary.
They wanted to know “How many Jews in
America kept kosher homes?” “Why we worked
on Saturday?” “What made us so irreligious?’’
“The reason there w'ere so few orthodox?’’ “And.”
a newcomer added, “I understand in America the
Jew’s are not charitable; that they are selfishly
wealthy and rarely help even a brother.” Another
summed up his argument against our American
Jews—“You are too much in a hurry, rush around
too much, and you are all out for the money.”
Between Mincha and maariv 1 was able to glean
bits of the history of Singapore’s Jewry. It is
not an old history for it is less than a hundred
years old, but it is an interesting one which breathes
of tropical tolerance, and firm beliefs, which tells
of the struggles of the poor immigrants from
Mesopotamia and India for a livelihood, of the
romance of several individuals who attained great
wealth.
The 30’s and 40’s of the 19th Century were
trying decades to the Jews of Mesopotamia.
Harshly treated by a despotic rule, harassed by the
petty annoyances of those Mohammedans around
them, feeling intensely the economic depression
which deprived them of their daily bread, a num
ber set out for foreign lands to try their for
tunes aw’ay from, their former miseries. A num
ber were welcomed by the B’nai Israel to India.
Several hundred settled in the coast cities of China.
A number found their Land of Canaan on the
island of Singapore, and made their homes there.
The first step of this small community w'as to
rent a place for worship. A schochet and chazan
were invited to come to the island, and their sal
aries w r ere paid at great sacrifice. The year 1878
found the community larger and more prosperous,
and the Maghain Aboth Synagogue was built I
through popular subscription. At the turn of the I
20th Century, the community numbered approxi
mately four hundred and fifty, the majority oi
whom w’ere Sephardic Jews.
The Jews of the city had individually pros
pered. Enthused by the tolerance and good will
of the governmental officials, they had realized their
ability for business and dominated in the particular
spheres of trade. The most prominent Sephardic
firms dealt largely in opium, rice and gunny bags;
while the business of the Ashkenazi was chiefly in
liquor, hotel keeping, and furniture.
The history of the Jew's of Singapore since the
latter part of the 19th Century is dominated by
the benevolent figure of Sir Menassah Meyer, now
deceased. He was the guiding hand of Judaism
on the Island, a generous giver to charities, an
eager communal w’orker. When the community
increased in numbers and the synagogue was over
crowded for services, he built, in 1905, Chased EL
It was to this synagogue that we had come for
mincha. The community needed a Talmud Torah
for their children. Sir Menassah Meyer donated
the funds to maintain a building and pay for teach
ers. Local charities, yeshivas in Palestine and Bag
dad, Zionism, and international Jewish funds have
received generous grants from this noble Jew.
The last thirty years have seen remarkable
changes in Singapore. From a small community in
1900, Singapore’s Jewish settlement has grown to
more than two thousand. Instead of a more pros
perous group, the newcomers were very poor. In
stead of established houses, the Jews now turned
to the small bartering business and vendors o!
commodities, selling from the curb at whatever
prices they could get. With his bundle and h»
glib sales talk, he looks for customers wherever he
finds them. They are still the very wealthy and
number of well-to-do, but their businesses have
changed with the times. Opium has become out
lawed as an article of trade. In its place are
rubber and tin and banking. The Ashkenazi have
dwindled to ten or more families, dependent upon
furniture and the professions for their livelihood.
In the religious life there has also been a de
cided change. The religious intensity of the pen -
eral group has lessened, and although there are >
great number who observe the letter of the la*<
there are an equal number w’ho do not. Kashrud
is not strictly observed, religious w’orship confined
to the few’ who have leisure and a handful who
forget the economic struggle to ease the burning
longing for the soul.
To ensure a minyan for his synagogue, Sir M ffV
assah Meyer repeated (Please turn to pag' 1°
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* THE SOUTHERN ISRAELI!*