Welcome to Bombay, where East meets West and, like a woman in a jeweled evening gown with a sari peeking out, offers two faces to visitors. A sophisticated international business and industrial center, this city of 10 million also has a film industry that cranks out over 300 movies a year. On Malabar Hill, handsome homes overlook the curving bay, a contrast to the shantytowns a few miles away. A necklace of seven islands, Bombay was once a tiny fishing village owned by the Portuguese. Its British past dates to 1661, when it was given to King Charles II upon his marriage to a Portuguese princess. The 85-foot Gateway of India, a stone archway, was erected in 1911 to welcome Queen Mary and King George V. The city continued to flourish under Indian rule after 1947 and in 1996 changed its name to the ethnic Mumbai. Bombay occupies a proud chapter in Jewish history that echoes with lost tribes, shipwrecks and remote villages. At its peak by 1950, Bombay supported a Jewish community of about 35,000, made up of the indigenous Bene Israel overlaid with Jews from Baghdad. Though the community has dwindled to 3,500, it does its best to celebrate Jewish events with vibrancy and joy.

History
No conclusive evidence exists, but tradition claims the Bene Israel descended from Galilee oil-pressers shipwrecked 2,000 years ago off the Konkan coast-the mainland across the creek from Bombay. The seven couples said to have survived settled around the village of Navgaon and became farmers and coconut-oil pressers-shanwar telli (literally, "Saturday oil men" because they did not work on Shabbat). Since they had lost everything, the Bene Israel had no written guidelines for practicing Judaism. They lived peacefully in the villages that dotted the coast and kept the rituals they remembered: certain laws of kashrut, circumcision, Shabbat and reciting the Shema, which became an all-purpose prayer.

With the advent of educational and employment opportunities introduced when the British began to develop Bombay in the eighteenth century, many Bene Israel moved to the city. They found employment in government service and distinguished themselves in the armed forces. In 1796 the first synagogue, Sha'ar Harahamim, was built by Samuel Ezekiel Divekar, who vowed to erect a house of worship if he survived as a prisoner-of-war of the Muslim sultan of Mysore. Baghdadi Jews began settling in Bombay in 1730, but did not become a presence until the arrival of David Sassoon, son of a wealthy Jewish family. As the Baghdadi community's unofficial spokesman during Daud Pasha's reign of terror between 1825 and 1835, he was arrested but released on condition that he leave the city.

In 1832, Sassoon settled in Bombay and began a commercial and philanthropic dynasty that drew Jews from throughout the Ottoman Empire. At its peak, the Baghdadi community numbered about 10,000.

The emergence of two new states-India in 1947 and Israel in 1948-spelled the dramatic decline of Bombay's Jewish community. Infused with Zionist zeal and anticipating an economic downturn under Indian rule, most made aliya while others dispersed to English-speaking countries.

Community
The Bene Israel initially relied on Torah scribes, teachers and cantors from Cochin to the south, or Baghdad, Yemen and Syria. A religious revival in the nineteenth century resulted in the building of most of its 20 synagogues, eight of which still function. Most of the community serve in administrative and clerical jobs, but about 25 percent have become professionals.

India's Jews are served by over 40 organizations, yet most meet too irregularly to sustain a lasting impact. Nourishing Jewish life in Bombay has become the province of ORT-India, established in 1960, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

ORT provides a kosher bakery; makes kosher wine, halla and chicken available; oversees the mikve at the Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue; maintains a preschool program and guides tourists to Jewish sites. Offices are at 68 Worli Hill Road (telephone: 91-22-496-2350; E-mail: ortbbay@bom5.vsnl.net.in). The JDC provides assistance to the poor and services for the elderly. Hadassah Mumbai offices are c/o AJDC, 3 Rodef Shalom, 23 Dadoji Kindev Road (ajdc.jew.ngo@axcess.net.in) or they can be reached through the new JDC community center in the Mahim section of the city (431-4734; jewcenter@hotmail.com).

Sights
Bombay is a trove of Jewish sights, some hidden in alleyways behind fruit stalls and pushcarts. But a 15-minute ride can turn into an hour's journey when cars detour around road repairs and human traffic. Try to plan the time of day carefully and take a guide, available through the government tourist office (123 M. Karve Road; 203-2932; gitobest@bom5.vsnl.net.in).

Touring Jewish Bombay sometimes resembles a trip through the City of David-Sassoon, that is. Monuments and institutions bear the family name, from the 67-foot-tall Palladian-style clock tower on the premises of the Jijamata Udyan (previously Victoria Gardens) to the David Sassoon Industrial Institution and Reformatory, a home for delinquent, orphaned and destitute boys.
A clock tower rises above the yellow-columned façade of the Magen David Synagogue in the Byculla neighborhood. Inside, rows of pillars separate a border of benches from the teba (bima), the reader's platform that always marks the center of Sefardic synagogues. The Ark, which holds Torahs in cases of hammered silver, is recessed in a semicircular niche, a domed ceiling crowning it like a yarmulke.

On Forbes Street, across from the Sassoon Library at 152 M.G. Road, stands the sky-blue Knesset Eliyahoo building. Built in 1884 by Jacob Sassoon, David's grandson, in memory of his father, Elias, its marble teba, covered with a Persian rug, dominates the cerulean interior of arches, columns, stained-glass windows and high women's gallery.

The Sassoon Docks are still used to bring in fresh fish; the Bank of India was founded by Sassoon David [sic], who was also a mayor of Bombay. And Flora Fountain, named for Flora Sassoon, stands in Hutatma Chowk (Martyr's Square), a busy five-way intersection in the Fort neighborhood.

Sha'ar Harahamim, 254 Samuel Street, is in the heart of the old Jewish neighborhood of Masjid, now a lively open-air bazaar. The synagogue's modest cream-colored exterior is distinguished only by the sky-blue Stars of David that decorate its gate. Inside, a yellow-and-blue curtain covers an ornately carved teak Ark. Two chairs occupy the place of honor to its right, one for the godfather who holds the child during circumcision and one for the Prophet Elijah, said to be an invisible participant at all circumcisions.

Built in 1931 and currently undergoing renovation, Magen Hasidim, on Morland Road, is probably the most active synagogue, with seating for 1,000. One distinguishing feature at the Tiferet Israel Synagogue, 92 Keshavras Khadye Marg, is its women's section, which runs along the side of the main sanctuary instead of overlooking it. Bombay also has a 268-family Reform congregation, Rodef Shalom, but its sanctuary at 36 Sussex Road was burnt in 1993. The congregation is trying to rebuild, but in the meantime has held services in members' homes.

Side Trips
The heart of Jewish Bombay can be seen only by a visit to the Konkan coast. The catamaran trip across Bassein Creek takes 45 minutes from the Gateway of India to Mandwa, where buses transport visitors to Alibag. Villages sweep past-Thul, Pen, Jhirad; each of the tiny 100-odd towns on the coast was once home to 50 to 100 Jewish families. Now, only about 200 Jews are spread over fewer than 10 villages.

When you walk along Israel Street in Alibag, at one time lined with 200 Jewish homes, you can pick out the few still inhabited by Jews by the mezuzot on their doorposts, or Stars of David on the walls of the shops above which they live. Samson David Wakrulkar still runs his 50-year-old flour mill, where customers bring wheat, tamarind and chili to be ground. Next door, his brother Sunny's soda shop specializes in luscious pineapple ice cream and faluda-an Indian child's dream made of ice cream, raspberry syrup, milk, Chinese rice noodles and myrtle seeds. A third brother owns a rice mill.

A clothesline of drying laundry blocks a clear view of the Magen Avot Synagogue from the side, but its rooftop replica of the Ten Commandments is unobstructed from any vantage point. Blue pillars capped with pink flowers and green leaves greet visitors, who enter through a heavy rosewood door. Following local custom, shoes are discarded before entering. Inside, peeling light-blue paint shows that the synagogue, built in 1910, has seen better days. Still, its quiet grace endures.
In Thul, home to two Jewish families, Levi Bhonkar cultivates coconut and betel nut trees on his six-acre farm. Dried palm branches woven into mats have already been used to shade the entrance to the modest home. A faded handprint hangs above the lintel; every Passover a family member dips a hand in sheep's blood, imprints it on paper and hangs it up to ward off the evil eye.

Pune (pronounced Poona), about 100 miles south, where wealthy Bombay Jews spent their summers, will round out a picture of the community. On Indian roads, however, the car ride can take almost five hours through the industrial centers that ring Bombay, then up a winding road past the resort of Khandala. Train connections are also possible.

David Sassoon built Pune's Ohel David Synagogue in 1863, a red brick building at 9 Dr. Ambedekar Road (20-632-048) known as the Lal Deval (Red Temple), complete with vivid stained-glass windows. Sassoon died in Pune in 1864; his marble tomb is housed in a mausoleum in the courtyard. Succath Shelomo, the second of Pune's synagogues, is a smaller brick building at 93 Rasta Peth, Israel Lane. The Jewish community now numbers about 300.

General Sights
Along any of Bombay's beaches hawkers sell roasted corn, slices of watermelon and paper bags filled with hot spicy snacks; couples hold hands and elderly men and women dignify the benches overlooking the water, a rocky bathtub for street children in need of a dip. Chowpatty Beach after dark brings out the city's quirky side, as fortune-tellers and jugglers also ply their trade.

Malabar Hill is another pleasant spot to watch the sun set over the Arabian Sea. In the morning or afternoon you can see the vultures circling the nearby Towers of Silence, where the Parsee community takes its dead to be devoured by vultures and to decompose naturally; the Parsees view the soil as sacred ground not to be contaminated by rotting flesh. High walls prevent entry into the towers, but a model is on display at the Prince of Wales Museum (23 M.G. Road; 284-4519; fax: 204-5430; 10:15 to 6, Tuesday-Sunday) which also houses a magnificent collection of art, archeology and natural history.
Inside the Jain Temple, an offshoot of Hinduism, worshipers meditate over grains of rice that they form into different patterns.
Put austerity aside in the city's hard-to-resist markets. Search for treasures and trinkets in Chor Bazaar (Thieves Market); bargain for gold bangles in the Zaveri Bazaar; or browse along "Fashion Street." Bargaining is a must: Lower the quoted price by at least half.

A day trip of a different nature is also about an hour's ferry ride from Gateway. Seventh-century Hindu cave temples on Elephanta Island feature remarkable sculptures of the Hindu god Shiva.

Recommendations
Lotus Tours (2 Mott Street, New York, NY 10013; 212-267-5414; lotus_tours@msn.com) offers kosher tours to India. No Saturday travel and hotels are within walking distance of synagogues.
The best time to visit India is between November and February, when the temperature is comfortable. Many Hindus are strict vegetarians, so kosher travelers will find plenty of tasty and inexpensive food. Bottled water is available everywhere, but don't forget to watch out for ice in your drink. Although no inoculations are required, check for up-to-date recommendations with your doctor or the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. As essential as preparation is, however, it is the unexpected that makes traveling in India a spicy mix of sights, sounds and smells-irresistible simply because it follows no recipe.