“I’m Jewish. I Was Kidnapped as a Child”: A Rabbi’s Sukkot Encounter That Changed Everything

“ ‘Rabbi of the Jews, I need your help.' That cry, and especially the accent ringing in it, froze my blood,” begins Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman, the chief rabbi of Migdal HaEmek, as he recounts the story.

“At the time I was a young kollel student. One of the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I went out as I did every year to fulfill the mitzvah of building a sukkah. I walked near my home to a grove of trees close to the village of Zarzir, hoping to gather fallen branches to provide shade for the sukkah. That shout changed my plans.”

A Startling Encounter

“Before me stood a teenage boy, a Bedouin, with eyes burning with a strange and unsettling purity. He was eager to speak. Without any introduction, he poured out the facts in broken Hebrew. From his words I understood the following: ‘I have something to tell the rabbi. I am Jewish. I was kidnapped. Take me back to my parents and to my people.’”

“To be honest, I was not inclined to believe him. It sounded too terrible to be true. But he insisted, and his words were accompanied by heartrending tears.”

The Boy’s Claim

“His name was Abdallah, and he claimed to have evidence. ‘Once I peeked at the ID card of the Arab woman who pretends to be my mother,’ he told me, ‘and I saw the year she was born. She was too young. She could not be my mother.’ Still, I was not convinced.”

“Then he burst into bitter sobs and said, ‘I did not invent this, Rabbi. The school janitor told me in secret. He said I am a kidnapped Jew.’”

“At that moment, there was little I could do. I gave him my contact details and my home address. ‘Come to me on Sukkot,’ I told him, ‘and we will see what can be done.’ I assumed that would be the end of it.”

“But to my surprise, on Chol HaMoed he knocked on my door and repeated his story.”

A Story Goes Public

“By Divine providence, my friend, the veteran journalist Emmanuel Elnekaveh, happened to be sitting in my sukkah at the time. The next day he published the story, along with a photograph of the boy.”

“The publication, to put it mildly, also placed me on a list of people suspected of smuggling a child.”

The Knock Before Dawn

“The morning after the article appeared, before dawn, I heard loud pounding on the door of the sukkah. I leapt from my bed and rushed to open it. Standing outside was an entire family from Moshav Tirosh.”

“They had no need for introductions. ‘We saw the picture,’ the father shouted with emotion. ‘That is our child. We have identifying marks.’”

“At that moment, Abdallah was sleeping peacefully in the adjacent sukkah. The verse from King David echoed powerfully in my mind: ‘For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but Hashem will gather me in’ (Tehillim 27:10).”

“Thanks to my journalist friend, the boy had gained public exposure, and a great Kiddush Hashem was created.”

An Unmistakable Sign

“We waited for Abdallah to awaken. In the meantime, the head of the family told me their story. This was during the years before the establishment of the State. They had a young, beautiful child. One day he left home and never returned.”

“Weeks of searching, followed by years of hope, brought no results.”

“An elderly woman sitting to the side suddenly spoke up with great emotion. ‘I have no doubt it is him,’ she said. The family explained that she was the child’s midwife. She continued, ‘When he was born, he underwent surgery. He has a large scar on his back. It is impossible to hide.’”

The Moment of Truth

“After a few moments, Abdallah walked into the sukkah. The father did not hesitate. He lifted the boy’s shirt.”

“The sight of the prominent scar on his back chills me to this day. The moments that followed that long-awaited reunion are impossible to describe. Above all else, there were tears.”

Fear, Faith, and Confirmation

“By that same morning, I had already received a stern warning from the local police commander, who came to my home personally. ‘The Bedouins are furious,’ he said. Security was assigned to me.”

“Abdallah was sent for genetic testing. In the meantime, I hurried to contact the Bedouin clan, apologized sincerely, and explained the situation. ‘Tomorrow the results will arrive,’ we agreed. ‘Then we will see who is right.’”

“With pounding hearts, we opened the envelope.”

A Soul Returns Home

“ ‘Ovadia ben Yisrael has returned to the embrace of the Jewish people,’” the rabbi concludes his moving account.

Courtesy of the Dirshu website, from the Likutei Shmuel bulletin