The incredible UNKNOWN story of the Yom Kippur War

The psalm states, “From the mouth of babes and sucklings, You have established strength to destroy the enemy and avenger.” In order to go to war and prevail over an enemy, it would seem that soldiers are needed. By Torah law, soldiers are drafted into the army from the age of twenty. Yet here, the verse states that our only strength over the enemy lies in the Torah study and prayer of young children. In the leadup to the Yom Kippur War, around two months before war broke out, an instruction came forth from the Rebbe that all Chabad Chasidim – men, women and children, including babies in cradles – should go together to the Western Wall for a gathering of prayer and charity. There was a whole campaign. The Rebbe was asking people to go to youth camps and to get children to say Psalms and to do things, and they had large parades at the Western Wall. He started to make public rallies for the children. “The pure who have not sinned yet, have the power to smite the enemy.” The Rebbe requested it once again, this time two weeks before Yom Kippur. We didn’t know that in those very moments, hours and days, the enemies of Israel, the leaders of the surrounding Arab countries, were sitting and planning, God forbid, to annihilate Israel. On the Yom Kippur of the Yom Kippur War, Chief Rabbi Jacobovitz was visiting Ilford, and he stayed with us in our home for the Shabbos. I said to him, “The Rebbe doesn’t think it’s so quiet in Israel at the moment; he’s been speaking a lot about going out with the children and things…” A song should be chosen by the children under the age of Bar Mitzvah. As we’ve been especially focused on the children lately they should lead us in song, and the adults can help them out. <i>In You, God, have I taken refuge; let me never be ashamed.</i> Chief Rabbi Jacobovitz said, “Well, the Rebbe is wrong. I was speaking to the chief rabbi of Israel recently, and he said to me that it’s quieter on the Suez Canal than it is on the French Riviera.” <i>The spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces has notified us</i> <i>that from two o’clock this afternoon,</i> <i>Egyptian and Syrian forces have been attacking the Sinai and Golan Heights</i> <i>by air and on land.</i> <i>The Israeli forces are outnumbered by twelve to one…</i> Rashi explains that Moses prophesied but did not know what he was prophesying. In this vein, we’ve been speaking this whole summer that “From the mouth of babes and sucklings You have established strength… to destroy the enemy and avenger.” At first glance, it wasn’t clear what was pushing me to speak about it, but now we see the need “to put an end to the enemy and avenger.” The war came as a complete surprise, even to the Israel Defense Forces. How did the Egyptians succeed in crossing the Suez Canal, which nobody ever thought they would cross? And the Syrians – how did they succeed, in their inferiority, to seize almost the entire Golan Heights from our hands? The feeling was one of overwhelming fear, almost despair, that all of Israel would collapse. Seemingly, it begs the question of how, at a time of war, we can gather for a joyous <i>farbrengen</i>. But from the eve of Yom Kippur, until the end of the month, the custom is not to recite prayers of supplication, and so on. That is a sign that our prayers to God during these days are fulfilled not through supplication, but rather through joy. This was sort of a revolutionary idea, because everybody was very despondent. Over two thousand casualties. The Union of Orthodox Rabbis wanted to proclaim a public fast. This is what it says in the Code of Jewish Law. Even if it’s on Shabbos; even if it’s on a holiday… But the Rebbe demanded joy. This is based on the Baal Shem Tov’s lesson on the verse, “God is your shadow.” The way a Jew behaves in this world is mirrored by God – like a shadow. When we display joy down here, God responds with joy in return. So the way that we can help during these days is through joy – “Joy which breaks limitations.” <i>In the North, the Israeli forces move in to counterattack.</i> <i>The Syrian forces are driven out.</i> <i>The Israeli forces continue to break into the area of Syria</i> <i>and create the new Israeli advance on the road to Damascus. </i> <i>In the South, the Israeli forces penetrate across the Canal into Egypt.</i> <i>The army now stands fifty miles from Cairo.</i> <i>It was a remarkable turnaround, but at a cost.</i> <i>Casualties have been heavy. </i> <i>We will stand in silence, and invoke with aching hearts,</i> <i>the memory of our fighters.</i> As the result of a decision made by politicians and those depressed by the exile, the clear directive of military experts to call up the reserves was rejected. This would have deterred the enemy, and would have prevented the war… The Rebbe knew every detail during the Yom Kippur War. I was there, and he talked about all that happened there – why the war started: because they recruited the reserves twice, and the third time they didn’t believe there would be a war. There were the weak-hearted who skewed it as: “Do not provoke the nations.” “We are not allowed to provoke non-Jews, so we must put ourselves in danger and not call up the reserves, and not do anything which can be translated not as defense, but as attack.” This caused – may the Merciful One protect us, and may it never happen again – hundreds and hundreds of casualties, in addition to the wounded. Their widows and orphans are now walking the streets of the Holy Land! It was the decision of the government not to strike first, even though we were sure they would do that, in order to have that political – or whatever you call it – advantage at expense of a military disadvantage… After the Yom Kippur War I wrote to the Rebbe, and I said to him that the miracle was far more obvious in the Six Day War than it was in the Yom Kippur war. And I had a letter back from the Rebbe in which he said that the miracle of the Yom Kippur War was far greater because had the Egyptians on the one hand, and those coming in from the North not stopped to regroup, we would never have the breathing space. But thank God – I don’t know if he said this personally or in the letter – God is the Commander-in-Chief of <i>all</i> the forces. Wherever you have an army, it is controlled by “God, the Lord of Hosts.” And we saw this on the second day following Yom Kippur. As soon as we concluded the holy day, we saw how God was controlling the opposing army. He held them back three, four, five kilometers from the Suez Canal, and the Syrians at Hermon, making them decide to not go further. They surprised us, because we were not ready for the fight. When they found it too hard to fight, they left their tanks and ran away. We know that in the Six Day War the same thing happened. God wants us not to rely on miracles every day. We must act in the natural order, and miracles must be an exception. “When you know that the enemy is intending to kill you,” you must take action through natural means. In fact, that is what will channel God’s blessings. “The Guardian of Israel Who neither slumbers nor sleeps.” He had logic in everything that he said. He didn’t talk like a rabbi, he talked as a general.