Stranger than fiction.
Is it just me or does everyone think that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction?
This is a true story, out of the rubble of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.I first read it in Chicken Soup for the Soul, and even though it's a very old story it resonates today. We are so concerned with what divides us, sometimes we forget about the things that unite us.
So here it is...
When the old and new cities of Jerusalem were reunited in 1967 a rectly widowed Arab woman wanted to see the home she had fled from, during the war of 1948.
After searching the city, she knocked on the door of her old apartment. A Jewish widow came to the door.
The Arab woman explained that she had lived in the house until 1948, when the fighting broke out, she was invited inside and offered coffee.
The Arab woman told the Jewish woman, when I lived here, I had 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, they went into the bathroom, loosened the floor boards, and found a hoard of gold coins.
In the days that followed, the Arab widow visited again and again. Eventually, the Arab woman said ‘Do you know why I keep returning to you? In the 1948 fighting, my husband and I 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 our baby”.
The Jewish woman turned pale and asked the exact date. The Arab woman told her the date and the hour, 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 child too."
She explained that before then, they had been childless.
At that moment, a twenty year old Israeli soldier in uniform walked into the room, and the Jewish woman burst into tears, “This is your son” she said.
I love that story, and according to Chicken Soup, the two women shared the Jerusalem apartment to the end of their days.
This is a true story, out of the rubble of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.I first read it in Chicken Soup for the Soul, and even though it's a very old story it resonates today. We are so concerned with what divides us, sometimes we forget about the things that unite us.
So here it is...
When the old and new cities of Jerusalem were reunited in 1967 a rectly widowed Arab woman wanted to see the home she had fled from, during the war of 1948.
After searching the city, she knocked on the door of her old apartment. A Jewish widow came to the door.
The Arab woman explained that she had lived in the house until 1948, when the fighting broke out, she was invited inside and offered coffee.
The Arab woman told the Jewish woman, when I lived here, I had 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, they went into the bathroom, loosened the floor boards, and found a hoard of gold coins.
In the days that followed, the Arab widow visited again and again. Eventually, the Arab woman said ‘Do you know why I keep returning to you? In the 1948 fighting, my husband and I 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 our baby”.
The Jewish woman turned pale and asked the exact date. The Arab woman told her the date and the hour, 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 child too."
She explained that before then, they had been childless.
At that moment, a twenty year old Israeli soldier in uniform walked into the room, and the Jewish woman burst into tears, “This is your son” she said.
I love that story, and according to Chicken Soup, the two women shared the Jerusalem apartment to the end of their days.
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