Abram Haim Mavashev

From the memories of children Avram-Haim and Rivka (Nissim) Mavashev.

In the year of 1905, by a twist of fate our father, Avram-Haim Mavashev, found himself in Israel, in the city of Jerusalem, on a plot of land bought by his parents, Shlomo and One Mavashev a new house was being built. The family of Shlomo and One lived in the City of Bukhara. They had five children: Abo, Yael, Avram-Haim, Itzhak-Haim, Leo, Adino (Adino, the foster daughter of our parents) (see page 31).

Our father, Avram-Haim Mavashev was the third child in Shlomo and One Mavashev’s family. Brothers, Itzhak Haim and Avram-Haim were father’s first business assistants. Both of them received a good education that allowed them to follow in father’s footsteps and become merchants and businessmen. They acted as middlemen in the textile trade between the cities of Bukhara, Moscow and Orekhovo-Zuyevo.

Due to the bankruptcy of their business, the local authorities seized half of the house in Bukhara and put both brothers Itzhak-Haim and Avram-Haim in prison for debts. In 1912, One, mother of Avram-Haim, went to live in Jerusalem where they had a house. It coincided with the Total Confiscation of Private Property declared by the revolutionary associates of the new Soviet power at the beginning of the 20th Century.

The Mavashev family home in Jerusalem was sold in 1990.

For the first time Avram-Haim arrived in Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) in 1901, after the death of his first wife, who died while giving birth to their first child. Unfortunately, it was not possible to save the baby either.
During his stay in Eretz Yisrael, Avram-Haim, by his parent’s insistence, watched over the construction of a new house in Jerusalem, in the Shkhunat-Ha-Bukhari (Bukharian Quarter) built-up in 1894 by the Bukharian Jews, who arrived mainly from Bukhara. This trip turned out to be crucial for the whole Mavashev family. In Eretz Yisrael, Avram-Haim met a girl, Rivka, a Spanish Jew, daughter of Hacham Mordechai Nissim. He fell in love with her and decided with the help of his uncle to ask her father for her hand in marriage. The daughter of Hacham Mordechai Nissim, Rivka Nissim married Avram-Haim Mavashev on August 14, 1905. After the marriage held in Jerusalem they went to Bukhara.

During their marriage they had 12 children from whom only 8 survived; Freho, David, Abo, Tamara, Sara, Shmuel, Rafael, Mariya. Despite her young age, she was 14 years old at that time; it was not easy for Rivka (Nissim) Mavashev to adapt to the new surroundings and traditions. Without knowing the language and most importantly, local customs, it was very difficult. After moving to Bukhara, she never had a chance to visit her homeland and see her relatives. She dreamed of coming back to the place of her childhood, her parents’ house and breathes the familiar scent of roses, which she missed so much.

Rivka was kind-hearted and sympathetic by nature, a wonderful housewife and a good- natured person. She was always clean and neatly dressed, brought up in the spirit of traditions of that time. For many women she was an example of good manners and upbringing, a diligent and responsible person. Rivka always thought it was her duty to help people in need, the poor and hungry. Her contemporaries, those who knew or met this beautiful woman rose to their feet to show their deep respect and blessed her for good deeds and thanked God for giving them a chance to meet her.
In 1930-1932 Avram-Haim was detained on numerous occasions by the local authorities and all his property ended up being seized in favor of the new Soviet state. In 1932, One, mother of Avram-Haim, in her letter advised him to move with his family to their house in Jerusalem.

In 1933, to escape from persecution, having understood that the authorities will never leave him alone, Avram-Haim was forced to flee to Eretz Yisrael alone, to join his mother. He promised his wife Rivka and children to take them out from Bukhara as soon as he manages to get over to Eretz Yisrael. Having safely reached Iran, he sends a guide to Bukhara to help his family to cross the border. Upon the arrival the guide told Rivka to prepare for the trip abroad. But the eldest son David, having weighed all the pros and cons, refused to go. In 1933, the attempt to illegally cross the border was punishable by execution and it was fatally dangerous to run such a risk. David together with his brother Abo was already working in the field of school education. After all the hardships life was finally beginning to mend and mother Rivka refused to leave without children.

The wish to reunite with the family was never got fulfilled. Temporary separation turned out to be eternal. Avram-Haim left (fled) abroad in 1933, but due to the absence of a Visa he only arrived in Eretz Yisrael in 1934. Tragically he did not find his mother alive; she had died a month before his arrival.

The fate of Avram-Haim and Rivka (Nissim) Mavashev is tragic. Mother Rivka (Nissim) Mavashev was born in Eretz Yisrael but remained in the foreign land, without the knowledge of local language and traditions, alone with eight children and died in 1940 at the age of 48 of Septicemia after tooth extraction. As for father, Avram-Haim Mavashev, he was orphaned, deprived of seeing his wife and children. He perished in Jerusalem on his way to synagogue from a terrorist bullet in the morning of September 1, 1951 at the age of 67.

Imagine how difficult it was for us, their children, throughout our entire lives, to be orphans while our father was alive, to conceal the reason for our father’s absence, to fill out numerous questionnaires and mark “no” in response to the question: “Do you have relatives abroad?” and to write “father is absent” in the “parents” column (in the Soviet state, people with relatives abroad were persecuted).

1927 sister Rivko bat Murduchay

АJerusalem. Abrahaim at a family wedding.брахаим на свадьбе (2)

1910 Ded Abraum and brozer Ari 2

Rivka Nissim Mavashev

10 years ago, in 2014, thanks to the Eran Azrieli family and the Shmuel Mavashev family, a branch of Rivka Nissim, the mother of the large family of Abram Haim Mavashev, was found. Every family member dreamed about this for many years, but unfortunately not everyone lived to see this day. Rivka Nissim’s relatives also want to know about her family, which ended up in Uzbekistan. Ironically, the Rivka Nissim family was cut off from their relatives in Israel as a result of the tragic events at the beginning of the last century. This short film tells about the fate of Rivka Nissim as the wife of Abram Haim Mavashev and her children. Nikolay Gulkarov