Knesset Eliyahoo

Knesset Eliyahoo בית הכנסת אליהו
Exterior of Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue
Basic information
Location	Mumbai, India
Affiliation	Orthodox Judaism
Rite	Sephardic
State	Maharashtra
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Active
Architect(s)	Gostling & Morris

The Knesset Eliyahoo, also Knesset Eliyahu, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located in downtown Mumbai, India. It is the city's second oldest Sephardic synagogue. It was established in 1884 by Jacob Elias Sassoon, son of Eliyahoo David Sassoon and grandson of David Sassoon; the latter had immigrated from Baghdad to India in 1832 due to persecution and had settled in Mumbai, then known as Bombay. It is maintained by the Jacob Sassoon Trust. The building's significance is attributed to its Jewish traditions as well as Indian and English colonial influences.

It was designed by the British architectural firm Gostling & Morris of Bombay. The basement part of the edifice is built in stone masonry and the superstructure is built in brick masonry. The exterior facade of the synagogue is painted turquoise. The sanctuary within the interior of the building is in western direction, towards Jerusalem.

Knesset Eliyahoo, an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, the second oldest Sephardic, is located in Colaba at 55, Dr. V.B. Gandhi Marg, Fort, Mumbai. The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, and Oberoi Trident are nearby.

Prior to the arrival of Baghdadi Jews in India, the Jews residing in Bombay — the name then used for Mumbai — had settled in the towns of India, living peacefully with other communities in India. Harry D. Wall, in an interview to the New York Times, has said that among the Jews who now remain in Mumbai are a group of Jews known as Bene Jews or Bene Israel who were reportedly descendants of seven tribes of Israel who, in the 2nd century BC, were shipwrecked on India's Konkan coast while escaping persecution in the Galilee. They found that living in India, amidst a cosmopolitan community consisting of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and, much later, Muslims, was a very cordial environment, totally free of anti-Semitic feelings.