Maurice (Mo) Schneider was born in Warsaw in 1936. When he was six months old his parents had the foresight to use two tickets for passage to Nairobi that his uncle, who was the rabbi there, had sent. (His mother’s remaining eight brothers, sisters and their families perished in the ghetto.) 

Maurice delighted his children and grandchildren with stories about his days in Kenya as a child. When he was nine years old the family returned to Europe to see who had survived, and eventually settled in London.

Maurice opened the first Middle Eastern restaurant in the UK – The Tsabar Felafel House in Belsize Park, which he sold in 1979.

Before making aliyah in 1986 with his wife Susan and his two youngest sons, he retrained to become an electrical engineer. Upon arrival in Israel he worked in the Hadassah Dental School servicing the dental equipment, and subsequently set up his own business supplying and installing dental equipment for private dental practices.

He also gave a cookery workshop and wrote a cookery advice column for The Jerusalem Post, as he was a magnificent (but very modest) cook.

For more than ten years, once or twice a week from 8 am until 8 pm, Maurice was a dedicated volunteer for Yad Sarah, driving the mobile dental unit and helping with the equipment where necessary. Very few people even knew he did this work but he was completely committed to it and did his utmost never to let anyone down.

Mo always helped with the ESRA meetings we had in Jerusalem and helped Shalom Brenner set up the Aquaponics project which was an ESRA initiative at the Beit Hatzayar school in Jerusalem.

He was a man brimming with humor, love, generosity and hospitality and is sorely missed by his wife, his six children, daughters-in law, son-in-law, fourteen grandchildren, family and friends. His wonderful legacy remains with us and he will be in our hearts forever.

Susan Schneider