Yet G-d had said, “I have kept the book like the Dead Sea Scrolls. Look for it where your grandfather was first arrested.”⁷

Monsieur Eric wanted to know what made me believe Degroof had been grandfather’s bank. I told him that while there are many banks in Bruxelles, there are only 3 in Etterbeek. Of these 3 only 1 came up on my computer, with an eye corresponding to the “Eye of G-d” I had placed on the monitor. This led me to Degroof. He told me that the original owners of Degroof was a Jewish family and gave me their name, but that the father had died in 1958. His son lived in Switzerland. No one of this family lived in Belgium, he said.

This information convinced me even more that Degroof had been grandfather’s choice of bank, as surely he would have chosen a Jewish banker. But how to find these original owners?

My taxi driver Johannes took me to the Musee Juif which was also disappointing. However, a lady there happened to know of the former Jewish owners of Degroof, and had their address. Although their phone number was unlisted, she smiled, for she herself had their phone and fax numbers. 

Johannes called for me and I was able to talk to the Baroness and receive her promise of assistance. 

Later at the Cercle Ben Gurion, I met another lady who worked for the "Service Des Victimes De La Guerre", who was responsible for checking all possible Jewish files and accounts dating back from WWII in every Bank in Brussels.  If anyone could find a trace of my grandfather – I was assured – it would be her. Then Johannes drove me back to the airport.

I arrived at home totally exhausted from my 50-hour trip. The disappointment of not finding the family’s genealogical record proved so intense I immediately fell very sick with a terrible chest cold. Strangely enough my husband fell victim to the same attack the very next day. Could some witchcraft from one of the Kenyan villages have had something to do with this sudden illness?

In conclusion, my quest of faith in Brussels was not entirely in vain. May my search be crowned at last with unearthing this family treasure, which will repair the breaches and close up the gaps in the “Sukkah of David” (see Amos 9:9-11) and make of it a “tent” (an “ohel”) in which G-d will prepare a throne for our Messiah Yeshua (see Isaiah 16:5).