| Mousa M. Cohen
 
1979 1979 2004
To give appropriate respect to the history of my grand father (Baba Moussa), it would take more than a 100 pages and chapters of text. But, in the past two months, I have consolidated the highlight of his life into this passage in the hopes of shedding some light on this man's great heritage and history.
My grand father A"H Mousa Moshe Cohen was born in 7-06-1911 in Kashan, Persia. We call him (Baba Mousa) which means in English (daddy Mousa). He was like a father to all his grand kids and all people who knew him. He was the first born son of six brothers and sisters. His family migrated to Kashan, Persia during the Spanish inquisition fleeing from the persecution of Queen Isabella of Spain.
They chose Kashan because the weather and the climate were the same as Spain. In their native kashi language you can still recognize the Spanish accent which has survived. Although this only goes back 500 years, my grand father was a Cohen and he can be traced back to Aaron A"H who was the Prophet Moses' A"H older brother 3300 years ago.
He fell in love in high school with his future wife and after 3 year courting he married his high school sweetheart, my grandmother, Khorshid Noorani (literal English translation would be= The bright sun ) at his age of 22. He was such a well rounded man that my Grandmother was smitten by him. She explained many times that she would write on the walls in her parent's home and on the trees (Khorshid loves Mousa). I know my grandfather was madly in love with her too, a whimsical relationship which was extraordinary to their conservative.
He studied accounting in the Accountants Institute in Kashan. He spoke Farsi naturally, learned French and Hebrew through personal study and also attended school to get a better understanding of the English language. Communication meant everything to him.
He always wanted to help people, his community and his town. Citizens would come to him for advice, or if they had any problem at all. People always spoke of the sense of peace that they gained after sitting and speaking with Moussa Cohen. This placed him in a special category within the community and also the heart's of all the people. He would specifically be an arbitrary voice in marital problem with families. He always made sure a fair resolution was made by couples.
He himself was married for 57 years and in 1988 when my grandmother A"H passed on, he was saddened, and you could see it on his face all the time. It only seemed appropriate to speak about my grandmother because without her presence his bio would only be half complete. They were always one cohesive unit which radiated their surroundings with the love they shared. He not only loved her to the end of her life but also spoke of her till the end of his own life. It would almost seem a half of his life is missing if her bio was left out of his bio. They were one magical cohesive unit.
After WWII, the family moved to Tehran,(Persia) Iran in 1947. His daughters could attend the college and university in Tehran. And after the revolution in Iran, they finally moved to the United States in 1979 for economical, political, and personal reasons.
His memory served him well enough to remember all of these things up to the last week he was alive. Light tremors and diabetes did not serve him well the last years of his life but he never complained. Even though my grandfather was also hard of hearing the last three months of his life, he refused to wear hearing aids. A hard working man, he worked till 1997 with me his second grandson Kambiz Merabi.
The last week of his life he was bed bound with fatigue. The last day of his life went as follows: he had breakfast and my aunt visited him in the morning.Then at 12:18 PM asked for some seltzer water from his caretaker. After approximately 20 to 25 minutes the maid returned to check on him. She noticed he had shortness of breath. She contacted 911 and my aunt , my parents . But suddenly, on Friday the 26th of November, 2004, at 12:46 PM, Baba Mousa Moshe Cohen A"H took his last breath and left this earth, life, and his family to embark on a new journey.
Baba Mousa has left four daughters, nine grandsons, two granddaughters, eleven great grandsons, twelve great granddaughters.
Father, Rahman 76
Mother, Kokab75
Wife, Khorshid Noorani 6-12-1916 to 1-2-88
Daughters according to oldest to the youngest:
Monier, Mahin, Keyian, Pari
The memorial ceremony transcript.
Click the below links to read the transcript.
Kambiz. Merabi's Speech
Pedram E. Doustan's Speech
Adena A. Merabi's Speech
Baback A. Lahijani's Speech
Other Speakers:
Rabbi Azrakhian
Speaker Mr. Omidvar
Poet Mr. Nazarian
Professor Mr.Hakeymeian
Teacher , comiuionity leader Mrs.Parvaneh Saraf
See my grandfather's handwriting in Hebrew,
written in
2000. (Opens in a new window)
1979 1979 2004 |
