Simha and Nahum emigrated from Iraq in 1951. They arrived in Israel with their two daughters who were born in Iraq; Simha was pregnant. A few months after their arrival to Israel their third daughter was born. At the time, they lived in Be’er Sheva. Simha got pregnant again with a fourth child. Shortly afterwards, the family moved from Be’er Sheva to Shvut transit camp in Beit Lid.
In 1953, or possibly at the end of 1952, Simha arrived at Meir Hospital in Petah Tikva to give birth. The family was joined by its first son. Simha breast-fed him a few times. She saw him. She recalled that he weighed more than three kilos, which is about six and a half pounds, that he had chubby cheeks, and that he was healthy and full of vitality. Two days after the birth, when she asked to leave with the child, the hospital told her, casually, that he fell out of the hands of the nurse while being bathed and died. When Nahum, her husband, arrived at hospital he also recieved the news.
Simha recalled that they showed her a something bundled up in rags, from afar, but nothing more. Both asked to see the baby but they were refused. Naturally, it was important for them to see a body. They wanted to bury their son. But they were told that this would be impossible and that he had already been buried. Simha’s sister, Shoshana, was a registered nurse and was sent by the family to search the records for a baby that died at that time in the hospital. She could not find any such record.
The family was presented with a certificate for neither birth nor death.
Nahum, who was an avid Zionist and who believed in the governed, did not want to deal with the issue any longer. However Simha told and re-told the story about her son throughout her life. She knew and understood that he was taken from her. Later with the aid of her children and grandchildren she tried to access the archives and the records from the hospital. She was told there are no archives from this period.
A few days before her death she held the hands of one her daughters and asked her, “you have a brother, don’t forget that, that is my request…”
A few days before her death she held the hands of one her daughters and asked her, “you have a brother, don’t forget that, that is my request…”