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

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Heroism and Involvement - Articles

Responses and Support in the Jewish world at a time of war in Israel
(Abridged excerpts from an interview with Moshe Rivlin, then Director General of the Jewish Agency)

There is a significant difference in the feelings of the Jewish world with regard to the '67 and the '73 wars.

The "phoney war" period of May 1967 and Arab preparations for war reminded Jews of the Shoa to a much greater extent than in '73, despite the fact that the danger was greater in October '73. One could say that the '67 war immunized them from fear and the news from Israel was also reassuring... Diaspora Jewry regarded us as "supermen".

On the other hand, along with the enormous wave of identification and willingness to do and help until it hurt - particularly amongst the young - people started asking questions. First it was the "superman" myth and then they were concerned about the atmosphere in Israel after the war and felt - for the first time since 1948 - that Israel needed encouragement. They never questioned the actions of the Israeli government, but their belief in our ability to defend ourselves and that time was on our side took a terrible knock and they began asking, 'what's going to happen now?.

Many people did give until it really hurt.

Several young Australian Jews gave up their deposits on a new housing complex; people sold cars and gave the money to Israel; students gave whatever savings they could; women sold their jewellery.

One teenager even gave up a birthday present from, his father -his expensive New York baseball season ticket, selling it for several hundred dollars in order to help Israel's war effort. "1 know what that sacrifice meant to him," said his father.

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