Shimon - "Shimoniko" - as my mother called him, was born in July 1959 at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, a bright-skinned and beautiful child with blue eyes. A few days after the birth my mother was told that he died. She asked to see his body. After she insisted she was led to a nearby building where she was shown a body. My mother was surprised: the dead baby did not look like her son, and was dark-skinned. The nurse and the doctor, who heard my mother’s complaints about this, spoke to each other in German, and afterwards the doctor replied to her that that's what happens after you die ...

My mother talked about my brother for many years. "If someone appears at the door one day - Know it’ll be Shimoniko." This is what she said and how she talked about him all her life.

After the birth of my daughter she insisted that we look at the girl again and again until we are able to identify her with our eyes closed ...