Any resemblance to actual persons is not coincidental: the book Uri Tsafon uvo'i teman (1963) and the Yemenite children affair

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article introduces and explores a neglected historical source dealing with the Yemenite children affair: The book Uri tsafon uvo'i teman (“Awake, O north wind, and come thou south” [Song of Songs, 4,16]), published in Israel in 1963. The novel revolves around the adoption of a Yemenite baby girl by an Israeli woman and is openly based on the author's biography. Although the Yemenite children affair has caused a public uproar that has been unsettling Israeli society, the book has left no mark, and remains marginal or is completely missing from the research literature dealing with the Yemenite children affair. This article reveals the importance of this book for the affair's investigation, and shows that it reflects the early view of the establishment on this matter, according to which the established Israeli public rescued the babies and redeemed them, while being aware that this was clearly an immoral act that would never fade away and perhaps would never be forgiven.