On the 8/12/1950 my mother, Sa’ada Manos, gave birth to twins, probably identical, after a normal pregnancy and normal birth at home. After the birth, a transit camp guide named Moshe (who was a member of the HaPoel HaMizrachi organization) insisted that she be taken to the Scottish Hospital in Tiberias. At the hospital, the twins were brought to my mother for first breastfeeding and looked healthy and vivacious.

For the second and third breastfeedings only one twin was brought, under the claim that the other twin was sick. When Massoud Manos, my father and the father of the twins, came to the hospital, he was told the twin was "sick".

On the third day, when the baby was still not brought for breastfeeding, the nurse warned Massoud that they wanted to take the child. She stressed that he was not sick and that they should not believe what was being said to them. Dad was distressed and demanded to see the child. He was told that the baby had been taken to a hospital in Haifa (probably Rambam). When he arrived there, he was told the twin had died and was buried in Afula. The twin's cause of death was not provided, and neither were his death certificate, proof of death or exact burial location. My father went to the cemetery in Afula but could not find the grave.

Sorrowful and in mourning, Massoud and Sa’ada returned to their home at the Parod (Farradiyya) transit camp. All they had on their hands was their missing son's birth certificate, under the name of Zechariah (perhaps the Hebrew word "zachar" - meaning male - was meant to be written there) Manos.

Right after the birth "Mr. Gordon", Massoud's foreman, came for a visit with a gift in his hand: basic equipment for the remaining twin. This generous act was exceptional, and not something he had done before. Mr. Gordon was a Holocaust survivor, married with no children. Neighbours told that for several days they heard baby's cries from his home. There were those who claimed that they saw the baby, and that he bears a striking resemblance to the Manos family remaining twin. After rumors on the matter started to spread, Mr. Gordon and his wife left the transit camp, never to be seen again.

Massoud and Sa’ada Manos were left with one twin and no answers or any information about the missing twin. An ID check with the Ministry of the Interior revealed his name was David Manos. My siblings and I have not given up on finding him and have been looking for him ever since.

Tami Ohayon