On My Mind: Rochel Szlapak, Africa's 'Yiddishe Mamme,' Dead at 90

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December 8, 1995

Nobody who has visited Kenya during the last decades will forget that lovely, warm Jewish lady, whom we all called the "Yiddishe Mamme of Africa," Rochel Szlapak. No Jewish visitor who came to the beautiful Nairobi synagogue escaped her attention; she always made sure Jewish visitors were looked after. I myself enjoyed real Jewish hospitality from that vivacious, ever-busy lady, who had emigrated from her native Poland in 1935 and made Kenya the home for herself and her family.

Whenever I came to Nairobi, Rochel Szlapak would immediately send me Kiddush wine, challot, gefilte fish and other goodies for Shabbat. I would always find her in the front seat of the ladies' section in the shul, and whenever I would deliver a drasha (Torah discourse) there, I could be sure of her appreciative comments afterwards.

Hers was an unusual life of hardship and accomplishment. Born in 1905 in Poland, she experienced Polish anti-Semitism at an early age. She once told me of a traumatic experience, which determined the course of her life. Once, traveling on a Polish train with her two small sons, a Pole seated in her train compartment suddenly got up, grabbed one of her sons, and was about to throw him out of the window, screaming, "I want there to be one less Jew in Poland!"

Rochel Szlapak put up a valiant fight to rescue her son from the grasp of the rabid anti-Semite. (That son today is a famous surgeon in England, specializing in organ transplants.) Right then and there she decided that Poland was not the place for her and her family. The Szlapaks decided to emigrate to Africa, and her husband Abraham went ahead to look for work. Soon the Szlapak family settled in Kenya, while another branch emigrated to Rhodesia -- today Zimbabwe.

A member of the latter family served as chazan and shochet near Livingstone Falls and was a fine Talmudic scholar. The family gave me some handwritten, scholarly rabbinical studies produced by him, recorded in Livingstone Falls -- probably the only Torah to come out of that part of Africa.

When Rochel arrived in Kenya and found that her husband was not making a living, she promptly started a brilliant business career of her own, which spanned 60 years. A secondhand clothing store provided her the income. By and by, the business grew, and she became known for her sharp business acumen. Eventually, she decided to invest all her income in the hotel business.

She developed her own jargon of local dialects -- especially Swahili, mixed with English and Yiddish. It was "Yiddishized Swahili," but everybody understood her expressive hand movements and gesticulations and called her "Mama" -- a very distinct title among Africans. (My own wife is also called "Mama" by the Kenyans whenever she visits Kenya, while I am called "Mzee" -- the old man, also a rare title.)

After the death of her husband, Rochel was the owner of the Fairview Hotel in Nairobi and the Manor Hotel in Mombasa, on the coast. Until the very last years of her life, Rochel would travel every week to look after her business in Mombasa, a trip that was strenuous because of the great difference in elevation between the two cities.

Rochel had a tremendous talent and vision for the real estate business. A friend once said: "Rochel loved property and had a passion for building and creating something out of nothing. She could look at a piece of land -- and while most of us would see dust --she would immediately envision flats, garden apartments and private dwellings." Only a week before her death, she approached a friend to buy "a shtickel (bit of) land" in the countryside, on the beautiful Lake Naivasha.

Even in her '80s she attended Hebrew classes and all the meetings of the Nairobi synagogue.

Her son Charles was for many years the rosh kahal (leader) of the Jewish community and played host together with his mother to countless Jewish visitors. She was especially proud of her daughter, who made aliyah to Israel and whom she visited from time to time. I met her in Israel on one of her visits there and noticed how much she kvelled at being in the Jewish land, far away from the arduous chores she was facing every day among the natives in the deepest Africa.

Her Jewish qualities were legendary. At her funeral in Nairobi, all eulogies stressed how much she epitomized the mitzvot of gemilut chasadim (acts of loving kindness) and hachnasat orchim (taking care of guests). She would always bring strangers into her house, especially for Shabbat meals. They were always surprised to find a Jewish home in the midst of Africa! She would visit the sick in hospitals. She was active with the Women's International Zionist Organization, and was always available for the local chevra kadisha (Jewish burial society).

She was really the soul of the small Jewish community in Kenya -- the undisputed matriarch in its midst. Her words of wisdom, her many stories of long-ago, were eagerly absorbed by all her listeners.

Until the last day of her life, she never complained of either personal sickness or other burdens. She radiated real, Jewish goodness, which inspired all those who came in contact with her. She will be sorely missed by all of us who were privileged to know this real "Yiddishe Mamme" in such an unlikely place as Kenya. May her memory be blessed.

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