The construction of the synagogue started in 1863 by
philanthropist David Sassoon and was then completed by his successors in 1867. The synagogue was designed by
Henry Saint Clair Wilkins and was an example of
English Gothic architecture. The churchlike building was constructed with red brick and trap rock and has a 90-foot tall
obelisk with a clock brought especially from London. One of the largest synagogues built in India, Ohel David (Hebrew for Tent of David), constructed from 1863 to 1867, is located on a prominent site on Moledina Road near M. G. and Ambedkar Roads. This area came to be known as Pune Camp (or
Cantonment), a military district established in 1817 to accommodate troops of the
British Indian Army. For years the landmark synagogue, which has ably served the city's
Baghdadi-Jewish community for about a century-and-a-half, has been known locally as Laal Deul (Red Temple). "Laal" is the
Marathi word for "Red" as a reference to the brilliant color of the building's exterior brick. "Deul" is the Marathi word for "Temple". The construction of the synagogue and its endowment were made possible by David Sassoon, patriarch of the great
Sassoon dynasty that made its mark in trading, commerce, and shipping in
India and the East during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Sassoons funded the construction of many other religious, civic, and institutional buildings in the city and elsewhere in India, including Pune's
Sassoon Hospital and Mumbai's Baghdadi synagogues
Knesset Eliyahoo and
Magen David Synagogue (Byculla). David Sassoon was born in
Baghdad and immigrated to India during the early years of the nineteenth century. The first Baghdadi Jews to come to India did so seasonally or temporarily in the late eighteenth century, arriving first in the western port city of
Surat. In time, a permanent enclave was formed in Pune with others in
Mumbai,
Kolkata, and
Yangon (Rangoon) in
Myanmar (Burma). Jewish people mostly from
Iraq, but also from
Iran and various other countries under the control of the
Ottoman Empire, left their homelands in search of religious tolerance, economic opportunity, and quality of life. The community as a whole became comparatively well-educated and economically comfortable in their adopted Indian and Burmese cities. Pune came to offer the Baghdadis affiliated with this synagogue the chance to become fully practicing Jews and productive citizens of the broader local community. ==Description==