S/o My MIL was an Adopted Yemenite baby

↑ WhatFor ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 2:21 pm

amother Bluebonnet wrote:

This actually is close to home I have an uncle that was kidnapped when they arrived from Yemen around1948 at age 2.5. he wasn’t feeling well my grandparents took him to the hospital they told them they can’t stay with him. They came back the next day and were told he died. They kicked them out of the hospital. When he came of age 18 they received draft notices for him.

Did they ever find him?

↑ BaltoMom65

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 2:34 pm

banana123 wrote:

Okay, let's be clear. We are talking about a specific issue here: Parshat Yaldei Teiman. This is a specific, very embarrassing, very shameful, very wrong, chapter in the State of Israel's history.

We are not talking about Ireland or Catholics or single mothers here. That OP's MIL was born to a single mother is not related to the matter, it is not why she was removed from her mother's care or why her mother was told she was dead. It is a side point and perhaps should not have been mentioned at all, seeing that so many imas got caught on that side point and are missing the forest for the single tree.

In Parshat Yaldei Teiman, Yemenite infants were systematically taken from their families, who were told they were seriously ill or dying, or perhaps stillborn or already dead. They were taken because the Yemenite birth families were seen as "less-than" - they were brown-skinned AND religious freaks, and we want all Israeli children to be raised with Ashkenazi, left-wing, secular values.

This isn't the only instance of such racism in the early years of the State but it is one of the most shameful, and likely the most harmful and with the longest deep impact.

There is documentation to show that this was systematic and based in racism and the government has as much as admitted that its predecessors were guilty of this. There has not been an apology but some symbolic compensation has been promised.

It has nothing to do with any other country or instance of adoption, and certainly has nothing to do with single mothers being able to keep or raise their children.

You are welcome to look this section of history up, but it would be wise to have a bucket on hand when you do.

I am aware of the history, it just sounds like this PARTICULAR story of OP's mother-in-law is NOT this

↑ WhatFor ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 2:38 pm

amother Bluebonnet wrote:

Omg I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I asked, honestly. It's horrific all around, but somehow even worse (if anything can be) for a toddler who already knows their parents.

Would anyone consider DNA testing? If he or a child has questions and tests their DNA they might still find him or his children.

↑ banana123

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 2:42 pm

BaltoMom65 wrote:

I am aware of the history, it just sounds like this PARTICULAR story of OP's mother-in-law is NOT this

And I can't fathom why, because of a single detail, you would decide that OP's MIL was taken from her mother legitimately instead of as part of Parshat Yaldei Teiman.

If women were raped and mutilated at the Nova party on October 7, 2023, and one woman's daughter said her mother's Arab boyfriend, a coworker, raped her mother and then cut her up, would you say that it sounds like domestic violence instead of part of the larger preplanned rape and mutilation? Just because before the massacre he pretended to love her? Even though it happened during the massacre at the site of the massacre?

Why would you say that because a Yemenite woman was single, the baby was taken for a legitimate reason, if the infant was taken as part of Parshat Yaldei Teiman: same period, same location, same story told to the family, same transfer of the infant to an Ashkenazi couple who heard it was just a "nebach" case..?

There is no reason.

Yes. Most of the adopting couples were not told that they were adopting stolen babies. They were give Yemenite babies and told that the baby's birth family died, could not raise them, etc. etc. Those who asked - were told the families agreed to the adoption. Most didn't ask, they were told stories that made it seem obvious. Same for OP's MIL's adoptive parents.

The "nebach" was just part of the story told to the families. Families who largely, when they found out the truth, were horrified. Perhaps some families knew the truth. Most seem to have not.

amother

Hyacinth

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 2:59 pm

amother Bluebonnet wrote:

Is your mother in law darker looking than her adopted family
I sometimes see really dark ashkenazis and wonder…

This actually is close to home I have an uncle that was kidnapped when they arrived from Yemen around1948 at age 2.5. he wasn’t feeling well my grandparents took him to the hospital they told them they can’t stay with him. They came back the next day and were told he died. They kicked them out of the hospital. When he should have came of age 18 they received draft notices for him.

Our family had similar. Ashkenazi family. When that child turned 18, the family got a draft notice. We never found her.

↑ Mommy1:)

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 6:25 pm

WhatFor wrote:

And here's where I wonder if we're talking about the same story or if, so sadly, this happened way more times than any of us want to imagine.

Without a doubt it happened countless times. The reason why they made a fuss is because they realized what was going on after multiple families came home without a baby.

chanatron1000

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 10:09 pm

amother Quince wrote:

We are talking about an unmarried teenager who either voluntarily became pregnant or must have been very traumatized from rape. Could they trust her judgment? Do you think such a person is well positioned to care for a child? What if she wasn't willing to give up the child but had no current or future ability to take care of it either. What should they have done then?

You think the solution is to put her through the trauma of bereavement???

↑ WhatFor

Wed, Oct 23 2024, 4:14 am

amother Lightgreen wrote:

My grandfather was a twin who was stolen. There were 3 other kids in his family tht the same thing happened also. It’s very sad

He was stolen from his family? Did he find them? This is just so heartbreaking. On top of breaking a parent/child/sibling bond, they robbed him of his twin bond. Just beyond.

Also how did it happen to four kids from the same family? I'm not judging just trying to understand. Wouldn't a parent give birth at home if she knew they were stealing her baby? Or did she think that they were all passing away until they caught on?

amother

↑ Cinnamon

Wed, Oct 23 2024, 4:19 am

WhatFor wrote:

First, many did believe it until it started to arouse suspicion. Remember, in those years it wasn't uncommon for babies to die.
Second, it wasn't just at birth - if your child was very sick and needed medical attention, and at-home remedies weren't helping, you did the right thing and brought your child in. The kidnappings were not limited to births, they happened when the child was brought in for medical attention as well.
Third, "in his family" doesn't equal siblings, it could be a first cousin as well.