The management of Porto's Jewish community wished Sir Michael Kadoorie and his family a happy new year. At 83 years old, Sir Michael deserves good luck for everything he has done for the people of Asia and Jewish communities around the world. His children are today people dedicated to maintaining and honoring the family's economic and moral legacy.
Sir Michael Kadoorie maintains a sentimental connection to Porto's central synagogue because it was heavily funded and named in honor of his grandmother, Laura Mocatta, wife of philanthropist Sir Elly Kadoorie and grandmother to Michael Kadoorie, who died in 1929. She descended from Portuguese Jews who fled the Inquisition to Amsterdam and London.
When construction on Porto's synagogue stalled due to a lack of funds in the early 1930s, her sons provided a major financial donation to finish the project in her memory. The building was officially named the Kadoorie-Mekor Haim Synagogue to honor the family's contribution and roots.
Today, Sir Michael Kadoorie can be considered the Jewish most influential figure in East Asia, as he leads a multi-billion dollar business empire, cementing his status as a titan of Hong Kong and Shanghai. His grandfather, Sir Elly Kadoorie, and father, Lord Lawrence Kadoorie, built foundational utilities, real estate, and industrial networks across Shanghai and Hong Kong from the late 19th century onward. Lord Lawrence also played a trusted advisory role during negotiations leading up to the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China, keeping the family enterprise stable across major geopolitical shifts. The family funded agricultural rehabilitation for hundreds of thousands of Chinese refugees and supported the education and shelter of European Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust in Shanghai.
While the family originally transited or did business in Mumbai (Bombay) after leaving Baghdad, the primary historical apex of Jewish influence in India itself is more frequently attributed to their cousin David Sassoon, who dominated trade and civic development in Mumbai before the Kadoories shifted their main focus to Shanghai and Hong Kong.
