Code: Alfassa means "one from Fes"

From Sephardic Jew to Hindu Guru How a Proselytized Secular Jew Became a Hindu Spiritual Leader By Shelomo Alfassa (a distant relative) September 2006

Mirra Alfassa (1878-1973), later known to some of her followers as "The Mother" is considered a Hindu spiritual leader by a large group of followers in India. In this essay, I will explain the history of this distant relative of mine. I will explain that she was a Jew, a lost Jew. Mirra was born in Paris on Thursday, February 21, 1878 at about 1015 in the morning. Mirra was the third child of her parents, Maurice Alfassa, born 1843 at Adrianople [modern Edirne] and Mathilde Ismaloun, born 1857 at Alexandria, Egypt, both locations that were then part of the Ottoman Empire. At some point Maurice traveled from Adrianople to Egypt. There he met his wife and in 1876 they had a son named Matteo at Alexandria. During the period, it as not uncommon for Sephardic Jews to holiday in Alexandria which was an Egyptian gem. The relationship between Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire and France lends itself to the educational institution known as the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) which brought the modern French educational system to Jewish children throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. After many of the families learned French, it was not uncommon for some to migrate to France and other French speaking locations...

Yes, Turkey was an Islamic country, but it had hundreds of thousands of Spanish Jews living there. Alfassa is a Sephardic Jewish surname, something they obviously do not realize or maybe do not want to admit. The idea that she is related to Egyptian pharaohs is preposterous and probably perpetuated as a way to make her ancestry more appealing to her cult followers. Research will show the investigator that the relation to "Egyptian pharaohs" comes from a story Mirra told her mother while on a trip to Italy at age 15 in 1893.

Alfassa means "one from Fes" (as in the city of Fes in modern Morocco) however it is obvious these people do not know this. Many Jews with the name Alfassa, DeFes or Alfasi lived in Turkey, specifically Adrianople. A common ancestor and one of the most important rabbis in Jewish history was Isak Alfassi (known as the RIF) came from Fes and moved to Spain in the 11th century. Alfassi/Alfassa surnames can be found in Spain since that time. With the bloody carnage thrust upon the Jews in Spain by members of the Catholic Church in the 14th and 15th century, thousands of Jews fled to Turkey, later, hundreds of thousands were forced out in 1492 and also went there.

Her father Maurice was said to have been, "born in Adrianople" which was in Turkey. This is logical, as there was a large group of Alfassas' living in Adrianople in the early 20th century. The story of having roots in both oriental and occidental countries is often exploited by her followers to make her sound more interesting. I guess they can't accept the account that she was born Jewish, with plain Jewish roots. Her followers continue with their propaganda saying she was born into a, "family of mixed race and religion and nationality." This is pure fabrication. Again, she was born a Jew to Jewish parents who were Ottoman citizens. Mirra Alfassa's grandparents were Mirra Pinto and Matteo Ismaloun who married in Ottoman Alexandria. Mirra Pinto (daughter of Saïd Pinto) was born in Ottoman Cairo. Pinto is a Sephardic name, a name Spanish & Portuguese Jews brought with them from Iberia in the 15th century to the Ottoman Empire. It is an old surname, from Castile. In the Sephardic Jewish tradition of naming children after the living, both Mirra and her brother have first names which were their grandparents...

Mirra's lack of Judaism at home sent her searching for something. In 1899 at the age of 21 she was proselytized by a Hindu, "I met a man, an Indian... who told me about the Gita... He gave me the key... The man said, 'Read the Gita, and take Krishna as the symbol of the immanent Divine, the inner Divine.'" Like most sincere converts, she jumped into her newly found religion with full zeal. Her story is no different than other apostates who because of a lack of knowledge of their own religion became idol worshipers...So what do I make of all of this, well, not that much. I had a great-great-aunt whom was sadly lost due to assimilation. She was proselytized and led off by new age Hindu thought which was popular in the early 20th century among some in the French intellectual circles. She had lost her ancestry, her religion, her culture and her roots. She marginalized herself from her family, and today has a following for she is still thought of in the Hindu world as a spiritual leader. Today this woman is worshipped by thousands in India. Imagine what a woman like this could have done if she directed her energies towards her own faith and culture. RETURN HOME