ABSTRACT
The port of Basra on the Persian Gulf had been a trading center of the British East India Company from 1760 on, and many Jews of that port and of Baghdad who had already played an important role in the English commerce in that part of the world gradually moved on to India. The origin of the Baghdadi Jewish community in Bombay dates back to about 1730, when Joseph Semah, who had settled in Surat, moved soon after to Bombay. Word spread among the poor Jews in Baghdad and even in Aleppo and Damascus in Syria that employment was available in the firm of David Sassoon and Company in Bombay. When the Baghadis first arrived in Bombay, they were welcomed by the Bene Israel, who invited them to attend services in their synagogues and to bury their dead in the Bene Israel cemetery.
