D.J. (Declaratory Judgment) 31447-17

Both were born here, raised in a tiny apartment by a mother who worked as a foreign laborer. Galit's father was deported when she was a toddler, and Lavi's father died shortly after his birth. Their mother also passed away after a painful battle with illness.

Before her death, the mother was unable to renew her passport, leaving the children without legal status in Israel or her country of origin. They remained alone - two orphans without status anywhere in the world.

Born in Israel, they had never left. This is their homeland; Hebrew is their native tongue. Israeli society and culture shaped their identity, and there is no place on earth to which they belong more than here. Yet all of this was written on their hearts, not on paper, and certainly not on an official document. For a long time, they lived under the constant threat of deportation, terrified of being uprooted from everything familiar and loved.

We petitioned the Ministry of Interior's Humanitarian Committee - a process that often takes years with unpredictable outcomes. Receiving a swift, positive response granting temporary residency was a joyful surprise. At last, they were no longer status-less children, but children with an ID number and official documentation.

It is remarkable how official papers can grant us what we already possess, and how easily we take what we have for granted.