Maurice (Moussa) Wahba Z”L
Written by Moussa’s daughter, Rachel Wahba
“THERE IS SO MUCH I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU ABOUT MY FATHER but I only haver TWO MINUTES (I MAY TAKE three and a half)
MY DAD, MOUSSA MAURICE ELI WAHBA WAS A VERY PROUD EGYPTIAN JEW
My father would often proudly say that we were “real egyptinas” that the Wahba side of the family, his fathers’ side were there as peasants and farmers for thousands of years predating islam.
HE WAS ALSO AN EQUALLY PROUD JEW AND ZIONIST AND JOINED THE ZIONIST YOUTH PARTY IN HIS TWENTIES.
And he began to see something very ugly rise up in the 1930’S ANTI SEMITISM WAS ON THE RISE AGAIN IN EGYPT. And HITLER’S MEIN KAMP WAS translated into Arabic and quickly became A BESTSELLER IN CAIRO bookstores.
It was then he told me, “I saw the THE WRITING ON THE WALL. I knew it was OVER FOR EGYPT’S JEWS”
shortly thereafter, IN 1939, HE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEAVE FOR JAPAN AND WORK IN IMPORT EXPORT WITH HIS OLDER BROTHER. HE KNEW HE WAS SAYING GOODBYE FOREVER,,
it wasALMOST TWENTY YEARS BEFORE HIS ENTIRE FAMILY ON BOTH HIS MOTHER AND FATHERS SIDES WERE EXPELLED OUT OF EGYPT AND FORCED TO SIGN PAPERS PROMISING NEVER TO COME BACK.
WHEN HE WAS DYING 6 YEARS AGO, HE TOLD ME “DON’T FEEL SORRY FOR ME I HAD A WONDERFUL LIFE”
AND HE DID
HE FELL IN LOVE WITH MY MOM, THE WOMAN OF HIS DREAMS, HE HAD MANY ADVENTURES IN PRE AND POST WAR SHANGHAI AND INDIA AND JAPAN – AND HE HAD SO MANY STORIES. I HAVE TO SHARE JUST ONE OF THEM WITH YOU TONITE
WHEN WE WERE SETTLED IN JAPAN IN THE EARLY 1950’S
He GOT A LARGE ORDER TO MANUFACTURE MILITARY UNIFORMS FOR THE SAUDI GOVT.. WE WANT THEM “exactly like the American army uniforms”
THINKING VERY QUICKLY on his feet HE SAID
“I CAN make them EXACTLY SIMILAR”
HE GOT THE DEAL AND THEN HAD TO FIND THE SPACE AND MANY MANY SEWING MACHINES. AT THE TIME THERE WAS A MAN IN NAGOYA WHOM HE KNEW COULD GET HIM THE SEWING MACHINES THAT MAN WAS MR. TOYOTA WHO WENT ON TO BE THE MR. TOYOTA.
BACK THEN HE WAS JUST BEGINNING TO MAKE A THREE WHEEL VEHICLE WE CALLED “BATABATA” BEC. THAT EXACTLY THE SOUND IT MADE. AT ANY RATE, MR TOYOTA CAME THRU WITH THE FACTORY AND THE SEWING MACHINES AND THE SAUDIS Got THEIR “EXACTLY SIMILAR” UNIFORMS
When he was dying he told me besides having a wonderful family, threre was ONE project HE WAS MOST PROUD OF having accomplished before leaving japan –the synagogue was in crisis, its owner wanted to sell it and unless a large sum of money was raised it was a done deal.
My father convinced a group of five elder community members that it was possible to RAISE THE MONEY to keep SYNAGOGUE, a very unique MIXED SEFARDI ASHKENAZI SYNAGOGUE that had been operating since before the war INKOBE JAPAN “IT WAS A MIRACLE, BUT WE DID IT” HE SAID.
WHEN his kidneys shut down and it was clear it was time to leave his body, he lay down in his bed. First he wrote his last poem to who had died fifteen years earlier— he wrote her at least a poem a week,
He asked me to read this last one it back to him like I did all his poems
The spirit
Has neither obstacles
Nor borders
Crossing over mountains
Rivers and clouds
It even enters Heaven
Where I found you my rohi,
Like Paradise smiling, your eyes speak to me
Knowing my heart.
After a few breaths he said
“there is something I want you to remember: I
iTS VERY IMPORTant
As a child my
DAD taught me and my little brother to say the SHEMA EVERY NIGHT AS WE WENT TO SLEEP.it was comforting. Connecting, I loved it.
And then before he died he TOOK ME DEEPER INTO THE meaning of the Oneness we honor in Shema…
REMEMBER. HE SAID:
WE ARE ALL ONE
ALL THE SAME
IN DIFFERENT COSTUMES
All one
(and he began to listJ
THERE IS NO MALE OR FEMALE
NOBLACK NO WHITE
NO YOUNG /NO OLD
NO WELL /NO UNWELL
NO GAY /NO STRAIGHT
His eyes were closed, he could no longer open them
I want you to remember he repeated
WE ARE ALL ONE
Shema Israel I whispered, kissing my dad on his forehead the way he blessed me my whole life.
Shema Israel, he was teaching me again, the Shema.”
Egyptian Resources
