B"H
This accident took a very valuable group of people from Am Yisrael. Not only was this man and his family wealthy and well known, they were also people dedicated to Torah, mitzvot, and tziddaka.
This article mentions that he was one of the bidders for Channel 10 in Israel, but it doesn't mention why he didn't buy the station: Ovadia Yosef had told him not to because he would be participating in the desecration of Shabbat, as there are Jews working for the station on Shabbat. It was out of his religious dedication that Mr. Saba did not purchase the station.
The sad accident, which also took the life of his son and daughter-in-law, has orphaned the two-month old grandchild that the Saba's were so proud to welcome to their family, and occurred on the heals of a happy Simcha in New York last weekend which celebrated the engagement of his daughter.
May Hashm bring comfort to the family and friends of this dear family, may the grandchild they left behind be raised in Torah and Mitzvot and guided by the spirit of this family, and may the new couple proceed to the Chuppah with joy, knowing that their love for one another and their dedication to Hashm will stand in testament to the love and dedication the Sabas held for them and their future.
M
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Jan 12, 2010 0:29 | Updated Jan 12, 2010 0:47
Mogul Moises Saba dies in helicopter crash
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147868740&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Four members of one of the most prominent Mexican Jewish families were killed late Sunday in a helicopter crash on the outskirts of Mexico City.
Businessman Moisés Saba Masri, his wife, Adela Tuachi, son Albert and daughter-in-law Judith Casal along with the helicopter pilot, plunged to their deaths after the helicopter's rotor hit a building while flying in a dense fog. Local officials told Mexican media that the helicopter, an Agusta 109, exploded when it hit the ground.
Saba, 47, of Syrian Jewish extraction, was head of one of Mexico's wealthiest business clans, owning controlling interests in various Mexican telecom, real estate, pharmaceutical and other companies, together with two hotels in Acapulco. He was executive president of TV Azteca, the country's second-largest television company.
He was also well-known both at home and abroad as a generous contributor to Jewish and Israeli causes. The family are devoted members of the local Jewish community.
The helicopter had been making its way to the family's Mexico City home late Sunday from the nearby town of Toluca, where they had landed on Sunday afternoon after returning from New York. According to the Orthodox news Web site Yeshiva World News, the Sabas had spent the weekend in the SyrianJewish community in Brooklyn to attend a daughter's engagement party.
Saba was a major donor to the Israeli search-and-rescue organization ZAKA. In mid-2009, he held a fund-raising event for the organization in hishome that was attended by former US president Bill Clinton.
By Monday afternoon, a team of four ZAKA volunteers were on a plane to Mexico via the United States, to help recover as many of the victims' body parts as possible. According to Jewish law, burials must include as much of the original body as can be found.
For the ZAKA team, the death is a bitter irony. They were already slated to fly to Mexico City this coming Sunday to lead courses on disaster search-and-rescue for some 50 volunteers from theMexican Jewish community. The course was funded by Saba himself.
Saba "was an extremely generous supporter of the ZAKA organization since its inception," said Lydia Weitzman, a spokeswoman for the organization. "In the [past] 18 months, he became very active in supporting ZAKA's latest project, expanding its International Rescue Unit into regional centers and [Jewish] communities around the world.
"Mexico City is one such community. The unit he funded and trained is going to get him."
Saba was particularly well-known in the Sephardi Jewish world. One of the members of the ZAKA team is Rabbi David Yosef, son of Shas spiritual leader and former Sephardi chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who went as a representative of his father and the Shas movement.
On Monday, the elder Yosef ordered the local Jewish community not to conduct the funeral or burial of the Sabas until the ZAKA volunteers arrived. Yosef, along with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, are reportedly concerned that the local authorities will not take sufficient care in collecting the body parts from the crash site and burying each part in the correct grave.
In the wake of the crash, Mexican officials are examining the safety procedures that allowed the helicopter to take off from Toluca in conditions of poor visibility. The foothills west of Mexico City are particularly dangerous for helicopter flights due to frequent fog.
"There was not good visibility," according to Mexico City Civil Defense Secretary Elias Moreno. "The question is who authorized the flight."
No deaths or injuries were reported on the ground, even though Moreno said the craft sheared off a railing on the roof of a three-storyhome , then hit two parked cars and a tree before tumbling into a 20-meter-deep creek bed. The wreckage covered a radius of 60 meters in the pine-clad hills on the city's western edge.
"You could say it was a miracle, because this is a populated area," Moreno said. "Neighbors say the blast was so strong it shook their houses."
Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent condolences Monday to the family and to his country's Jewish community.
In 2007, Saba made an unsuccessful bid for a state-held stake in the country's largest airline, Aeromexico. In 2003, he held negotiations over entering into partnership in Israel's Channel 10, but never bought shares in the station.
AP and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.
Jan 12, 2010 0:29 | Updated Jan 12, 2010 0:47
Mogul Moises Saba dies in helicopter crash
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147868740&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Four members of one of the most prominent Mexican Jewish families were killed late Sunday in a helicopter crash on the outskirts of Mexico City.
Businessman Moisés Saba Masri, his wife, Adela Tuachi, son Albert and daughter-in-law Judith Casal along with the helicopter pilot, plunged to their deaths after the helicopter's rotor hit a building while flying in a dense fog. Local officials told Mexican media that the helicopter, an Agusta 109, exploded when it hit the ground.
Saba, 47, of Syrian Jewish extraction, was head of one of Mexico's wealthiest business clans, owning controlling interests in various Mexican telecom, real estate, pharmaceutical and other companies, together with two hotels in Acapulco. He was executive president of TV Azteca, the country's second-largest television company.
He was also well-known both at home and abroad as a generous contributor to Jewish and Israeli causes. The family are devoted members of the local Jewish community.
The helicopter had been making its way to the family's Mexico City home late Sunday from the nearby town of Toluca, where they had landed on Sunday afternoon after returning from New York. According to the Orthodox news Web site Yeshiva World News, the Sabas had spent the weekend in the SyrianJewish community in Brooklyn to attend a daughter's engagement party.
Saba was a major donor to the Israeli search-and-rescue organization ZAKA. In mid-2009, he held a fund-raising event for the organization in hishome that was attended by former US president Bill Clinton.
By Monday afternoon, a team of four ZAKA volunteers were on a plane to Mexico via the United States, to help recover as many of the victims' body parts as possible. According to Jewish law, burials must include as much of the original body as can be found.
For the ZAKA team, the death is a bitter irony. They were already slated to fly to Mexico City this coming Sunday to lead courses on disaster search-and-rescue for some 50 volunteers from theMexican Jewish community. The course was funded by Saba himself.
Saba "was an extremely generous supporter of the ZAKA organization since its inception," said Lydia Weitzman, a spokeswoman for the organization. "In the [past] 18 months, he became very active in supporting ZAKA's latest project, expanding its International Rescue Unit into regional centers and [Jewish] communities around the world.
"Mexico City is one such community. The unit he funded and trained is going to get him."
Saba was particularly well-known in the Sephardi Jewish world. One of the members of the ZAKA team is Rabbi David Yosef, son of Shas spiritual leader and former Sephardi chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who went as a representative of his father and the Shas movement.
On Monday, the elder Yosef ordered the local Jewish community not to conduct the funeral or burial of the Sabas until the ZAKA volunteers arrived. Yosef, along with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, are reportedly concerned that the local authorities will not take sufficient care in collecting the body parts from the crash site and burying each part in the correct grave.
In the wake of the crash, Mexican officials are examining the safety procedures that allowed the helicopter to take off from Toluca in conditions of poor visibility. The foothills west of Mexico City are particularly dangerous for helicopter flights due to frequent fog.
"There was not good visibility," according to Mexico City Civil Defense Secretary Elias Moreno. "The question is who authorized the flight."
No deaths or injuries were reported on the ground, even though Moreno said the craft sheared off a railing on the roof of a three-storyhome , then hit two parked cars and a tree before tumbling into a 20-meter-deep creek bed. The wreckage covered a radius of 60 meters in the pine-clad hills on the city's western edge.
"You could say it was a miracle, because this is a populated area," Moreno said. "Neighbors say the blast was so strong it shook their houses."
Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent condolences Monday to the family and to his country's Jewish community.
In 2007, Saba made an unsuccessful bid for a state-held stake in the country's largest airline, Aeromexico. In 2003, he held negotiations over entering into partnership in Israel's Channel 10, but never bought shares in the station.
AP and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.
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