Flora Sassoon

Flora Sassoon (18 November 1859 – 14 January 1936) was a Jewish Indian businesswoman, scholar, Hebraist and philanthropist.

[1][2] Her father was Ezekiel Abraham Gubbay (1824–1896), a trader and businessman whom had come to India from Baghdad, Iraq, and her mother was Aziza Sassoon (1839–1897).

[7] An observant orthodox Jew, she always travelled with her own prayer quorum of ten Jewish male adults[8] and was a strong supporter of the Balfour Declaration and a staunch zionist.

[8] Whilst living in India, Sassoon was a supporter of Waldemar Haffkine (1860–1930),[10] who invented a vaccine against cholera, and encouraged reluctant Hindus and Muslims to take it.

[13] There were correspondences in writing between the family and Hakham Joseph Hayyim, the grand sage of Baghdad, revered for his piety and known also by his celebrated work, Ben Ish Hai.