Hidden in the narrow streets of Kadeshwari Marg in Bandra, a small Jewish cemetery that had fallen into neglect for decades is now reconnecting Mumbai’s dwindling Jewish community with a forgotten part of its history.
The Bandra Jewish cemetery, which occupies a small plot with about 50 graves, recently witnessed a gathering of about 15 people who gathered to offer Hashkava prayers, marking the end of the 30-day mourning period for a deceased member of the community. Another ceremony is planned later this month to mark one year since another death, when a temporary headstone will be replaced with a permanent one.
These types of meetings are important for a cemetery that had largely remained silent. Between 2000 and 2024, only four burials were carried out in the four neat rows of graves, despite the fact that the Jewish population in the Bombay The Metropolitan Region continued to decline due to migration.
The Jewish community in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region is made up of approximately 4,000 families, with six cemeteries – Worli, Thane, Panvel, one missing in Mazgaon and the one in Bandra, as well as one for Baghdadi Jews in Chinchpokli – among them. It is estimated that less than 50 families are directly linked to the Bandra cemetery.
“It was my father’s wish to be buried there as his parents were buried there,” said Bandra resident Aviva Judah, 56, whose father became the first person to be buried at the cemetery in five years in February 2025. Gene Samson, whose sister was buried there in January this year, said: “When Joanna’s husband died in 2012, she bought a plot of land next to his grave for her. Today, we have fulfilled that wish.”
Despite its emotional importance, the cemetery was in a state of serious disrepair in the early 2000s. Weeds, mud, trash and rodents made access difficult, even during funerals. For the families, the neglect reflects a broader challenge facing Mumbai’s shrinking Jewish community, which is struggling to maintain aging religious and cultural spaces in a rapidly developing city.
“When my father-in-law died in 2019, we were faced with the impossible task of burying him here,” said Jubal Solomon, 64, one of ten men who formed the “minyan” traditionally required for Jewish prayers at the cemetery. “It was monsoon and the Mount Mary Fair was on, so we were frantically looking for gardeners and cleaners to make the cemetery accessible,” he said.
Story continues below this ad.
At the end of 2022 there was a turning point after the death of the cemetery’s former caretaker. This opened the door for brothers Abraham Yehuda and David Ashton to step in and take responsibility for restoring the site.
Volunteers restore a long-abandoned Jewish cemetery on Bandra’s Kadeshwari Marg, clearing debris and bringing back a forgotten slice of Mumbai’s Jewish heritage. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
“There were a lot of complaints about its poor condition,” said Yehuda, who first heard about the cemetery in 2012 and later helped the caretaker with landscaping. “The graves were buried under rubble and rubble, to the point that we removed eight truckloads. Rats and even snakes were running around there, and 180 rat burrows were found. And right outside the door, the surrounding residents dumped their garbage there, from where it was collected by the civic community.”
In early 2023, Yehuda, with the help of volunteers, oversaw an extensive cleanup and restoration effort. Graves were dug up, washed and re-labeled, flowering plants were added, vines covered the walls, pest control measures were introduced and CCTV cameras were installed. Initially funded by community contributions, Yehuda said he has so far spent Rs 11.5 lakh on the restoration, with ongoing monthly expenses of around Rs 20,000.
For Yehuda, the effort was driven by reverence for the dead, but it also uncovered a deeper historical narrative. Inaugurated in 1942 with the support of the then mayor of Bombay, Dr E Moses, the cemetery was founded by Khan Saheb Reuben Samson, Saul Manasseh Haeems, Moses Daniel Abraham and Ben S Judah for the Jewish residents of Bandra. Several of the founders are buried there. The cemetery was registered as a trust in 1957.
Story continues below this ad.
The headstones reflect close family ties, with husbands and wives, parents and children resting just a few plots away. “In the process of cleaning the site, we found two buried graves of newborns from the 1960s,” Yehuda said.
Perhaps the most significant result of the restoration has been the reconnection of families with graves they had long lost sight of. Among them was 80-year-old Tripta Suresh, who was reunited with his mother’s grave after decades.
“My mother died in 1968, when I was in Bandra for a brief period, and she was buried in the cemetery, as were some of her relatives buried there,” Suresh said. “Even back then, when I was 20, the cemetery was a simple and gloomy place. Since I rarely frequented Mumbai, I didn’t have much opportunity to visit my mother’s grave. And the last time I tried, in the early 2000s, the place was a mess and filled me with dread.”
After Yehuda learned of their search through a mutual acquaintance, he helped locate the tomb, which had been buried under rubble and worn away by time. “The cemetery has become a lovely place,” Suresh said after visiting it last year.
Story continues below this ad.
Yehuda said more work is planned, including building a shed for the ritual bathing of bodies before funerals and adding basic facilities.