Manasseh Meyer

Sir Manasseh Meyer (1846 – 1 July 1930) was an Iraqi-born businessman, philanthropist and activist who was both a leader and benefactor of the Jewish community in Singapore.

Biography Born in Baghdad and educated in Calcutta, Manasseh Meyer came to Singapore in 1861 aged 15 and continued his English education in St Joseph's Institution. His maternal uncle Joseph Raphael Joshua had established himself in Singapore and was instrumental in bringing Manasseh and his brothers Rubin and Elias to Singapore.

Meyer returned to Singapore in 1873 and founded his own import-export business known as Meyer Brothers involved in the opium trade. The firm grew to dominate all trade with India, linked by the two then flourishing Baghdadi Jewish communities of Calcutta and Singapore. Raphael Sassoon, a fellow Jewish pioneer born in Aleppo, was his partner in the firm and later also jointly a trustee of Maghain Avoth Synagogue on the island. Having initially built his fortune in opium, he expanded into real estate and further his fortune in property in booming colonial settlement of Singapore after the trade was ceased.

Judaism and Zionism Though established in Singapore and born in Baghdad, he was part of the tightly knit transitional trade network of Baghdadi Jews in Asia united by language, family, trade and faith. However Meyer never lost his ties to the Middle East.

Meyer remained closely tied to the Jewish religious establishment in Baghdad and underwrote the publication of one of the books of Rabbi Joseph Hayyim, known as the Ben Ish Hai, to whom he looked as his spiritual mentor. Inspired by Rabbi Hayyim's focus on supporting the growing Jewish community in Palestine, he became a committed Zionist.

Meyer was to be one of the Hebrew University's major donors. He also supported a school and a synagogue for Baghdadi Jews in Palestine.

The Manasseh Meyer Building, which was constructed by Mayer in the 1920s, is currently part of the National University of Singapore's Bukit Timah campus. The building was gazetted as a national monument on 11 November 2009.