Last week, at the end of our Shabbat services in Jerusalem, the blessing over the wine that precedes kiddush was interrupted by a frightening announcement. A six-year-old girl who had come to synagogue with her grandparents was missing.
We all froze.
No one was going home. All plans were canceled as we prepared to begin searching.
Thankfully, the little girl was located within minutes. She was playing quietly on an upper floor of the building.
But those minutes were frightening enough. It was everyone’s nightmare, not only that of the parents and grandparents.
Last Shabbat marked 874 days since her disappearance.
I am sure I was not the only one thinking of Haymanut Kasau, the nine-year-old girl who disappeared in Safed on February 25, 2024.
Last Shabbat marked 874 days since her disappearance.
While Israeli hostages were being held by Hamas in Gaza, I checked my phone for news every hour, every time I woke during the night, and first thing every morning. The only jewelry I wore was a gold dog tag to which I had attached tiny gold birds flying free. My car bore yellow ribbons. I wore a yellow hat. My nails were polished yellow, with a hostage ribbon painted on them, so that I would never forget.
But I do not remember Haymanut Kasau in the same way.
Do you?
Her name, Haymanut, means “faith.” But, dad Tesfai Kasau, 54, told me that at home, they call her “tiger,” because she stands strong for what she believes. She is deeply religious, he says.
The adorable third-grader with a good sense of humor and flashing wide smile is athletic and graceful, chosen by the teacher to go to advanced dance lessons. She would dote on her younger siblings, carrying her sister’s backpack to school for her every day.
That ghastly February 25 started off happily. Haymanut’s class at the Shevet Sofer School in Hatzor Haglilit went on a class trip. That afternoon, a farewell party was taking place at the absorption center for several families who were moving to apartments.
Haymanut and her friends handed out leaflets for a candidate in the local elections inside the large building. According to reports, she delivered a leaflet to a family living on the minus seven floor.
“We never felt threatened inside the absorption center,” her dad said.
Security footage later showed her returning to the entrance of the absorption center at 7:25 p.m.
That was the last confirmed sighting of Haymanut Kasau.
Then she was gone.
If she is alive, Haymanut should be preparing to celebrate her bat mitzvah.
Her older sister, Yeros Kasau, 19, has become the family spokesperson. She believes Haymanut is alive. Yeros says she sees her sister in dreams and asks who took her away.
Haymanut does not answer.
Parents Banchi and Tesfai came to Israel from Ethiopia in 2020, when Haymanut was about six. The Jewish Agency placed them in the absorption center on Tzahal Street in Safed.
Recently, another child, their sixth, was born to the family. Her parents named their baby daughter Tzenat, which means “strength” in Amharic. Some translate it as “resilience.”
At 10 p.m. on the night Haymanut disappeared, the Safed police were notified.
1,800 volunteers joined searches, rescue units hunted
Police officers, volunteer searchers, and rescue units hunted for her in the city and throughout the Meron region. Some 1,800 volunteers reportedly joined the searches during the first week.
No physical evidence has been found. Nor has there been a ransom demand or any communication from a kidnapper.
No one has reported a confirmed sighting of her since February 25.
The police officially classify Haymanut as a missing child. Her family insists that she was kidnapped.
They say Haymanut was not a girl who would wander away by herself. She is responsible and reliable, attached to her home and family.
“She’s afraid of the dark,” Yeros has said.
Havdalah was at 6:05 in Safed on the night before she disappeared.
Police say there is not enough evidence to classify her as a kidnapping victim or hostage.
The Knesset Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs Committee has held numerous hearings on the case. There are continuing questions about how her disappearance has been defined and whether the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) should have become involved sooner.
There have been unsubstantiated reports of people seeing her. There have also been unsubstantiated theories about cults that abduct children.
Her dad is sure she was kidnapped. Because of the elections, there were more strangers than usual who came through the building. Maybe someone was dressed up as a religious Jew.
Could police have searched harder during the first critical hours? Would the case have received more attention if Haymanut had come from a long-established Israeli family whose parents spoke fluent Hebrew? Should a helicopter have been used immediately? Should every home in the neighborhood have been searched?
There are so many questions, but no answers.
“Even the families of the hostages had someone they could blame,” Yeros says. “We don’t have any answers.”
Yeros herself is a National Service volunteer at Mishkan HaRe’iyah in Jerusalem, an organization that helps disadvantaged people obtain eyeglasses and hearing aids. She works with elderly people, soldiers, and others in need. In June, Yeros received an award for excellence in National Service at a ceremony attended by President Isaac Herzog. The commendation noted that despite her family’s nearly impossible circumstances, she continued reaching out to help others.
Also in June, relatives of Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza joined Haymanut’s family and supporters in a march and rally in Tel Aviv.
In December 2025, the investigation was transferred from the Safed police and the Northern District to Lahav 433, the national police unit that handles serious and complex crimes.
There appeared to be a possible breakthrough when a man was suspected of attempting to kidnap a girl who had reportedly known Haymanut. Once again, however, the trail led to a dead end. No evidence linked him to Haymanut’s disappearance.
In February 2026, the attorney-general authorized the Shin Bet to assist the police investigation.
“We want the Shin Bet to take this on,” says dad Tesfai. “They have the most information. When we contact the police, they tell us they are ‘working on her case,’ but we haven’t received any significant updates.”
The Aliyah and Integration Ministry and the Jewish Agency have since launched a new billboard and digital campaign.
Still, there has been no breakthrough.
A reward of NIS 1 million has been offered for information leading to Haymanut’s return.
Banchi and Tesfai Kasau and their children continue to live at the absorption center, even though they have obtained housing elsewhere. If Haymanut’s captors decide to release her, the family wants to be there when she knocks on the door.
Haymanut, pronounced approximately HIGH-mah-note, may be an unfamiliar name to people who do not speak Amharic.
But it is a name all of us need to know.
One of the family’s greatest fears is that the Israeli public and press have lost interest in Haymanut’s story.
Please share this column.
Someone in this small country must have seen something. Someone must know what happened to Haymanut over the past two years and five months.
Let us bring her home.
Let us celebrate her bat mitzvah, together.
The family suggests forwarding tips to the Shin Bet. They are also reaching out to all Israelis in the campaign to find Haymanut. For information and contributions: 055-664-8091.
The writer is the Israel director of public relations at Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. Her latest book is A Daughter of Many Mothers.
