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The Sassoons are having a moment. Here’s why that matters.
(JTA) — The Sassoon family is having a moment. The Baghdadi Jewish dynasty that made its fortune in trade across the Indian subcontinent and East Asia is the subject of the current exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York, titled “The Sassoons.” Joseph’s Sassoon’s book, “The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty,” was published last year. Last month’s highly publicized auction of the Sassoon Codex for over $38 million focused attention on the Sassoon heir who once owned the 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible. The Sassoon Family Archive at the National Library of Israel has been newly digitized.
The Sassoon dynasty is the epitome of the cosmopolitan transnational Jewish families I retrace in my book “Baghdadi Jewish Networks in the Age of Nationalism”: intrepid merchants who transcended empires, continents and cultures. Starting with David Sassoon (1792-1864), who left Baghdad in 1828, eventually settling in India, the Sassoon empire would, at its height, extend from China to England. The transnational networks they and their contemporaries established, tied together disparate Jewish communities and laid the foundation for present-day philanthropies dedicated to the plight of world Jewry.
The Sassoon family cannot be reduced to a stereotype of wealthy Jewish collectors who assimilated into European culture, nor can they be seen simply as “The Rothschilds of the East” — although they mingled with Rothschilds and held similar riches gained through business. They were their own phenomenon quite apart from the Rothschilds. Too often modern Jewish history is presented from an Ashkenormative (Eurocentric) perspective. Elevating the histories of families like the Sassoons and the communities who benefitted from their philanthropy, highlights the diversity and complexity of the modern Jewish experience.
The Jewish Museum exhibit is laden with dreamy family portraits by Thomas Gainsborough and John Singer Sargent and the 18th-century European art the family acquired. This might give the mistaken impression that the Sassoons abandoned Baghdad, adopted European social and cultural tastes and never looked back to the Middle East. Fortunately, this visual narrative is balanced by the manuscripts, marriage contracts and Judaica that speak to the family’s deep connections to the Middle East and their Jewishness. “The Sassoons” exhibit, with its comfortable and opulent objects, subtly raises awareness of the diversity of Jewish experience.
The late 19th and 20th century world of the Sassoons is, in short, a gateway to understanding the specifically dynamic transnational Jewish networks of modern Middle Eastern Jewish history. The exhibit offers hints of the Baghdadi heritage of the family and the cosmopolitan religious, business and philanthropic networks in which they participated. Examples include the beautiful silver tikim (Torah cases) and a haftarah scroll, both commissioned by Flora (in Arabic, Farha) Sassoon (1859-1936), who was born in India and later emigrated to England. Flora was admired for both her erudition and business acumen, and her commissions are vivid examples of her religiosity and her concomitant global network: The silver for the tikim was smithed in Shanghai and styled in a Middle Eastern motif; the scrolls were written by a sofer, or scribe, in Baghdad, and the whole Torah was assembled in her hometown of Mumbai. During Flora’s lifetime both Shanghai and Mumbai were important nodes in the Sassoon business empire, and as a result had small but flourishing Baghdadi Jewish communities beyond the Sassoon family itself.
Installation view of “The Sassoons” at the Jewish Museum, New York, March 3-Aug. 13, 2023. (Kris Graves)
Similarly, the manuscripts on display in the exhibit, many acquired by David Salomon Sassoon (1880-1942), Flora’s son, illustrate the family’s interests in multilingualism and their Jewish material heritage. David collected over 1,000 manuscripts, and many of the rarest pieces in his collection were acquired during his trips back to Iraq. His close connection to the Jewish community in Baghdad despite his birth in Mumbai and adulthood in Britain, his proficiency in Judeo-Arabic (that is, Arabic written in Hebrew script and inflected with Hebrew and Aramaic loan-words) and his fluency in Judeo-Baghdadi (the spoken dialect of Iraqi Jews) enabled the acquisition of these rare and varied manuscripts. While many of the pieces on display seem to speak to the”Europeanness” of the Sassoons, they also underscore that the Sassoons remained a part of Iraqi society, and that these two societies were not mutually exclusive.
The inclusion of a 1946 photograph (by Arthur Rothstein) of Jewish refugees reading a list of Holocaust survivors in the exhibit points to yet another critical role of the Sassoons as important philanthropists for Jewish transnational causes. By 1939 over 20,000 Jews fleeing Europe had found their way to one of the few locations that did not require a visa, Shanghai. Arriving with little means and few, if any, connections, they were welcomed by a well-established Baghdadi Jewish community for whom the Sassoons had been — throughout the 19th and 20th centuries — the primary contributors to Jewish life, endowing schools, synagogues, and charities there as they did across the Baghdadi diaspora and the Middle East itself.
Philanthropy and communal leadership are essential components of the Sassoon legacy, helping us see a broader community beyond the beautiful and durable objects which are easiest for curators to display and which attract visitors for their inherent qualities.
If you happen to be in New York before Aug. 13, visit the exhibit to luxuriate in the wonders of wealth and prestige which the Sassoon family possessed. While you are there, pay special attention to the dual cosmopolitan and communal approach to Jewish history that is exemplified by many of the pieces on display. View the many artifacts and documents as an invitation to explore the global cultural, economic and philanthropic contributions of Middle Eastern Jewry, an enduring and rich legacy of a remarkable family.
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Central African Republic Votes, Russia Ally Touadera Seeks Third Term
People wait to cast their vote at a polling station during the presidential election in Bangui, Central African Republic, December 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/ Leger Serge Kokpakpa
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera is seeking a third term on Sunday as the chronically unstable country holds national elections, touting security gains made with the help of Russian mercenaries and Rwandan soldiers.
The 68-year-old mathematician oversaw a constitutional referendum in 2023 that scrapped the presidential term limit, drawing an outcry from his critics who accused him of seeking to rule for life.
A Touadera victory – the expected outcome – would likely further the interests of Russia, which has traded security assistance for access to resources including gold and diamonds. Touadera is also offering access to the country’s lithium and uranium reserves to anyone interested.
Polling stations opened on time at 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) in the capital, Bangui, a Reuters witness said. They were due to close at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), with provisional results expected by January 5. Nearly 2.4 million people were registered to vote.
Casting her ballot in Bangui, shopkeeper Beatrice Mokonzapa said women had “suffered greatly” during Central African Republic’s years of conflict but that the situation had improved.
“We have security today. I hope it continues. And for that, President Touadera is best placed to guarantee our security,” she said.
SIX OPPONENTS CHALLENGE TOUADERA
The opposition field of six candidates is led by two former prime ministers, Anicet-Georges Dologuele and Henri-Marie Dondra, both of whom survived attempts by Touadera’s supporters to have them disqualified for allegedly holding foreign citizenship.
Though both men remain on the ballot, Touadera is still seen as the favorite given his control over state institutions and superior financial resources, analysts say.
In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Dondra said the playing field was “unbalanced” and that he had been unable to travel as widely as Touadera to campaign. He nevertheless predicted he would have a strong showing.
The challenges to the candidacies of Dologuele and Dondra “aligned with an apparent pattern of administrative manoeuvring that has disproportionately impeded opposition politicians while favouring the ruling United Hearts Party,” Human Rights Watch said last month.
Voting in the capital early on Sunday, teacher Albert Komifea said he wanted a change, without specifying who he had backed.
“They did everything they could to prevent the opposition from campaigning effectively, in order to reduce their chances,” he said. “But the ballot box will confirm that change is now.”
RUSSIA AND RWANDA REINFORCE TOUADERA
In 2018, CAR became the first country in West and Central Africa to bring in Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, a step since also taken by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Two years later, Rwanda deployed troops to shore up Touadera’s government as rebel groups threatened the capital and tried to disrupt the 2020 elections, ultimately preventing voting at 800 polling stations across the country, or 14% of the total.
The country is more secure now after Touadera signed several peace deals with rebel groups this year.
But those gains remain fragile: Rebels have not fully disarmed, reintegration is incomplete, and incursions by combatants from neighboring Sudan fuel insecurity in the east.
Beyond the presidential contest, the elections on Sunday cover legislative, regional and municipal positions.
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, a presidential runoff will take place on February 15, while legislative runoffs will take place on April 5.
Pangea-Risk, a consultancy, wrote in a note to clients that the risk of unrest after the election was high as opponents were likely to challenge Touadera’s expected victory.
A smooth voting process could reinforce Touadera’s claim that stability is returning, which was buttressed last year with the U.N. Security Council’s lifting of an arms embargo and the lifting of a separate embargo on diamond exports.
In November, the U.N. Security Council extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission. The US opposed the decision, calling for a shorter extension and a handover of security to Bangui.
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Lawsuit Alleges ChatGPT Played Role in Teen’s Suicide
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman meets with French President Emmanuel Macron (not pictured) at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 23 May 2023. YOAN VALAT /Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
i24 News – The life of Adam Rein, a 16-year-old from California, took a tragic turn shortly after he began using ChatGPT to help with his schoolwork last fall.
By March, Adam was spending an average of five hours a day interacting with the chatbot. During that period, ChatGPT referenced terms such as “suicide” and “hanging” at a rate reportedly 20 times higher than Adam himself used in daily conversations.
An analysis of Adam’s chat history, provided to The Washington Post by attorneys representing the Rein family, suggests that the exchanges grew increasingly intense as the teenager shared suicidal thoughts.
The data is now central to a lawsuit filed by his parents, who allege that OpenAI bears responsibility for their son’s death. They claim the company made ChatGPT accessible to minors despite being aware of risks related to psychological dependency and the potential worsening of suicidal ideation.
Adam’s parents are the first of at least five families who have filed wrongful death lawsuits against OpenAI in recent months. All allege that ChatGPT encouraged, either directly or indirectly, the suicides of their loved ones. A sixth lawsuit, filed this month, claims that a man was influenced by the chatbot to kill his mother before taking his own life.
OpenAI has denied the allegations. In court filings responding to the Rein family’s lawsuit, the company argued that Adam bypassed ChatGPT’s safety safeguards in violation of its terms of use and stated that he was already at risk prior to using the chatbot. OpenAI cited earlier messages in which Adam described experiencing depression and suicidal thoughts years before engaging with the platform.
The company declined to comment on whether its automated safety alerts prompted additional internal action or human review at the time of Adam’s death. Court documents indicate that when Adam’s messages referenced self-harm, ChatGPT repeatedly urged him, more than 100 times, to reach out to family members, trusted individuals, or emergency services.
The case has intensified scrutiny of OpenAI and the broader risks posed by artificial intelligence tools to vulnerable users.
With ChatGPT serving an estimated 800 million active users each week, critics, including lawmakers, regulators, and grieving families, are calling for stronger safeguards, particularly for minors. What some have described as a growing “ChatGPT safety crisis” is fueling debate over the responsibilities of AI companies as their technologies become deeply embedded in everyday life.
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Israel’s Tech Sector Says More Staff Seek Relocation Abroad-Report
A general view of apartment blocks and office buildings under construction, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel, August 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Florion Goga
Requests to relocate abroad by Israelis working at multinational companies operating in Israel rose in the past year in reaction to Israel’s two-year war against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, a report showed on Sunday.
The Israel Advanced Technology Industries Association (IATI) found that 53 percent of companies reported an increase in relocation requests from Israeli employees, noting this was “a trend that may, over time, harm the local innovation engine and Israel’s technological leadership.”
The tech sector accounts for about 20 percent of Israel’s GDP, 15 percent of its jobs and more than half of its exports. The hundreds of multinationals in Israel include Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta and Apple.
DISRUPTIONS IN SUPPLY CHAINS
In its annual report, IATI also said some multinational companies are examining the transfer of investments and activities to other countries.
“In some cases, companies that faced disruptions in supply chains found alternatives outside Israel during the war, and when these proved efficient, there is a risk that activity will not fully return,” said the report, issued at a meeting led by IATI CEO and President Karin Mayer Rubinstein.
At the same time, it added, there has been an increase in demand for relocation among senior executives and families, with more employees applying for positions outside Israel.
Still, the report noted that multinationals view the Israeli tech ecosystem through a long-term lens and many firms have thrived during the war.
TECH SECTOR ‘PROVES ITS RESILIENCE’
Some 57% of companies maintained stable business activities throughout the fighting, and 21% expanded their operations in Israel, “a figure that indicates continued confidence in local activity and the Israeli ecosystem even under conditions of uncertainty,” IATI said.
Another 22% of companies reported damage to business activity during the war, which began on October 7, 2023, triggered by Hamas’ raid on Israel, and ended two months ago following a U.S.-led ceasefire deal.
“Even during the difficult war, the Israeli high-tech industry, including the global companies operating in Israel, once again proved its resilience and its ability to lead in innovation and creativity,” said Rubinstein. “We work tirelessly to ensure that Israel continues to be an attractive hub for the activity of multinational companies.”
IATI noted that “without active steps by the state to create regulatory and geopolitical stability, there is concern about gradual erosion in the stability of the local ecosystem.”