A Watershed in Retrospect (The Yom Kippur War Twenty Years On - RAK REKA No. 18)

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Heroism and Involvement - Articles

Efrat's Story

Efrat, formerly an officer in the tank corps, was a student who returned home to Ness Ziona for Yom Kippur.

"On Friday, before the fast, you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. So many of my friends finishing _ service didn't get leave. Some who did were recalled," she explains. "We'd been waiting out the security situation for a long time and everyone's nerves were on edge."

"After Kol Nidrei, on the way home for the first time ever, even in our secular community - we saw cars on the road - on Yom Kippur! Something was definitely up. But without television or radio, we were totally in the dark. As we walked home, everyone was talking; many people had been missing from the service and families began telling us who'd been called up.

"Next morning I stayed home with a girlfriend. The phone rang - this was the second shock I'd had - the phone in our house on Yom Kippur never rang - my girlfriend had been recalled to her base. It was a strange feeling, a strange day. And all the time, I was waiting, thinking, when will I be called up and what's happening with my boy-friend on the (Suez) Canal, my friends, my classmates. Actually, I wasn't called up for a while."

At the service, the synagogue grapevine was busy; few people had really prayed that morning.

"There were lots of cars on the road, people leaving for the army. This was the Yom Kippur when everything we took for granted changed. "

At about 1 pm, when most Israeli synagogues break for the hottest hours of the day, Efrat's father returned home. He, too, had been called up.

"My mother made him eat some soup to break his fast while she collected his kit. At 14.00 the air raid sirens sounded all over Israel and we heard the radio was back on the air, so we tuned in, and knew we were at war."

"We knew what war was. It wasn't on our doorstep, so there was no worry for ourselves; the shops were closed so we couldn't stock up on food. We spent the time worrying about friends and relatives. The first days were so fraught with anxiety, not knowing anything, not knowing who was serving where.

"My mother was mobilized as a nurse. I didn't return to Jerusalem on Sunday - and that's when I learned my boyfriend had been wounded. The Army didn't manage to contact families until Thesday - we heard through a relative clerking at the hospital. We rushed down to see him in a jeep in the blackout even before we told his parents. My first thought was that his face looked fine, so he must be OK. I didn't realize he how serious his injuries were: I never thought to ask, then.

"Later, I found out he was paralyzed from a spinal injury. Every day both our families pushed through the chaos and confusion of other visitors at Tel Hashomer Hospital. Then we started seeing lists of dead and wounded in the press and media; suddenly, facts began to replace rumours. I found out that one of my friends had been taken prisoner, three others died in combat. It was a difficult time.

"We saw my boyfriend every day, we even drove down in the car on Simhat Torah when his father rushed home to tell us he was dying. But we arrived too late... He was such a wonderful boy... a magical person..."

Source: Interview. Jerusalem, August 26. 1993 – Editor

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