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November 16, 1973

The War: First Thoughts (1973)

Yom Kippur War
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Shul Bulletin

It's a Pity… (1973)

A real pity that Jews have to wait for a crisis to remind them that they are Jews. But it's better than nothing. Because maybe all of life is a crisis. And during all of life we need our Jewish identity, our Jewish commitments to God, to Israel, to Torah. The Arabs, with the connivance of the Russians, struck on Yom Kippur. They thought they caught us unaware. Militarily, maybe. But in other ways, no. Yom Kippur teaches us that we can survive without eating and drinking. Without bathing. Without shoes. Without sex. But not without God. Not without a word of prayer. Not without a thought of Torah. Not without each other.Israel is going to win, if only because it can't afford to lose. Of course, we are all going to help to the limits of our ability. But we have got to win the other war too, the one that will continue long afterwards: the war against our self-expression as Jews. The attack against the dignity that allows us to observe our Judaism without embarrassment. The battle against our pride - not arrogance - in our tefillin, kippah, kashrut, Shabbat. The war of attrition by a phoney liberalism-humanism-internationalism that tells us that the only way to save the world is for the Jews to give up being Jewish. It's phoney because only by being themselves can Jews be of service to others. Because only by loving Israel can Jews learn to love mankind. Because only by being truly Jewish do we become genuinely humanitarian. Be-cause only by serving the God of Israel do we come to know the God who created and loves all men and all nations.What can you do? Go to Israel as a civilian volunteer. Contribute to U.J.A.. Buy a bond. Attend a demonstration for Israel or Soviet Jewry. Wear a kippah proudly as a symbol of your Jewishness. Attend services - and walk, don't ride. Seek out an observant Jew and ask him to help you put on the tefillin. Even just once. Or ask him to invite you to his home for a Shabbat meal. Above all - read, study, learn. The shooting may be over soo…
Combating Assimilation Yom Kippur War

Article

Reflections on the Yom Kippur War (1974)

The events of the Yom Kippur War and its aftermath are so traumatic, that we do not yet have the mental equanimity to assess the situation in the psychological calm requisite for such judgments. Perhaps an halakhic analogy is apt: the avel (mourner after the deceased has been buried) is expected to grieve over a situation which he then begins to perceive and perhaps even understand. But the onen (mourner before interment) is released from all religious obligations to mourn because he is assumed to be so stunned that he has not absorbed the gravity of his predicament and its implications. Nevertheless, certain moods have already made themselves felt. Reactions of Intellectuals Among the intellectuals, in which group I include the more thoughtful American journalists, the moral issue appears to have three aspects. Some have been beguiled by Arab arguments, and build their case around earlier insults to Arab manhood and dignity, the need to acknowledge the national aspiration of the Palestinians, and the imperative to return territories won by military action. Underlying this is the question of the legitimacy of the Jewish claim to a national homeland in the Middle East. A second group is amoralistic, preferring to deal with the political issues purely on a pragmatic basis, with the major consideration being America’s national interest, however that interest may be defined. A third group dismisses the amoralist position as untenable and as inconsistent with American foreign policy over the years, and sees Israel as mostly or altogether in the right. I suspect that a good part of the uncharacteristic silence of the intellectuals derives from their acute dilemma 49 50 THE YOM KIPPUR war Israel and the Jewish People regarding the Third World. In their own way, intellectuals can be more conformist than hoi polloi. They are waiting to see how their colleagues will react to the astounding conduct of the non-aligned nations who have solidly joined forces with the Arabs. Thir…
Yom Kippur War

Correspondence

Exchange with R. Brener about R. Lamm's Lecture on "The Mood in Israel" after the Yom Kippur War (1974)

Dear Norm, Was very pleased to hear of your selection as a member of the select group that met in December in Israel. If a copy of your comments on “The Mood in Israel” is available, I’d greatly appreciate receiving one. If all is well I’ll be going to Israel with the RCA on Jan 14. Perhaps I’ll have the pleasure of seeing you. Kindest regards to your family.
Yom Kippur War