In 1956 my sister, Sarah Orah Bukhris, had a wound in her mouth and grandma took her to the medical clinic to Dr. Yuzri. He admitted her to Poriya hospital in Tiberias where she was hospitalized for 22 days, and then they announced the girl had died. They asked for the boy, and told him she was dead. The years passed and we started getting draft orders for her, military police looking for deserters came to our home. My father told them - bring her to me I’ll have her drafted. All these years we didn’t talk about it and on my Groom’s Sabbath (celebration after a wedding) my mother was crying. I asked her what she was crying about, she said what about the girl? I swear to you I know she’s still alive!

I was at the Ministry of Interior office in Afula and a good friend found me certificates in which my sister doesn’t appear at all! So how did we get a draft order? I went to Poriya hospital and managed to find two documents about her hospitalization, and at the bottom was a signature of Dr. Levin. I spoke to his wife who was still alive, and she swore they weren’t in the country and also that he would always sign by hand and not with a typewriter, as the documents were signed. I made a fuss until the details were found.

We never received a death certificate and no burial license was found anywhere. I went to Riki Dvash, the person responsible for freedom of information at the Ministry of Interior. I was issued a death certificate five years ago. They issued me a medical confidentiality (permit) regarding the deceased that covered all the details about her in the state archive according to article 31 of the law. I got to the state archive and found the file, but there’s a problem: inside the file there’s a different file.

Yossef Ben Maas