Zahava Haenosh
05/28/1930 - 02/09/2025
Houston lost a legend this week when Zahava Haenosh, proud "Savta" to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, adoring mom, former Miss Jerusalem and famed author of How I Raised Almost Perfect Children, passed away at 94 on Sunday, February 9, 2025, surrounded by loved ones.
Zahava was born on May 28, 1930, in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel to Akiva and Hinda Pollack. She remembered her early childhood being "filled with music and laughter." Each family member had a talent, except Zahava who famously stated, "I play the audience;" a role she took seriously and continued until her very last days. She loved the arts and culture and was an avid supporter of the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Opera in the Heights, the Houston Holocaust Museum, the World Affairs Council, among a host of others. Her philanthropy was also felt widely through the Jewish community, where she was actively involved with the JCC Book Fair, Hadassah, Ben Gurioun University and the National Council of Jewish Women who honored her with the first "Faith and Humanity Award" for her valuable contributions to the Houston community.
Zahava served in the Haganah (which later evolved into the IDF) during Israel's War of Independence in 1948, was one of the first women in her family to go to college where she studied to be an Occupational Therapist (OT), and rejected the cultural constraints put on her by the era and her religion. She met her husband in 1950 after he survived the horrors of WWII, Holocaust survivor John Haenosh, when they were both working at Hadassah Hospital side by side. John was a respected and worldly trauma surgeon whose European upbringing impressed the young OT who had never left Israel. Her natural beauty and outgoing personality captured the heart of the young doctor and as they say, the rest is history.
That remarkable union in 1952 formed the next stage of Zahava's life which included the birth of their two daughters, international escapades, parties, and adventures across the globe. The family lived in Ethiopia, Israel, Eritrea, before moving to the United States, eventually settling down in Texas.
If you were in a room with Zahava Haenosh, you knew. She made a point to say hello, tell a joke, ask a question, and introduce herself. Despite her grandiosity, beauty, and charm, Zahava was warm, inclusive, and kind. And incredibly generous. She had a way of making you feel like you mattered, no matter who you were.
When her grandchildren were young and her daughters needed a sitter, Zahava would say, "Yes, bring the kids here," and never mentioned she had tickets for the opera that night. She simply missed the performance. No guilting. To Zahava, family always came first. And everyone felt it. You always felt loved around Zahava. And you laughed. It's impossible to think of Zahava without thinking about her smile, her humor, and her absolute adoration of life.
Her wisdom and zest for life carry over through to today and live on through her loving family and adoring friends. Her trademark life lessons were: "Have a positive attitude, a sense of humor, exercise, and wear lipstick!"
Zahava is survived by her two daughters and husbands, Dorit and Marty Aaron and Tali and Eric Blumrosen, by her beloved grandchildren, Margo Aaron, Haley Aaron, Kelli and Hunter Comiskey, and Will Blumrosen, and by her two uncontested favorites of the bunch, her great-grandchildren, Essie Aaron Platt and Mia Comiskey.
The memorial service will take place at 1:00 pm on Sunday, February 23, 2025, at Congregation Emanu El, 1500 Sunset Blvd., Houston, Texas 77005. The service will also be live-streamed at the following link: https://www.emanuelhouston.org/watch/barish-sanctuary/
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made either to Houston Holocaust Museum (www.hmh.org/give), Opera in the Heights (www.operaintheheights.org) or to Hadassah (www.hadassah.org/region/greater-southwest).