India, May 21 -- Chef Moshe Shek on Sunday stepped in to save one of Mumbai's oldest synagogues from bulldozers and alleged emergency repairs that lacked permission and had gone horribly wrong.

Describing the incident as very disturbing, Shek wrote to municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani on Monday, calling for immediate action against the alleged illegal activity at the Magen David Synagogue in Byculla, a Grade 2A heritage site belonging to the Baghdadi Jewish community. "This synagogue. has been a vital part of my life, and many other prominent Jews who once lived in Byculla but are now settled abroad."

For Shek, this battle is deeply personal. Raised in the street next to the synagogue, he was a part of very fabric of the city's Jew...