For years I searched only in France because grandfather had been interned at Camp de Gurs and deported from Drancy to Auschwitz. In 2002 a file was found in the Archives Departementales de les Pyrenees Atlantiques at Pau, which showed that grandfather had lived at 1, Rue de la Tourelle, in Etterbeek⁶, Bruxelles, between 1939 – 1940, where he was arrested for the FIRST time. He was arrested 3 times in all.

G-d said to look for the family book where grandfather was FIRST arrested!

My grandfather worked as a fur dealer in Etterbeek and must have had dealings with a bank. Of the 3 banks in Etterbeek, we had to discover which one he dealt with.

Since our older son’s marriage in July this year I had his picture with his wife on the monitor of my computer. One day I felt prompted to place a picture made by the space Hubble on the monitor --- it is a nebula called “Eye of G-d”, for it looks exactly like a giant eye out there in space.

That same day I also checked the 3 banks in Etterbeek. The web site URLs of the first two banks did not work. When I clicked on the URL of Bank Degroof, this image came up --- nothing but an EYE!

It was as though G-d was saying, “My eye is on THIS bank! Look there for the ‘container in the cave!’”

Meanwhile, I was preparing for my trip to Kenya. I decided on Sabena Airlines which would give me a 12 hour lay-over in Brussels upon my return to Israel. Thus I would have enough time to find 1, Rue de la Tourelle and Bank Degroof.

I prayed, making very specific requests, one of which was for a very kind Taxi driver, who would  wait for me and bring me back to the airport. 

As it happened, when I landed in Brussels, I took a train from the airport to Bruxelles Nord and waited at a Taxi stand. Before I could pull out my city map, the two taxis standing there left, leaving me stranded! However, shortly afterwards another pulled up and agreed to take me to 1, Rue de la Tourelle. Across his taxi meter scrolled the words “Shabbat”, “Shalom” and “Judaica”! Here was a Jewish taxi driver!  I began to speak about my 20-year quest for my family’s book of generations that was bringing me to 1, Rue de la Tourelle. He was intrigued!

My Jewish taxi driver had not stopped by the Bruxelles Nord train station in over 17 years! Surely the hand of G-d had brought him to me now! My kind Jewish taxi driver helped me check out 1, Rue de la Tourelle (now a Pizzeria); drove me to Bank Degroof where he waited for me, took me to the Musée Juif de Belgique for additional information (where I obtained the address and telephone number of the former Jewish owners of Bank Degroof), drove me to the Cercle Ben Gurion for more contacts, and finally back to the airport. All of this without charge!

He was the precise answer to our prayers! He even made important phone calls for me.

At Bank Degroof, however, our prayers were not entirely fulfilled. While I had immediate favor with the personnel and the director in charge of the safety-deposit boxes, he was not my Belgian aristrocrat friend Constant. I had prayed to be met by him, as his family was in the banking business.

Monsieur Eric took my documents to check the archives but found nothing. My grandfather was not listed as having had a safety-deposit box in Bank Degroof. My disappointment was profound.