Page 44 - issue
P. 44
HEROESORDINARY
FEAR, UNITY,
VICTORY
by Eta Kushner Jewish people upon the shores of the a memory of the border before the war,
Yam Suf millenia before. But before Orit does remember that, afterwards,
I t’s hard to believe that 50 years that happened, Israelis as well as Jews “everyone would walk to the Kotel on
have gone by since the emotion- around the world davened and worried Shabbat or to the tomb of Shimon
laden days of June, 1967. Anyone and followed the news closely. HaTzadik,” also formerly off-limits in
old enough to recall the Six Day Jordanian-held Jerusalem.
War will remember the unbearable What was it like for the Israelis?
tension in the weeks before the What kind of memories do they have? Orit’s father was in the army, serving
outbreak of fighting. President And what about Jews who lived in at least part of the time in Jerusalem,
Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Israel’s “neighborhood”? Here, some disassembling bombs. Some time after
other Arab leaders held no politically- Baltimoreans who were there tell their the fighting was over, he took the fami-
correct inhibitions preventing them stories: ly in an army vehicle to Har Habayit
from announcing what they planned to and to Kever Rachel for the first time.
do. As one typical Radio Cairo ◆◆◆ Years later, she went with her father to
announcement declared, “All Egypt is a memorial dedication ceremony near
now prepared to plunge into total war Orit Gnatt was a very young child the old border for the soldiers who had
which will put an end to Israel.” With when the war broke out. Her family fallen, many of whom were from her
his blockade of the Straits of Tiran, at lived in the Beit Yisrael section of father’s unit. Coincidentally, when Orit
the entrance to the Red Sea, and the Jerusalem, which at that time was very was living in California as an adult, she
massing of Egyptian troops on the close to the border. It was an old apart- encountered a man from the Sochnut
Sinai border, there was no reason not ment building without a miklat (bomb (Jewish Agency) whose last name
to believe Nasser’s intentions. In Israel, shelter), so the five families in the two- sounded familiar. It was the soldier son
there was a real fear that Israel’s Arab story building camped out in a first- of the neighbor in whose apartment
neighbors would join together to fulfill floor neighbor’s apartment, whose son they had taken shelter!
the old threat to “drive the Jews into the was serving in the army.
sea.” ◆◆◆
The adults were constantly huddled
Would this be the end of the Jewish around the radio, listening for any Adi Brito is from Netanya. One thing
State? Another Holocaust? Today, of scrap of news. “We could hear explo- which made quite an impression on
course, we know the end of the story, sions in the background,” says Orit, the four-year-old Adi was that the army
when sudden and glorious victory gave who does not remember being scared brought many of the conquered enemy
rise to a euphoria akin to that of the but acknowledges that she was proba- tanks and cannons to the downtown
bly too young to understand the danger area after the war. For the children who
they were in. Although she doesn’t have
36 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
FEAR, UNITY,
VICTORY
by Eta Kushner Jewish people upon the shores of the a memory of the border before the war,
Yam Suf millenia before. But before Orit does remember that, afterwards,
I t’s hard to believe that 50 years that happened, Israelis as well as Jews “everyone would walk to the Kotel on
have gone by since the emotion- around the world davened and worried Shabbat or to the tomb of Shimon
laden days of June, 1967. Anyone and followed the news closely. HaTzadik,” also formerly off-limits in
old enough to recall the Six Day Jordanian-held Jerusalem.
War will remember the unbearable What was it like for the Israelis?
tension in the weeks before the What kind of memories do they have? Orit’s father was in the army, serving
outbreak of fighting. President And what about Jews who lived in at least part of the time in Jerusalem,
Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Israel’s “neighborhood”? Here, some disassembling bombs. Some time after
other Arab leaders held no politically- Baltimoreans who were there tell their the fighting was over, he took the fami-
correct inhibitions preventing them stories: ly in an army vehicle to Har Habayit
from announcing what they planned to and to Kever Rachel for the first time.
do. As one typical Radio Cairo ◆◆◆ Years later, she went with her father to
announcement declared, “All Egypt is a memorial dedication ceremony near
now prepared to plunge into total war Orit Gnatt was a very young child the old border for the soldiers who had
which will put an end to Israel.” With when the war broke out. Her family fallen, many of whom were from her
his blockade of the Straits of Tiran, at lived in the Beit Yisrael section of father’s unit. Coincidentally, when Orit
the entrance to the Red Sea, and the Jerusalem, which at that time was very was living in California as an adult, she
massing of Egyptian troops on the close to the border. It was an old apart- encountered a man from the Sochnut
Sinai border, there was no reason not ment building without a miklat (bomb (Jewish Agency) whose last name
to believe Nasser’s intentions. In Israel, shelter), so the five families in the two- sounded familiar. It was the soldier son
there was a real fear that Israel’s Arab story building camped out in a first- of the neighbor in whose apartment
neighbors would join together to fulfill floor neighbor’s apartment, whose son they had taken shelter!
the old threat to “drive the Jews into the was serving in the army.
sea.” ◆◆◆
The adults were constantly huddled
Would this be the end of the Jewish around the radio, listening for any Adi Brito is from Netanya. One thing
State? Another Holocaust? Today, of scrap of news. “We could hear explo- which made quite an impression on
course, we know the end of the story, sions in the background,” says Orit, the four-year-old Adi was that the army
when sudden and glorious victory gave who does not remember being scared brought many of the conquered enemy
rise to a euphoria akin to that of the but acknowledges that she was proba- tanks and cannons to the downtown
bly too young to understand the danger area after the war. For the children who
they were in. Although she doesn’t have
36 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
