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 The Sassoon family were a wealthy Baghdadi Jews, Baghdadi Jews, Jewish family dynasty, associated with finance, banking, capital markets, the exploration of oil and gas, Judaism, British Conservative Party, Conservative politics, opium trade wit ...

, and wife of banker David Elias Ezra.

Early life

Rachel Sassoon was born in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, the daughter of Sir Solomon David Sassoon and Flora Gubbay Sassoon. She was part of the

Baghdadi Jewish Baghdadi or Al-Baghdadi may refer to: People Al-Baghdadi or Baghdadi is an Arabic meaning "from Baghdad". It is usually added at the end of names as a specifier. People with the name: Medieval *Ibn Sa'd (784–845), Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi * Juna ...

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 Sir Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, 1st Baronet, (25 July 181824 October 1896) was a Baghdad-born businessman and philanthropist. Biography Life and career Sassoon was born on 25 July 1818 in Baghdad, Ottoman Empire, into the Sassoon family o ...

. Her younger brother was

David Solomon Sassoon David Solomon Sassoon (; 8 December 1880 – 10 August 1942) (also known as "David Suleiman Sassoon"), was a bibliophile and grandson of 19th century Baghdadi Jewish community leader David Sassoon. Family Sassoon was born in Bombay to Solom ...

Career

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. She was active with the

Countess of Dufferin Fund The Countess of Dufferin Fund was established by Hariot Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, more commonly known as Lady Dufferin, in 1885 and was dedicated to improving women's healthcare in India. The Fund was founded afte ...

, 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 Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...

for Calcutta. In 1925, she wrote a travel brochure, ''From Damascus to Baghdad: A Trip Across the Syrian Desert''. In 1938, she wrote a greeting to the members of the

Parliament of the World's Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...

, when the group met in Calcutta. During both

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she opened her home to host Jewish servicemen and women while they were based in Calcutta. The British government awarded her the gold

Kaisar-i-Hind Medal The Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India was a medal awarded by the Emperor/Empress of India between 1900 and 1947, to "any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex ... who shall have distinguished himself (o ...

in 1947. In 1951, she donated a Sephardic

Sefer Torah file:SeferTorah.jpg, A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema file:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG, An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Inte ...

to the

Hobart Synagogue The Hobart Synagogue is a heritage-listed synagogue located in 59 Argyle Street, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The synagogue is the oldest synagogue building in Australia and is a rare example of Egyptian Revival style of synagogue architecture ...

. "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.

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. 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 The National Library of Israel (NLI; ; ), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; ), is the library dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Judaism, Jewish Cultural heritage, heritage. The library holds more ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rachel Sassoon Ezra 1877 births 1952 deaths People from Kolkata Baghdadi Jews Indian philanthropists Sassoon family Ezra family (Calcutta) Philanthropists from British India 19th-century Indian Jews 20th-century Indian Jews