The weeks before the Six-Day War at 770, based on letters, historical documents and personal interviews.
The beginning of Iyar 5727/1967 was one of the most difficult and tense times for those living in Eretz Yisrael. Over 50 years have passed since then, but people who lived through that era still remember what it was like. Along with the poor economic situation, there was a serious security situation.
The primary tension began on the northern border. The Syrians in the Golan Heights wanted Israel’s water sources and they shot mortars at Jewish farmers. A short while before that, there was a serious altercation in the battle against Syria in the course of which IDF planes dropped 21 Syrian MiG fighter jets. As a result of this event, Syria asked Egypt for aid and the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser signed a mutual defense treaty with them
A short while later, Nasser began harassing Eretz Yisrael. He started advancing large forces into Sinai as he issued demands to the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) that was responsible for peace-keeping and the separation of forces in the area to leave. The ramifications of this act were clear: there would be no other military force separating between the Israeli and Egyptian armies.
The border of Yerushalayim and Jordan went right through the center of the city. The area that separated Eretz Yisrael and Jordan was called no-man’s-land. Jordanian snipers sat on the partition wall and shot at passersby as they pleased. The lives of Jewish civilians in Yerushalayim were fair game and the tension reached a peak.
POLITICAL EARTHQUAKES
Nasser became ever more fired up and on 12 Iyar he took another step that increased the tension when he announced the closing of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships. The hint was obvious. Also, a mutual defense coalition was formed of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. The stated purpose of the pact was that all parties would defend each other. The choke-hold around Israel was tightening.
The United States, an ally of Israel, unilaterally voided all earlier agreements with Israel and Egypt and pressured Israel not to open fire against Egypt. As the head of the Mossad Meir Amit said, “At midnight, the CIA agent in Israel came to me and said that if we fired first, we would stand alone.” In other words, we would get no support. Not only that, but the U.S. warned the two countries that it would attack the country that would start a war and American plans of attack were drawn up.
The USSR also did not remain silent and it publicly announced the justification of the Egyptian army entering Sinai and expelling U.N. Forces. The Soviets completely ignored Egypt’s guilt in the deterioration of relations. Even France, which was the main supplier of arms to the IDF and was an ally of Israel, changed its position. Charles de Gaulle, president of France, warned the Israeli government against entering into war and even placed a weapons embargo on the Middle East which affected only Israel.
Arab hubris, in light of the defense pact and the unanimous support from all of the world’s superpowers, only continued to swell to the point that Arab armies announced again and again that they were going to conquer Israel and throw its inhabitants into the sea! Fear was felt not only by those living in Eretz Yisrael; Jews the world over held their breath. The U.S. government ordered its citizens to leave the Middle East to save their lives. Everyone was convinced that the worst of all was about to take place.
TENSION AND PANIC
The people living in Eretz Yisrael felt besieged. They felt that the entire Arab world was closing in on them with the silent approval of the major nations. Memories of the Holocaust that were still a bloody open wound became part of people’s everyday talk. “Nasser is speaking plainly, just as Hitler did on the eve of World War II,” stated Zev Schiff, the military commentator for Haaretz. Nasser’s speeches, the broadcasts of Radio Cairo, and antisemitic caricatures that were published in Egyptian newspapers, were the basis for this statement. A few days later, Haaretz published an article by Eliezer Livneh with the headline: The Danger of Hitler Returns.
Such was the climate during this period that was later called “the Waiting Period,” the wave of terror felt by the Israeli public quickly turned to panic. One way this could be seen is described in the book by Tom Segev, “1967: Israel, the War and the Year That Transformed the Middle East” (an often cited very leftist work). In this book, he describes how many residents fled the country. “Every day, her friends called her and said that so-and-so left the country,” one woman wrote in a letter; among them were many women and children. “Planes arrive empty and leave full,” reported Haaretz. In a report given to the IDF Chiefs of Staff it said that Eilat was emptying out and that thousands already left in fear that the Egyptians or the Jordanians would attack the city and cut it off from the rest of the country. A headline written in one of the papers said: The Last One to Leave Should Not Forget to Shut the Lights in the Airport.”
Those who remained began to hoard food. There was a run on food nearly everywhere. “Mothers who in normal times are patient and intelligent women, have imposed a chaotic and noisy siege on the grocery stores and are buying in a nearly hysterical fright, including items that are and are not necessities,” wrote Yerushalmi writer Yeshurun Keshet in his diary. Grocery stores stopped giving credit. “What will be if, G-d forbid, there won’t be bread and water and dairy products when war really breaks out?” wrote Keshet. There was no doubt that war would break out. “I don’t blame them” wrote one woman in Yerushalayim to her relatives in Nashville, North Carolina. “No doubt, they remember the starvation of 1948.” She too went to buy rice, beans and sugar and a pail of water for reserves.
THE HUBBUB REACHES 770
The cries of war from Arab countries as well as the panicked response from Eretz Yisrael reached distant America and Beis Chayeinu. Rabbi Lipa Kurtzweil, director of Tzach in Nachalat Har Chabad, was a bachur on kevutza during the war. In a conversation with Beis Moshiach he described the atmosphere in 770 at the time:
“A few weeks before the outbreak of war, rumors began coming from Eretz Yisrael that a major war was about to break out. They spoke about a war on a massive scale that would wipe out the Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisrael, heaven forfend. At first, it was only rumors. Then, slowly, the rumors began to be substantiated and we realized that this was, indeed, a serious threat. When you are far away and not getting updates in real time, things seem a lot worse.
“Of course, everyone waited to hear what the Rebbe had to say about the matter. His message was clear: There is no reason to fear or frighten others. This was the most vital message at the time. Not to fear! This message reassured us all and it was clear that there was nothing to fear but at the same time, we were deeply worried for the welfare of the Jews of Eretz Yisrael. It was obvious that the war would exact a heavy toll.
“Back then, we didn’t have the phones we have today. Our connection with our families in Eretz Yisrael was very weak. Also, the distance from home was considered great since the trip from Eretz Yisrael to New York took nearly 30 hours, so that almost nobody came from Eretz Yisrael at that time and nobody could tell us the truth about what was going on there. This added to the atmosphere of fear. Rumors at the time said that the chief rabbinate in Eretz Yisrael dedicated public parks as cemeteries for the tens of thousands expected to fall, G-d forbid.
“As for us, we said a lot of Tehillim in special minyanim that took place all the time and we waited expectantly for good news from Eretz Yisrael.”
THE VOICE OF THE PROPHET
One of the most memorable moments of the waiting period was Lag B’Omer 1967, a few days before the outbreak of war. That day is when the news of the salvation of the Jewish people began to be publicized in the face of the panic and tremendous fear that had taken hold of the people in Eretz Yisrael. That day, it was demonstrated once again who truly deserved the title of “Jewish leader.”
At this difficult time, the clear voice of the leader of the generation was heard: Do not leave! The Rebbe promised that miracles and wonders would occur and there was no need to fear. This message from the Rebbe seemed detached from reality considering the political situation, but the Rebbe repeated his position time and again.
“I remember the Lag B’Omer before the outbreak of war, when the Rebbe came out to the public and spoke about the situation for the first time,” added R’ Kurtzweil. “Each time I recall that event, I feel the tremendous tension in the crowd in the moments before the Rebbe began to speak. People were white in the face as they waited to hear how the Rebbe would react to events in Eretz Yisrael. Nobody knew which day the war would begin and everyone waited for the Rebbe to speak. It was clear to all that the Rebbe’s talk would address the security situation in Eretz Yisrael.
“Many reporters were in the crowd, and they too, like everyone else, waited to hear what the Lubavitcher Rebbe would say.”
When the Rebbe began to speak, there was absolute silence in the crowd. The Rebbe addressed the Jewish children and said in a very passionate voice: Your brothers and sisters in the Holy Land, Eretz Yisrael, are in a situation in which Hashem protects them and sends them His blessing along with success and salvation in enlarged measure, so that they will go forth – and they actually will go forth - from the current situation with success and a great victory, with miracles and wonders.”
The Rebbe told the Jewish children that they have the power to assist the Jewish people in this difficult time: “You have the special privilege to help them by learning another verse of the Torah and by doing another mitzva and another mitzva. Don’t neglect any opportunity and also be involved in the mitzva of ‘love your fellow as yourself,’ to influence your friends and relatives and family so that they too, help as much as possible in spreading Torah and mitzvos.
Since, according to what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said, this saves every Jew wherever he is from the difficulties he is in, and it brings him the blessing of G-d in great measure, and salvation and success. And what we read yesterday in the parasha will be fulfilled: ‘and you will dwell securely in your land.’ That the Jews of the Holy Land will dwell securely: ‘and I will give peace in the land,’ that Hashem will be our G-d, and for all Jews wherever they are to be found.”
The Rebbe spoke with great fervor. His face was red and he nearly screamed his prophecy of victory as though to strengthen what he said. From the tone and content of what he said, it was clear that this wasn’t a prayer or request but a clear promise!
“The Rebbe’s confident, strong voice carried through the air and awakened in everybody feelings of tremendous confidence,” remembers R’ Kurtzweil. “After the Rebbe spoke, it was clear to us that the war would end with miracles and wonders and that there would be great victories.”
That same day, Rabbi Yosef Wineberg took a recording of the sicha and went with his son to the airport to send it with someone traveling to Eretz Yisrael. The problem was that the situation was so precarious that people weren’t traveling to Eretz Yisrael. Who would be going to a place that the Arabs were about to conquer?
Still, there were some American volunteers who went to help and try to save the land. Among them was Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, son of the gaon, Rabbi Yosef Ber. Rabbi Wineberg asked him to take the recording to Eretz Yisrael.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It is good news for the people of Eretz Yisrael!” said R’ Wineberg. “You will take the good news of the victory to Eretz Yisrael.”
The recording reached Chabad Chassidim in Yerushalayim who gathered in a special meeting that took place at the Chabad shul in Shikun Chabad, to listen to the recording. The hundreds of people present listened to the Rebbe’s loud, clear voice that promised, “Hashem is already protecting the Holy Land and our brothers and sisters there. A salvation in large measure is very imminent.”
DETAILED DIRECTIVES
If the sicha wasn’t enough, throughout the waiting period, clear and unequivocal guidance emerged from the Rebbe’s office with a reassuring message that there was nothing to worry about and that Eretz Yisrael is the safest place in the world. Among those who received responses on the topic were Crown Heights families with sons learning in the Toras Emes yeshiva in Yerushalayim. As was famously publicized then, the Rebbe calmed the parents and told them not to be at all frightened.
If that was not enough, the newspapers in Eretz Yisrael and abroad published answers and telegrams of the Rebbe, in which he called for “not to fear, and not to scare,” and also not to leave the Holy Land. For example, as MK Avraham Hertzfeld reported from his yechidus with the Rebbe at that time: The days were difficult ones and filled with fear. War was lying in wait at our doorstep. However, the Rebbe was fully confident that we would get through these days of worry, and even used a Russian expression, “khochesh mozhesh;” meaning “if you want, you can.” The Rebbe also encouraged him to put on tefillin.
In a diary that he kept of those days, R’ Binyomin Bernstein wrote, “On Sunday, Horowitz went in for yechidus and told the Rebbe that he is concerned about the situation in Eretz Yisrael. The Rebbe told him, “If regarding outside of the land it says, ‘Behold, He will not slumber,’ regarding Eretz Yisrael it is written, ‘The eyes of Hashem, your G-d, are always,’ it says always. And the Rebbe told him that there is no need to worry.”
In that diary, he goes on to copy a number of answers that people received at that time in connection with Eretz Yisrael:
A resident of Kfar Chabad asked the Rebbe if he should come to America, and to this the Rebbe answered, “Now is not at all the time to travel from the Holy Land, may it be rebuilt and reestablished, and we will see each other with the help of Hashem… in the month of joy, in the upcoming month of Tishrei.”
R’ Boruch Turenheim also asked then about his brother in Eretz Yisrael, based on a request from his parents, whether to bring him home from there. The response to that was, “I clearly made known to Kfar Chabad not to travel from there, and on the contrary they should add in study with constancy and diligence, and Hashem should grant them success.”
To a family in Brooklyn that requested a blessing for their relatives in the Holy Land, the Rebbe answered, “My view is not at all approving of the panicking and exaggerations, and Hashem should protect you among all of our brothers Beis Yisrael in every place they are, and especially in the place that the eyes of Hashem, your G-d, are upon it always.”
To parents who asked if their son in Eretz Yisrael should return home to America, the Rebbe responded, “Obviously not to fear and not to scare him and also not themselves, and it will be fulfilled and I will give peace in the land etc.”
Despite all the assurances, the terrible situation and bleak prognostications in the media in Israel and abroad did not allow for calm. Even in Kfar Chabad, the atmosphere was very tense. Completely unexpectedly, a special telegram from the Rebbe arrived in Kfar Chabad:
“The Vaad of Kfar Chabad and the Rav at their head, have merited to find themselves among tens of thousands of Jews in the Holy Land, where the eyes of Hashem, your G-d, are upon it always. And certainly, certainly, He will not slumber and He will not sleep, the Guardian of Yisrael. Hashem will protect them and all the sons of Yisrael from now until forever. He who awaits good tidings, in visible and revealed good, to be visible and revealed soon.”
The Rebbe’s telegram was so unusual and fantastical against the backdrop of the political and military forecasts, to the point that every media outlet in the country pounced on it like a major story.
Mrs. Chaya Bronstein from Kfar Chabad, the wife of the late R’ Zalman, was visiting Crown Heights and had yechidus twice during those days leading up to the war. She wrote then, to her family in Kfar Chabad, what the Rebbe told her about the situation in Eretz Yisrael during yechidus (translated from the Yiddish):
“I told the Rebbe that the situation in Eretz Yisrael is such that I would want to return there tomorrow. The Rebbe asked me for how many days I had come, and I answered for a period of fifty-three days and that I still had seventeen days left to be here.
“The Rebbe answered me, ‘Remain here for as long as you planned originally, and by the time you have to return, the situation will stabilize and it will be good… Certainly you will participate here in the women’s convention, and will surely say a few words. You will have what to say… and you will give over good tidings from here and from there.”
In a later letter, she describes the impressions from the aforementioned convention, “When the Rebbe mentioned the Holy Land that Hashem will have mercy upon it and its inhabitants, you could see how his face changed.”
Due to the tremendous tension back home, one of her family members asked her to delay her return flight, “because the children don’t want me to travel”. That night, “At five minutes to eleven at night, Rabbi Groner, the Rebbe’s secretary called and conveyed that the Rebbe is asking that I come to the office no later than within the hour… My turn came and I went in. I gave a pidyon note for the family and for the residents of Kfar Chabad, and all of Anash among Klal Yisrael. I was very tense, but when I saw the Rebbe smile, I felt at ease.”
During that encounter, she told the Rebbe very worriedly, “I don’t know what is going on now at home, I am asking of the Master of the Universe that they all be healthy and whole.” The Rebbe answered, “Boruch Hashem, they are all whole and you will find them all whole and healthy. Travel in peace and you will find them all in order. And share good tidings, including regards in Kfar Chabad to the Nshei and Bnos Chabad, and you should be active in their work.” ■
“SCHNEERSON” ON THE PHONE
During that time period, a delegation traveled to visit President Zalman Shazar who was on a state visit in Montreal. Among the delegation were R’ Chadakov and R’ Kazarnovsky.
Due the impending war, Shazar decided to cut short his visit and return to Eretz Yisrael that very night. His people informed the Chabad delegation that Shazar had canceled all his planned meetings. When R’ Leibel Kramer, one of Anash of Montreal, called 770 to pass along the information, he suddenly heard a voice on the phone saying, “This meeting he will accept.” When R’ Kramer asked, “Who is this?” the answer was, “Schneerson.”
The meeting did in fact take place, during which Shazar told the delegation that the Rebbe spoke to him over the phone and blessed him that it should be “u’shechavtem v’ein macharid - and you shall lie down with none to frighten you,” and that the Rebbe said in a really loud voice “v’ein macharid.” He also added that one has to live with the times, and now is the parasha of Bechukosai (where these words appear in the Torah), and the Rebbe encouraged him very much.
Shazar promised the Rebbe that he would publicize his words in the Holy Land, and he added to the Rebbe that even though he was familiar with these verses, now it became infused with a whole new energy…