The Gate of Mercy Synagogue is an oldest synagogue in Mumbai. The synagogue was built in 1796 by Samaji Hasaji Divekar (also known as Samuel Ezekiel), a Bene Israeli (children of Israel), near Esplanade in South Mumbai. The synagogue was later rebuilt and moved to the present location in Mandvi in 1860(Situated at 254, Samuel Street, Bombay – 400 003) which was inhabited by a small prosperous Jewish community in the eighteenth and nineteen centuries. It is also known as Shaar Harahamim and Juni Masjid. It is nearby Central railway station, Masjid Bunder. Despite a fall in numbers, the synagogue still maintains active services knwon as a 6AM service to about a hundred members daily. Accordingto history, Samuel Divekar and his brother Issac, served in the British East Indian army as officers. During the Anglo-Mysore Wars, they were captured by the Mysore king Tipu Sultan. They were about to be condemned to death, when Tipu Sultan asked what caste they belonged to. The brothers mentioned that they were Bene Israel. Having never heard of the group, Tipu was about to condemn them to death, when his wife intervened, mentioning that she had heard of the name of the 'caste' in the Koran. Tipu, a devout Muslim, spared the two brothers and later exchanged them for a prisoner swap with the British. The two brothers returned to the British enclave of Bombay (now renamed as Mumbai) and built the synagogue in thanks giving. The history of this synagogue reveals that till the eighteenth century, the Bene lsrael community, settled in the western region of India, did not have a synagogue for collective prayer. On 2 April, 1919, the synagogue convened a public meeting of Bene Israeli which was attended by over 350 community. Majority of them were sympathetic to the cause of setting up of an independent homeland of Palestine despite the debate ignited debate on the subject.
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