Rachel Sassoon Ezra

Rachel Sassoon Ezra (18 May 1877 – 25 January 1952), known as Lady Ezra, was an Indian philanthropist and community leader, a member of the Sassoon family, and wife of banker David Elias Ezra.

This article is about the Indian philanthropist. For her great-aunt, the Indian-born British journalist, see Rachel Beer.

Rachel Sassoon Ezra
photographer and date unknown
Born
Rachel Sassoon

18 May 1877
Bombay
Died25 January 1952
Calcutta
Occupation(s)Philanthropist, community leader
SpouseDavid Elias Ezra
Parent(s)Solomon David Sassoon, Flora Sassoon
RelativesSassoon family

Early life

Rachel Sassoon was born in Bombay, the daughter of Sir Solomon David Sassoon and Flora Gubbay Sassoon. She was part of the Baghdadi Jewish community, a member of the noted Sassoon family; her father was a prominent businessman and philanthropist; her grandfather was David Sassoon and her great-grandfather was Albert Sassoon. Her younger brother was David Solomon Sassoon.[1]

Career
c. 1936

Rachel Sassoon lived in England as a young woman, and helped her widowed mother run her late father's business in India, from 1894 until 1902. As Lady Ezra, she was president of the Jewish Women's League of Calcutta.[2] She was active with the Countess of Dufferin Fund, the Lady Minto Nursing Association, the All-Bengal Women's Union, the Bombay Women's Work Guild, and the National Council of Women in India. She was commissioner of Girl Guides for Calcutta.[3] In 1925, she wrote a travel brochure, From Damascus to Baghdad: A Trip Across the Syrian Desert.[4] In 1938, she wrote a greeting to the members of the Parliament of the World's Religions, when the group met in Calcutta.[5]

During both World War I and World War II, she opened her home to host Jewish servicemen and women while they were based in Calcutta.[6] The British government awarded her the gold Kaisar-i-Hind Medal in 1947.[7] In 1951, she donated religious objects to Jewish congregation in Hobart, Tasmania.[8][9][10] "She was distinguished for her philanthropy and social service, and achieved communal and national recognition in these spheres," summed Percy Sassoon Gourgey in a 1953 memorial tribute.[11]

Personal life

Rachel Sassoon married banker and community leader Sir David Elias Ezra in 1912. "The marriage of Rachel and David Ezra represented the coming together of India's two most powerful Jewish families," commented historian Elizabeth E. Imber in a 2018 article.[12] Her husband died in 1947, and she died in 1952, aged 74 years, in Calcutta. The Rachel and David Ezra Archive is part of the Sassoon Family Archive at the National Library of Israel.[13]

References
  1. Weil, Shalva (28 June 2019). The Baghdadi Jews in India: Maintaining Communities, Negotiating Identities and Creating Super-Diversity. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-53387-7.
  2. Las, Nelly (1996). Jewish Women in a Changing World: A History of the International Council of Jewish Women (ICJW), 1899-1995. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry. p. 188. ISBN 978-965-90054-1-3.
  3. Kabadi Waman P. (1937). Indian Whos Who 1937-38. p. 235 – via Internet Archive.
  4. Goldstein-Sabbah, S. R. (25 May 2021). Baghdadi Jewish Networks in the Age of Nationalism. BRILL. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-90-04-46056-0.
  5. "Hobart Hebrew Congregation". Australian Jewish News. 24 August 1951. p. 87. Retrieved 28 November 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  6. Roland, Joan G.; Gubbay, Tamar Marge. "Baghdadi Jewish Women in India". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  7. Ram, Sharmila Ganesan (1 November 2020). "Indian artefacts in NYC Sotheby's Sassoon auction". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  8. "Special Services In Hobart". Australian Jewish Herald. 17 August 1951. Retrieved 28 November 2021 – via Trove.
  9. "Hobart Hebrew Congregation". Australian Jewish News. 24 August 1951. Retrieved 28 November 2021 – via Trove.
  10. Ehrlich, Mark Avrum (2009). Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 527. ISBN 978-1-85109-873-6.
  11. Gourgey, Percy Sassoon (1953). "INDIA". The American Jewish Year Book. 54: 421. ISSN 0065-8987. JSTOR 23604477 – via JSTOR.
  12. Imber, Elizabeth E. (2018). "A Late Imperial Elite Jewish Politics: Baghdadi Jews in British India and the Political Horizons of Empire and Nation". Jewish Social Studies. 23 (2): 48–85. doi:10.2979/jewisocistud.23.2.03. ISSN 0021-6704. JSTOR 10.2979/jewisocistud.23.2.03. S2CID 158380996 – via JSTOR.
  13. "Fonds 05: Rachel and David Ezra Archive". National Library of Israel. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
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