When my adoptive mother told me at the age of 12.I was very apathetic - maybe I was in shock,. Maybe I did not understand exactly or was not able to digest the information. I loved my adoptive parents who were very good to me and loved me dearly.

My adoptive mother told me I was born in 1946, most probably at the Hadassah hospital in Tel Aviv. I was adopted at the age of three months from WIZO Tel Aviv. This I know for a fact, as they verified the situation of my (adoptive) parents. My parents were wealthy and had no children. I tried to open the adoption file three times. The social worker told me the first time that my mother went through sexual assault, the second time that she was divorced and the third time she asked “why do you want to know, why are you interested?” I told her it interested me, that I wanted to know my roots and who I am. What is my identity? Where did I come from? I wanted to know this very much. She would not give me any data and said my case was confidential and under no circumstances would she tell me anything. I remembered that some top pages in the file where new and underneath were some old pages.

I went to open the adoption file only after my adoptive parents passed away because I did not want to hurt them. I was very curious to know what my roots were and I was unsuccessful. I'm waiting to meet my family, I had everything except brothers and sisters, happiness, company, so I was lonely. I still feel that way. I experienced a lot of sadness as a result of my solitude. I always felt isolated. I used to hide in my room, so my parents won’t see me and cry.

Shlomi Hatuka

Photo: Li Eish