My dear mother IMMI Morati Farha bat Matana Tova and David Sasson Mordechai HaCohen AH was born in India January 1, 1927, passed away Sunday, April 19, 2020, and was buried here in Eretz Yisrael on Tuesday. She was the last surviving granddaughter of Hacham Shlomo Twena an outstanding student of Hacham Shimon Agassi ZT”L of Bagdad who became the Hacham of Calcutta, India. In my humble opinion the main highlights of her middot were:
Her mesirut nefesh. Which woman would allow her son to open a shul in her living room? This meant that for a good chunk of each day she was confined to her bedroom, the women’s section, waiting for the tefilla and shiurim to end. May the merit of all those tefillot stand for her in Gan Eden. (I realized that her grandfather Chacham Shlomo also had a shul in his house and she had experience of being there and experiencing it first hand.)
Which woman would agree to live in a house together with three sister-in-laws and their families? Which woman born into wealth and four or five servants who never washed clothes or cooked food or any other household tasks would follow her husband to a new cold land where she had to learn to cook and clean and wash clothes in cold water for the first years?
Which woman in those days would support her sons who chose to learn Torah at a time when it was not fashionable and commonplace. I remember how she insisted that we would not be sent to public school and how she would pay our tuition to go to Jewish Schools though on a tight budget.
Her Kibud Av Vaem was admirable. Her hitbatlut (giving in) to her fathers wishes to marry the man that he had picked out for her, my father Yechezkel Ezra Baruch ben Menashe AH. To forego a scholarship to Cambridge University with all expenses paid to obtain her PhD because of his concerns of the lack of Jewish amenities at that time.
Her kibbud of her mother Matana Tova bat Esther AH who she looked after and stayed in our house after my grandfather passed away and was our beloved grandma who would help mummy with her chores around the house and say tehillim in her spare time.
She was an excellent mother very strict and yet very loving to us all. She instilled in us values and morality.
Her Love of Torah and Hachameha: she especially loved the shiurim and sefarim of Harav Avigdor Miller AH and she went especially to Brooklyn New York to meet and get a bracha from.
Principled. Mum had strong moral principles and standards of behavior that she expected her family to follow.
Excellence. Mummy always strove to excel in all her undertakings. She was an exceptional student in school eventually earning a gold medal and an M.A. degree.
She was a good wife and a wonderful mother to her 5 children, instilling us with values and morals. Derech eretz, decent and moral behavior was expected from all of us. She encouraged us to do our homework and excel in school.
She loved Hashem with every fiber of her being. She yearned to be buried in Eretz Yisrael and many years ago acquired a plot for herself next to her sister in law on Har Hamenuchot in Jerusalem. I used to tell her: ‘Mummy, when I move to Israel please come and stay with me’ and her eyes would light up. I never imagined that this is how she would come to me.
She loved to go to shul and would make sure to be on time to be one of the first. She would grow and cut the yaas – hadassim for the havdala in the shul each week. She loved to tend her garden and grow her willows and myrtle bushes which grew to tremendous heights.
My mother taught me to value money, to live within ones means. She refused to apply for a credit card and hated the concept of borrowing money and spending money that did not belong to her.
She taught me to value education, scholarship and hard work, the values of morality and honesty, and our father of blessed memory always pushed us to get married and become independent.
May her memory be a blessing for all of Am Yisrael and her soul be bound up in the bond of life. Amen