NOT BY CHANCE “Your involvement here isn’t by chance Michal” the thank-you note said. “The world is divided between what we see and what really exists. At a certain point we’re prevented from seeing and understanding but that doesn’t mean what we’re seeking doesn’t exist. Everything is there; we just need to daven that our eyes are opened. Thank you for being the one to find what we couldn’t see”

“I had a fight with my cousin decades ago and we haven’t spoken since. Will you help me locate him?”

“Can you track down the children my grandfather saved during World War II?”

“How can I find the only classmate who was friendly to me in school?”

These are just some of the puzzles Michal Vaknin tries to solve from her unofficial detective hub in Ashdod Israel. Over the past few decades she’s become a one-woman empire of reconnecting old ties. What started out as a hobby eventually became a full-time career: Today she runs relative-seeking services for two separate groups (French and English speakers). How did it all begin?

Finding Connections

For Michal life is all about seeing and making connections — in her work trying to reunite people but also in her own life. By way of example the now 73-year-old who was born in Algiers and immigrated to France at the age of 12 reminisces about her decision to study Russian in her youth. Her family was shocked: What connection did a young French girl have to the Russian language? Who needed it and for what?

“They thought I was just plain crazy ” Michal says smiling at the memory. “Sixty years ago who would have thought there was any need to learn Russian? Truthfully I didn’t have any special reason to learn it. But there was definitely a reason: It was what Hashem wanted. Only later did I see the unexpected results of my studies.”

France never felt like home to Michal even after she earned a degree in social work and was successfully working at a Paris institution for kids at risk. “My dream was to move to Eretz Yisrael ” she says. “That dream was there constantly waiting quietly for the day I’d be able to realize it.”

And she finally did in 1969. “My family didn’t like the idea ” remembers Michal. “What was there for a young girl to do alone in a new country? But I wanted it so badly and my parents understood me. So I found myself in an absorption center in Kiryat Shmona determined to prove myself and manage in the best way possible in the Land of Hope.”

It wasn’t easy. “They didn’t recognize my French degree. I had to start my studies all over again ” Michal says. “But I wanted to succeed quickly to show everyone I could do it. They suggested I take a course in management under the auspices of one of the health funds and I agreed. Whatever they suggested I said ‘gam zu l’tovah.’ That course provided me with the opportunity to learn Hebrew and I hoped it would also open doors for me to find employment.”

Michal eventually did find work in a hospital but it quickly became clear it would not be a lifelong position. “I managed the kitchen and the hospital’s custodial services. I supervised a staff of workers who were older than me and I was uncomfortable giving them orders. It wasn’t for me.”

In the meantime Michal got married and moved from the North to Ashdod and she once again found herself in the same management position this time in a southern hospital and afterward in another hospital. She was determined to find other work — the sooner the better — but where?

Perhaps she thought her social-work training could prove helpful at the Ashdod absorption center. To this day Michal doesn’t understand where she got the nerve to apply: Her Hebrew was still that of a relatively new immigrant and her social-work experience took up a small and distant part of her resume. Despite all of this Michal walked into the absorption center one day and asked if they had work for her.

Surprisingly enough the answer wasn’t no. The staff at the absorption center told her “It could be that we do. Ask over at the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption.” From that point onward things moved quickly. As soon as Michal presented herself someone at the Ministry of Absorption called the regional supervisor and Michal was urgently asked to come in for an interview. It turned out they had been looking for a Russian speaker for almost six months and hadn’t found a single person in the whole country who fit the bill.