Sarah and and Zacharyah Zaeeri immigrated from Yemen in February, 1937. Yardenah was born in 1942 and approximately in 1947 she became ill and was sent to Hadassah Hospital in Tel Aviv. There she recovered, but because the father of the family was hospitalized with tuberculosis, the girl remained with the nurses in the hospital in order to help the family.

After a few months, she was transferred to a similar institution in Jerusalem (apparently Hadassah, but her brothers do not remember exactly.) During one of her hospital visits, the mother overheard one of the caregivers tell little Yardenah, “How come you are so light and pretty while your mom is so dark and ugly?”... Little Yardenah did not remain silent, “She is my mother, she is pretty, and I lover her.” The next time the mom came to the hospital, she was told she came in vain because her daughter had died. Sarah returned home in shamefaced mourning. The family did not share the bad news with the father so as not to worsen his condition.

One of the uncles went to get to the bottom of things. He was shown a mound of dirt in the Mount of Olives. Here she was buried, they told him. When they searched again, they were told that a road had already been paved over her little grave.

The dad died not too long after this, and the mother, Sarah, passed away in 2002. She never ceased until her dying day mentioning her daughter who had disappeared--dreaming about her, dreaming that she calls her name. A year ago one of the brothers dreamt that Yardenah entered through the doors of the house.

Eliahu Nafatli and Avner Zaeeri