Philanthropy as Power Softener

“David Sassoon was, however, wise enough to see the dangers of becoming too inward-looking and parochial. He endowed the Gothic-style Sassoon General Hospital at Poona for the benefit of all sects and creeds of Indians, as well as Jewish patients. Built on two floors with accommodation for two hundred men and women, it was equipped on the most modern Western scale, together with a hostel for doctors and nurses. Separate buildings were put up for lepers and maternity cases. The usual massive clock tower was included in the architect's plans. Punctuality was the first unoriental habit David Sassoon picked up from the British. He also gave generously towards an asylum in Poona for the relief of destitute invalids, aware that after-care might be desperately needed by those discharged from hospital, still crippled and unable to work. He once returned thoughtfully from visiting Abdullah's villa at Mahabaleshwar where European fruits and vegetables flourished in a red clay soil. He could not help contrasting its vivid flowers and the woods swarming with wild birds and game with the filth and flies he had just left below in Bombay. He soon bought a few acres and set them aside as camping grounds for the poor.”

“More often he devoted his early evenings to talmudic study, receiving visitors and writing letters. Pleas for business advice, dowries, spiritual guidance and endowments came from the Gulf, the Holy Land, China, Japan and even beyond. A small community in New South Wales - one time refugees from Baghdad - might need prayer-books; the congregation in Tientsin required funds to open a new school; and from a dozen rabbis came desperate appeals for Sassoon, descendant of Princes of the Exilarch, to defend his brethren against some local oppressor. He weighed evidence, sifted genuine penury from professional begging letters, and poured out advice, together with his many lakhs of rupees. Every letter was answered in his own firm hand. Visitors who came from afar were given food hampers and clothing for their homeward journey, apart from the inevitable donations. Many stayed. From Baghdad, Aleppo and Damascus he brought over and resettled entire families. Most had to be fed, housed and given medical care. In his last years, no Jewish beggar would ever be seen in the streets of Bombay.”