Dear Guy, Benjamin and Family
It is an honour to receive such a prompt email from you! I was so anxious I could hardly sleep last night and later today I will tell my grandmother all that is going on. Your son is indeed VERY talented at the piano, and my Great Aunt Yvette, Chalom’s (Shalom and Charles for translation) daughter was very talented at the piano as well –In fact she can do and was known then for doing everything right, and today she is a very well-to-do psychiatrist.
I will ask my grandmother about dates, and my family has also their pictures online so I will send you those links. I do not have any trees, I apologize if I might have given the notion that I had researched my heritage that far, but looking at the Obadia chart with Shalomon and Rachelle LaBoze, I can give you some more information.
For the time being I do not have a marriage date, but it was well before 1936, but after the start to the 20s. Charles was talking to a woman he knew, when her purse fell and Rachelle LaBoze’s picture came out right-side-up. He asked this woman about her, and met Rachelle LaBoze –as far as my grandmother told me, it was love at first sight. Unfortunately, Rachelle couldn’t have children. Well, of course you know that since I am here she did, but here is some history about Rachelle, who was indeed an amazing woman.
Rachelle Laboze was the only surviving daughter of a very wealthy Jewish banker in Tangiers, Morocco. She was promised, by my Great-Great Grandmother Ester to be married to her uncle whose name I forget, and so she came to America. There, my great-grandmother had a hard time in Manhattan because she spoke only Spanish and Arabic. She was a rich girl smothered with love by her parents, but here she had to get used to the status quo. Anyhow, she got onboard the subway, and she was to get off to find a job at a certain spot. She sat next to a man who spoke Spanish, also, and they began a conversation. He went off, and Rachelle stayed on. Rachelle missed her stop as well, and with no food or anything, she spent the whole day on the subway. Then, at evening the same man who spoke Spanish got on board and talked with her. Rachelle said how she was afraid to get off and so the man said he would help her the next day. This is when my great-grandmother became the vigorous and talented beautiful woman that Charles Obadia married. She began to stand up for herself, and while she admired and liked her Uncle, they both knew she would be happier without being his wife and allowed to go to Morocco. When she took a ship back home, not too long before meeting and marrying Charles, Rachelle’s uncle tore up all the wedding papers as the ship left, and in Morocco their marriage was ended officially –but they both liked eachother, and in NY when they met with Rachelle’s whole family, they had a good time talking and remembering their nostalgia.
So that is my great-grandmother, an amazing woman who was the first woman driver in Morocco, who could sew all her clothes for herself and her family, who could cook like a French gourmet and a Moroccan who cooked the traditional meals in an open area next to the street. Well, she wasn’t going to settle for having no kids either. But before I continue, let me tell you about my great-grandfather Charles.
Charles Obadia left school to become a jeweler’s apprentice. He made his craft his life, and became very well known and famous in Morocco. One day, after being married for a long time, a man came into his shop. He was incognito and wished to purchase a ring. My great-grandfather asked him for payment and he said to see his father. And so it was; in a few days my great-grandfather was called before Sultan Mohammad V of All Morocco. My great-grandfather was scared, but came willingly. The Sultan said something along the lines of “I hear my son owes you money.” And I am told that at this moment a friendship began and my great-grandfather was called back many times to entertain and talk with the Sultan. Charles’s devout Jewish beliefs may be the reason why the Sultan protected Morocco’s Jews in WWII. The Sultan said to the nazi officer when he demanded to hand over all the Jews that “There are no Jews here, for we are all Moroccans.”
Well, in 1936, the once-thought impossible happened. Rachelle and Charles had a daughter. An heir to the LaBoze fortune, as the villa they lived in Casablanca was a wedding gift from the Laboze family. And so it was, that my Great Aunt who could do anything, like play the piano, was born: Yvette. And today she lives in New York and is one of the most amazing people that I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet!
In 1938, my grandmother Monique was born. I believe that my grandmother is the nicest person in the world. She has great talent in the arts, from sculpting to painting, as well as a vast chest of knowledge. She married in the 1950s my grandfather, Edward, who is perhaps the smartest person and most honorable person that I know. Visiting them as a child, as well as at my present age of 18, is one of the most incredible treats I have been given.
My Uncle Michel, the first son, owns a famous beauty salon in New York on 5th Avenue, and once I came to visit him. It was a very enjoyable trip, to see a relative whom I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing since the many thanksgivings of our youth. My uncle is so generous; he gave me his time, deep philosophy, and even $100. You see, when Michel and my grandmother Monique were growing up, they had this cousin who lived with them, Solomon (a spelling of that). I do not know where he is from, but he was so much older than them that they called him Uncle Solomon –I think he was an apprentice jeweler to my great-grandfather. Solomon used to give Michel and Monique money for movie tickets.
Michel was born in the early 40s. Shortly after WWII, Victoria was born and she is named Victoria because the Allies won; Victory. Victoria also lives in Manhattan like Uncle Michel, and while I’ve not seen her in a long time, I have spoken with her on the phone and she is very kind –and sounds a lot like my grandmother, Monique! The final child of Charles and Rachel is Marco, born in I believe 1948. I also have not seen Marco since I was little, but I am told that he is a doctor who also lives in New York. I really hope to meet or speak to my family sometime in the near future.
So, how did we all come to America? Well, my grandmother’s uncle Judah (Judd) was a table cloth salesman in a business, which was called Genic Export-Import Incorporated,
the company was jointly owned by 3 Obadias, Judd, Jonathan, and David. While Judd did the traveling to Japan and Europe every year,
Jonathan was the person who ran the business on a day to day basis, and David was the Treasurer.
In fact, he travelled all over the world selling table cloths. Jude came to Charles and Rachelle’s villa and asked to all the kids who wants to go to America? My grandmother said that she wanted to, and she came to America staying at her Uncle David and Aunt Violet and Jonathan and Irene’s house in New York. I am told that in New York, her Uncle David's children didn’t know French and my grandmother didn’t know English, but quickly my grandmother studied and learned the language. One day, she met my grandfather, Edward Aslan, and before my grandmother Monique went back to Morocco, he asked if she would like to go back to Morocco as Mrs. Monique Aslan. And so, they were married. As the years went by, and as politics changed in Morocco and opportunity grew in America, the rest of my family came over. A blessing for us all to be close by once again, and with all their children in America, Charles and Rachelle moved to New York. What an adventure!
Best,
Michael Flynn