Rachel Wahba
Encyclopedia
Rachel Wahba is a psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco and in Marin County. She is also a published author of several anthologies relating to being a Mizrahi/Sephardi Jew of Egypt
ian and Iraq
i parents and the indignities suffered by Jews who were forced into second class (dhimmi
) status in their homelands.
She has also published essays in psychonalytic approaches to work with women and lesbians. Born in Bombay, Wahba grew up Stateless in Japan where her family waited 20 years for immigration to the United States. She has written about her mother's traumatic experience during the Farhud
, the Arabic version of pogrom in Baghdad
in 1941.
Upon arriving in the U.S. Wahba was thrilled to find her brown skin color (unappreciated in Japan
as "curombo" /darky) a plus—in Los Angeles
, "where did you get your tan?" replaced hostile taunts in postwar Japan. However it was a revelation to
Wahba, who grew up in a multicultural community with a synagogue that represented Jews from all over the world to realize that most American Jews at that time in the 70's did not understand that a Jew could be Middle Eastern/ African and be a Jew. Everything Jewish was defined by the Ashkenazi experience. The Eastern Jew did not exist except in the Torah.
Wahba remains an activist teaching that Jews are a multicultural people, that Yiddish was only one of many "jewish" languages and dialects including Judeo Arabic and Ladino and "jewish food" is equally international.
Wahba serves on the Advisory Board of JIMENA
(Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. Rachel's father, Maurice Wahba, was born in Egypt and lived in Mansoura and Cairo, Egypt until he left Egypt in 1939.
Rachel Wahba is also co-founder with her former partner Judy Dlugacz of Olivia (company)
Travel, a lesbian travel and resort company.
Rachel currently lives in Marin county with her daughter Tiffany Wagner and granddaughter Rebecca.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i parents and the indignities suffered by Jews who were forced into second class (dhimmi
Dhimmi
A , is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law. Linguistically, the word means "one whose responsibility has been taken". This has to be understood in the context of the definition of state in Islam...
) status in their homelands.
She has also published essays in psychonalytic approaches to work with women and lesbians. Born in Bombay, Wahba grew up Stateless in Japan where her family waited 20 years for immigration to the United States. She has written about her mother's traumatic experience during the Farhud
Farhud
Farhud refers to the pogrom or "violent dispossession" carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq, on June 1-2, 1941 during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. The riots occurred in a power vacuum following the collapse of the pro-Nazi government of Rashid Ali while the city was in a...
, the Arabic version of pogrom in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
in 1941.
Upon arriving in the U.S. Wahba was thrilled to find her brown skin color (unappreciated in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as "curombo" /darky) a plus—in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, "where did you get your tan?" replaced hostile taunts in postwar Japan. However it was a revelation to
Wahba, who grew up in a multicultural community with a synagogue that represented Jews from all over the world to realize that most American Jews at that time in the 70's did not understand that a Jew could be Middle Eastern/ African and be a Jew. Everything Jewish was defined by the Ashkenazi experience. The Eastern Jew did not exist except in the Torah.
Wahba remains an activist teaching that Jews are a multicultural people, that Yiddish was only one of many "jewish" languages and dialects including Judeo Arabic and Ladino and "jewish food" is equally international.
Wahba serves on the Advisory Board of JIMENA
Jimena
JIMENA seeks to educate and advocate for Jewish refugees from the Middle East.Prior to 1948, approximately 950,000 Jews lived in Muslim countries of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf.-Historical background:The Jewish exodus from Arab lands in the 20th century was a result of the...
(Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. Rachel's father, Maurice Wahba, was born in Egypt and lived in Mansoura and Cairo, Egypt until he left Egypt in 1939.
Rachel Wahba is also co-founder with her former partner Judy Dlugacz of Olivia (company)
Olivia (company)
Olivia is a travel company which sells cruises and resort vacations marketed towards lesbian customers. It was founded by Judy Dlugacz in 1973 as a women’s record label, Olivia Records. It offered its first all-woman cruise in 1990 and remains the only company in the world offering cruises catering...
Travel, a lesbian travel and resort company.
Rachel currently lives in Marin county with her daughter Tiffany Wagner and granddaughter Rebecca.