The Yom Kippur War Miracle – Victory Against All Odds

The Yom Kippur War Miracle – Victory Against All Odds

Many miraculous events occurred during the Yom Kippur War. As in the Chanukah story, the People of Israel were victorious despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

The 1973 Arab-Israel War – also known as the Yom Kippur War because it began on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar – lasted approximately four weeks. It was October 6, 1973, which also happened to fall that year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

An Arab coalition led by Egypt and Syria launched a joint surprise attack against Israel. Despite the large amassing of forces along Israel’s borders prior to that day, a significant amount of misinformation and what appeared to be a lack of support for the Arab states by Russia had convinced Israel that war was not imminent. This meant that Israel was doubly unprepared for the invasion.

A couple of false alarms in both May and August of that year meant that by the time the offensive was about to be launched, Israeli intelligence had regarded the movement of troops and armaments as just another insignificant exercise.

Just as with all our wars, stories of miracles abound. The fact that Jordan chose to opt out of this war was considered by many to be a miraculous occurrence in and of itself. Jordan’s decision was due to a combination of pressure from the US to stay out of the conflict and a secret understanding between Jerusalem and Amman that if Jordan refrained from becoming involved, Israel would not attack her.

Having had nearly all of her air force destroyed by Israel in the 1967 war, the Jordanians decided not to participate. For Israel, the difference between having to fight a war on two fronts instead of three was a meaningful one and gave her a fighting chance.

The Miracle that was Yom Kippur

Soldier prays at the start of the Yom Kippur War. www.jrtelegraph.com

One might have thought that the observance of Yom Kippur would have made it harder for Israel to gather her reserve forces, but it actually was easier in many ways.

As it was Yom Kippur, most of the country was at home or in synagogue, fasting. This, too, proved to be momentous because it was easier to locate the reservists for the sudden draft. Although most people were not listening to the radio and very few had phones at home at the time, a few well-placed calls and the gathering of buses in public areas facilitated the call to action.

The quiet of the day also allowed reservists to hear the rumbling of the buses, and many went to check what was happening.

A Minefield Miracle

One event, which has been repeated literally thousands of times, concerned Commander David Yinni. He was in the process of pulling his troops out of a confrontation with the Syrian army when he realized that they were trapped in a minefield. Knowing it would take a miracle for them to make it out alive, the troops began crawling on their bellies while using their bayonets to try and find the mines without setting them off. At some point, one of the soldiers uttered a heartfelt prayer. As the story goes, all of a sudden a windstorm blew in. The soldiers hunkered down until the storm subsided, and when it did, it had blown away so much of the dirt that the mines were exposed and the entire platoon managed to escape unharmed.

In the end, due to a number of similar occurrences – not unlike those of previous wars – Israel managed to emerge victorious in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

The miracle of Chanukah also reminds us that even when facing overwhelming challenges, miracles do occur for the People of Israel, who will continue to exist notwithstanding the goals of the enemies we face.

Author: Penina Taylor, United with Israel(This article is the fourth in a series on Israel’s Military Miracles. For Part 3, click HERE)

The Six Day War and the Chanukah Miracle

This article is Part 3 of a four-part series on Israel’s Military Miracles.  For Part 2, click HERE.

Between the War of Independence in 1948 and the Suez Crisis of 1956 – when Israel, in response to the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran, then-Egyptian President Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal and constant terror across the border, went to war with Egypt – Israel was under continuous attack by the surrounding Arab states. The threats, although serious, were less intense in the latter part of the decade up until the spring of 1967, when the threat of a catastrophic war loomed on Israel’s horizon.

The armies of Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Egypt amassed a formidable legion at Israel’s borders. Israel’s 275,000 troops (many of whom were civilians who had been called up) seemed no match for the approximately 460,000 Arab troops, combined with their superior weaponry.  According to most accounts, the united Arab forces possessed more than twice the number of tanks and nearly four times the amount of combat aircraft than did Israel.

The odds of winning this war were as remote as those of the Chanukah story.  The world sat by and watched as they expected the Jewish State to be annihilated. For three weeks before the war began, the people of Israel prepared for the worst.

Chanukah Miracle in 1967

The true miracle of the Six Day War was simply the way it began. Good intelligence, foresight and planning allowed for the Israeli army to carry out a pre-emptive strike on the enormous enemy forces. The timing had to be right. Had Israel struck too early, she not only would have been seen by the world as the aggressor, but she would not have been able to destroy as much of the enemy’s fire power as she did. If she had waited too long, she would have lost the element of surprise and would have had to defend herself against four powerful enemies, which vastly outnumbered and outpowered her in every aspect.

Headlines in the US announce Israel’s victory. (Courtesy mfa.gov.il)

On June 5, Israel launched a series of pre-emptive airstrikes against Egypt. Caught completely by surprise, the Egyptian air force was all but destroyed, thus giving Israel an edge of air superiority. That evening, the IDF launched an airstrike against Syria, which was said to have destroyed nearly two-thirds of the Syrian air force. Having gained virtual control of the air, the IDF was in a much better position to fight the ground war that followed.

The war lasted only six days but ended with Israel gaining control of an area three times her size, including the Sinai Peninsula and strategic Golan Heights as well as the Holy City of Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland of the Jewish People. Although she would eventually relinquish Sinai as part of a peace treaty with Egypt, the new area allowed Israel to establish more defensible borders and to send a strong message to her attackers.

Reminiscent of the story of Chanukah, the odds of Israel surviving, let alone winning, the 1967 war were minimal. Yet fighting for her very existence and with God on her side, Israel emerged the victor once again.

Author: Penina Taylor, United with Israel

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1948 – The Miracle of Israel’s RE-Birth

This article is part 2 of a four-part series on Israel’s Military Miracles.  For Part 1, click here.

Modern-Day Maccabees

The focus of family Chanukah celebrations tends to be on the miracle of the oil (hence, the eating of oily treats and the lighting of the Chanukah menorah). Yet it was the Maccabees’ miraculous defeat of the Greek-Assyrian army approximately 2,300 years ago and the re-dedication of the Holy Temple that paved the way for the miracle of the oil to occur, when a small flask of oil sufficient for one day only in fact lasted for eight days.

The victory of the Maccabees against the pressure of forced assimilation facilitated the restoration of Jewish religious and communal life.

The modern-day Maccabees continue to fight for the survival of the Jewish people against all odds and with the help of God. We present here a short series of miraculous events that occurred during the modern State of Israel’s major wars.

The Creation of the State of Israel

As the modern Zionist movement began to solidify and gather steam, Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel began in earnest. Beginning in the 1880s and peaking in the 1940s with the flight of Jews from Europe who had survived the Holocaust, Jews began to eye the Holy Land, the ancient Jewish homeland, as a place of refuge. Their plight, combined with the fact that there wasn’t a single country willing to accept any significant number of Jewish refugees, created a sense of urgency for the establishment of a Jewish state.

After World War II, hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe attempted to immigrate to Israel (then called Palestine), which was then British-mandated territory. The British, always wanting to avoid friction with the Arab world, refused to allow the Jewish refugees to settle in “Palestine.” The increasingly volatile and violent situation between Jews, Arabs and the British convinced the British to leave Palestine to the United Nations.

mfa.gov.il

In 1947, the UN proposed the partition of Palestine into two states – one for the Jews and the other for the Arabs, with an internationally controlled area around Jerusalem. The Zionists, desperate to enable Jewish immigration, accepted the offer. The Arabs rejected it as they opposed any Jewish rule in Palestine.

Tensions peaked on November 29, following the UN General Assembly’s vote in favor of partition (dividing Palestine into two states), and Jewish communities throughout the Land of Israel found themselves under attack by local Arab gangs. On May 15, 1948,  Israel officially declared statehood. The very next day, the nascent Jewish state was invaded by the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

One Miracle Among Many

While stories abound of miracles that took place during Israel’s War of Independence, one story sticks out. It is referred to as the Battle of Netanyahu. (The definition of the Hebrew word netanyahu is “God has given.)

As soon as Israel declared independence on May 15, 1948, she found herself in an untenable situation. The new state was populated almost entirely by war refugees and possessed no means of protection. With no army and no weapons, she was a sitting duck. According to legend, the fledgling nation possessed approximately five machine guns with about fifteen rounds of ammunition and one tank.

Miraculous Ingenuity

As if to give Israel a false sense of hope, the surrounding Arab nations did not attack immediately. They planned a major offensive against Israel for the eighth day after declaration of statehood. However, the Israelis, understanding that their very lives were yet again on the line, came up with a plan that they hoped would at least buy them some time to prepare for war. On May 23, at midnight, they lined up cars, trucks, taxis, and anything they could find with an engine, side by side along the beaches from Tel Aviv through Netanya and Haifa. They then removed the exhaust pipes from the vehicles, making them sound much louder.

David Ben-Gurion, first Israeli prime minister. (Photo: Knesset)

They then loaded large oil drums with rocks and took them to the top of the adjacent hill. When the time was right, early in the morning, the signal was given and the engines were started while the oil drums were rolled down the hill.

The unsuspecting Arab forces were suddenly awakened by the incredible noise, which completely shook the area. Since they had no idea from where the racket was coming, they could only guess – and they assumed that American forces had come to Israel’s rescue with Sherman Tanks.

The entire Arab army fled, leaving behind a treasure trove of artillery and thus arming the Israelis.

Author: Penina Taylor, United with Israel
(With files from NYJtimes)

Next in the Series: 1967 – The Six Day War

Israel’s Miraculous Wars: Chanukah

Part one of our series on Chanukah, miracles, and Israel’s triumphs despite insurmountable militaristic odds.

What is Chanukah?

The Hebrew word Chanukah means “dedication.”  In the 2nd century BCE, during the time of the Second Temple, the Greek king of the Seleucid Empire, Antiochus Epiphanes, sought to pull Jews away from Judaism, with the hopes of assimilating them into Greek culture.

The Holy Temple in Jerusalem (facsimile)

One of the biggest obstacles in gaining the loyalty of a newly conquered people is overcoming their indigenous beliefs and practices. So, Antiochus outlawed Jewish observance ― including circumcision, Shabbat, and Torah study ― under penalty of death.

Some of the Jews began to assimilate into Greek culture, taking on Greek names and marrying non-Jews, slowly eroding the foundation of Jewish life.

The final blow came when the Greeks ordered the Jews to sacrifice a pig to a Greek god on the altar in the Temple. This ultimate desecration of Israel’s most holy place sparked a revolt against Antiochus’ army. Led by Matitiyahu, and later his son Judah the Maccabee, this small band of pious Jews used the only method they had at their disposal – guerrilla warfare – to oppose the mighty Greek army.

Maccabees vs. the Greeks: Insurmountable Odds

Antiochus sent thousands of well-armed troops to crush the rebellion. After managing to hold them off for three years, the Maccabees beat insurmountable odds and miraculously succeeded in driving the conquerors from their land. This victory was unimaginable given the huge difference in numbers and weaponry at their disposal.

When the Jewish fighters entered Jerusalem, they found the Holy Temple a total mess, desecrated with idols. The Maccabees cleansed the Temple and re-dedicated it on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev, to which December frequently corresponds.

When it came time to relight the seven-branched Menorah, they searched the entire Temple, but found only one jar of pure oil bearing the seal of the High Priest. They knew it would take eight days for more pure oil to be prepared and brought to the Temple, but the faithful group lit the Menorah anyway. Their trust in G-d and faithfulness to their people was rewarded with a miracle: The one small jar of oil burned for eight days, until a new supply of oil could be brought.

Eight Days of Miracles

From that day forward, Jews have observed the holiday of Chanukah each year. We celebrate for eight days, in honor of this historic victory and the miracle of the oil. We light candles or oil lamps every night for eight nights, sing special songs of praise and thanks to G-d, and eat special foods.

In honor of the great miracles of Chanukah, United with Israel brings you a several part series that looks at the miracles Israel has experienced in modern times.

Author: Penina Taylor, United with Israel