When the Old and New Cities of Jerusalem were reunited in 1967, a recently
widowed Arab woman, who had been living in Old Jerusalem since 1948, wanted to
see once more the house in which she formerly lived. Now that the city was one,
she searched for and found her old home. She knocked on the door of the
apartment, and a Jewish widow came to the door and greeted her. The Arab woman
explained that she had lived there until 1948 and wanted to look around. She was
invited in and offered coffee. The Arab woman said, "When I lived here, I hid
some valuables. If they are still here, I will share them with you half and
half."
The Jewish woman refused. "If they belonged to you and are still here, they are
yours." After much discussion back and forth, they entered the bathroom,
loosened the floor planks, and found a hoard of gold coins. The Jewish woman
said, "I shall ask the government to let you keep them." She did and permission
was granted.
The two widows visited each other again and again, and one day the Arab woman
told her, "You know, in the 1948 fighting here, my husband and I were so
frightened that we ran away to escape. We grabbed our belongings, took the
children, and each fled separately. We had a three-month-old son. I thought my
husband had taken him, and he thought I had. Imagine our grief when we were
reunited in Old Jerusalem to find that neither of us had taken the child."
The Jewish woman turned pale, and asked the exact date. The Arab woman named the
date and the hour, and the Jewish widow told her: "My husband was one of the
Israeli troops that entered Jerusalem. He came into this house and found a baby
on the floor. He asked if he could keep the house and the baby, too. Permission
was granted."
At that moment, a twenty-year-old Israeli soldier in uniform walked into the
room, and the Jewish woman broke down in tears. "This is your son," she cried.
This is one of those incredible tales we hear. And the aftermath? The two women
liked each other so much that the Jewish widow asked the Arab mother: "Look, we
are both widows living alone. Our children are grown up. This house has brought
you luck. You have found your son, or our son. Why don't we live together?"
And they do.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please
authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances
dictate.
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