I wonder who will remember one of the most important events in
modern Jewish history? I am afraid that for most of the Jewish
world, yet alone the non-Jewish world,this calendar date will lapse
with barely a blink.
In Israel, events are marked by their Hebrew calendar date, and
this year, the anniversaryof the Six Day War comes out on May 15th,
one day following the historic May 14th,1948 date of Israel's
creation. This is significant only because in the Arab worldand for
Arab student organizations on university campuses across America,
May 14this commemorated as the "Catastrophe Day". At many
universities, there will be a week-longseries of fiery anti-Israel
speeches along with heated anti-Israel marches and
vulgarityscreaming anti-Israel demonstrations.
In contrast, in Jerusalem, the celebration for the "The Day of
Jerusalem" markingthe fortieth anniversary of the 1967 - Six Day
War and the reunification of Jerusalemis commemorated by one of the
most beautiful and moving ceremonies one can imagine. The main
streets of Jerusalem's center city are closed to traffic. Tens of
thousandsof young and old fill the streets briskly waving hundreds
of full size Israeli flags,and musicians are posed every few blocks
with loud speakers filling the air withtheir songs. As the
musicians play popular Jewish melodies, the streets become adance
stage for well choreographed circle dances and line dances -- each
song withits own special dance steps. The joyous group singing on
the street and the intensecommunity dancing is a unique sight.
Following the hours of this street event a communitysinging march
to Jerusalem's Old City begins. The march proceeds through the
OldCity's ancient gates and cobblestone streets leading to the
Western Wall - KotelPlaza. It is estimated that several thousands
of people file through the Old City'spicturesque and narrow
passageways to join in the hours of singing, dancing, andspeeches
commemorating the Jewish return to a united Jerusalem.
In Jewish tradition, the number 40 has its own significance. It
often refers to astage of maturation and accomplishment. The
biblical Flood rains stopped after 40days, Moses was 40 when he
confronted the Egyptian taskmaster, Moses was 80 whenhe confronted
Pharaoh. The Jews were in the desert for 40 years prior to
enteringthe Land of Israel, Rabbi Akiba was 40 when he began his
study of Torah, and 40 isthe number of weeks leading to human
birth. And now, this forty years of Jerusalem'sunification is a
monumental and historic moment marking the miraculous victoriousSix
Day War.
1967 was quite a different time. Israel had yet to reach its 20th
anniversary. Ithad already experienced two wars. One, upon its
creation, by neighbors who demandedthat the nascent state be
destroyed immediately and the second war, eight years later,when
its neighbors decided to cut off and strangulate Israel's supply
lines.
Prior to 1967, relatively few American Jews even expressed an
interest to visit Israel.Israel's first decades watched an
immigrant absorbing country developed at a slowand struggling pace.
With minimal resources, Israel invested in military
protectionknowing that its Arab neighbors were preparing for
another attempt to destroy it.During the 1960's, international
support for Israel was tenuous at best. Israel'sneighbors were
actively buying the most sophisticated weapons available. The
worldknew this but continued to make it difficult for Israel to
compete. Prior to 1967,the volume of belligerence and anti-Israel
hate speech from the Arab world was becomingmore and more
deafening. Egypt's President Nassar made his intent clear to the
world-- that Israel's days were numbered. The theme of pushing the
Jews into the sea becamea steady crescendo on the Arab street.
Time, Newsweek, and other publications reportedmilitary statistics
comparing Israel's military strength to that of her threateningArab
neighbors. Israel was heavily outnumbered and out-armed in every
military category.The military comparison charts appeared as if an
ant was being compared to an elephant.The American Jewish
community, as well as much of the world, was bracing for the
annihilation of the Jewish state. There was no imaginable way for
Israel to survivethe sheer numbers and mighty force of the expected
Arab attack without the militarysupport of the United Kingdom or
America. But that super power support was not tobe found.
Once again, the Arabs cut off the supply lines to Israel, a clear
act of war, andwithout hesitation, the leadership of Israel
commanded the Israeli Defense Forcesto launch their attack.
Within hours, the entire Egyptian air force and all Egyptian air
fields were disabled.In days of fighting, the vast number of
Jordanian, Egyptian, and Syrian tanks becameuseless heaps of scrap
metal. And then the Israeli forces entered the Old City
ofJerusalem. After very costly and deadly hand to hand combat
battles against theJordanian Old City soldiers, in shock and awe,
the Israeli paratroopers found themselvesstanding victorious in
front of the ancient Western Wall of the Temple Mount. The famous
and emotional phrase spoken into the Israeli army radio transmitter
was theannouncement, "Jerusalem is in our hands.
"The world had gone to bed envisioning that by the next morning
Israel would havebeen wiped off the face of the map. The resulting
news was quite different. In sixdays, the Sinai Desert, the Gaza
Strip, the Jordan West Bank, the Golan Heights,Jerusalem's Old
City, and its surrounding areas were fully under Israeli control.
All of the menacing Arab armies had been destroyed or forced to
retreat.West Point military analysts speak of the Six Day War as an
inexplicable militaryvictory. "Miraculous" was the West Point
officer's explanation for the Israeli DefenseForce's victory over
what was believed to be impossible odds.In 1967, it was still okay
for an army to achieve an absolute victory. Subsequentto that date,
Israel has not been allowed to defeat its enemy. In future wars
andconflicts Israel would unbelievably be pressured by world powers
not to accomplisha full military victory, to neglect enemy
aggressions, and to even provide the enemywith guns and
ammunition.
1967 was a time that Israelis were not told that they are "tired of
fighting andtired of winning battles". Jews at that time understood
that when their enemy saysthat they are going to kill them, the
enemy means what it says and Israel does notwait to be
attacked.
During that time, no one believed that the enemy could be appeased
or that, if victorious,the enemy would responsibly stop fighting at
the original 1947 UN lines. It was understoodthroughout Israel that
there was only one thing that the Arabs had hoped to achieve,and
now after 40 years, that goal of the destruction of Israel has not
been relinquished.Following 1967, respect for Israel and the Jews
soared throughout the world. Slumberingand even non-identifying
Jews began to proudly identify with the Jewish people andthe Jewish
State. Israel had accomplished a victory of good over evil, and few
inthe world had any doubt about it.Forty years is a time of great
significance. It is a time of reflection and rebirth-- 1967 marked
the rebirth of the Jewish people, their values, their mission,
andtheir right to exist and to contribute to this world. World
politics has tried toreframe this Jewish Israeli victory into a
defeat, and it is up to us to preventhistory from being erased,
eroded, or confused. The 1967 victory was a victory forhumankind.
The lessons of that era have not changed and therefore must not be
forgotten.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daryl Temkin, Ph.D. is the founder and director of the Israel
Institute which isdevoted to teaching the historic and spiritual
importance of Israel as well as presentingdiscussions concerning
contemporary issues confronting the Jewish State and the
MiddleEast.
