Her father, Reuben David, was a hunter-turned-veterinarian, who founded the Kamala Nehru Zoological Garden and Balvatika near Kankaria lake in Ahmedabad.[5] Her mother, Sarah, was a school teacher.[6]
After her schooling in Ahmedabad, She was at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, as a student of Fine Arts and Art History. There she met Sankho Chaudhary, a sculptor, who taught her sculpture and Art History.[4] After her graduation she returned to Ahmedabad and started her career as a professor in art history and art appreciation. She taught at the Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Fine Arts College, CEPT University and NIFT.
She started writing about art and became the Times of India art critic, a national English daily. Later she became a columnist for Femina, a women's magazine, the "Times of India" and other leading national dallies. She is an advisory editor of Eve Times, Ahmedabad.[7] She has authored several books; and also been an editor and contributor.[8] Her books are related to Bene Israel Jews in Ahmedabad.[4]
The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) featured Shalom India Housing Society in the Hasassah-Brandeis 2010–2011 calendar, which highlights 12 Jewish women authors across the world whose "writing illuminates a particular city". The title of the calendar was Jewish Women Writers and the Cities that Influence Them.[9]
^Weil, Shalva (2008). "Esther David: The Bene Israel Novelist who Grew Up with a Tiger". In Shulman, David; Weil, Shalva (eds.). Karmic Passages: Israeli Scholarship on India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 232–253.
^Weil, Shalva (2012). "The Bene Israel Indian Jewish Family in Transnational Context". Journal of Comparative Family Studies. 43 (1): 71–80.
^Paniker, Shruti (14 February 2016). "Come, visit my city". Ahmedabad Mirror. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
^Roland, Joan (2009) [2002]. "The Contributions of the Jews of India". In Weil, Shalva (ed.). India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle (3rd ed.). Mumbai: Marg Publications.
^David, Esther (2009) [2002]. "Sari-Sutra: Bene Israel Costumes". In Weil, Shalva (ed.). India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle (3rd ed.). Mumbai: Marg Publications.
^ abcdefgh"Esther David Books". Archived from the original on 2 September 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2012. For a review, please refer to: Weil, Shalva. 2003 The Book of Esther by Esther David, reviewed in Biblio: A Review of Books, New Delhi: Manohar, p. 26.
^Weil, Shalva (2009) [2002]. "The Heritage and Legacy of Indian Jews". In Weil, Shalva (ed.). India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle (3rd ed.). Mumbai: Marg Publications. pp. 8–21.
Weil, Shalva (2009) [2002]. "Bene Israel Rites and Routine". In Weil, Shalva (ed.). India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle (3rd ed.). Mumbai: Marg Publications. pp. 78–89. Reprinted in Marg: A Magazine of The Arts, 54(2): 26–37.
Weil, Shalva (2011). "Bene Israel". In Baskin, Judith Baskin (ed.). Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 59.
