Address by Rav Aluf Yitzhak Rabin

War is intrinsically harsh and cruel, bloody and tear-stained, but particularly this war, which we have just undergone, brought forth rare and magnificent instances of heroism and courage, together with humane expressions of brotherhood, comradeship, and spiritual greatness.

Whoever has not seen a tank crew continue its attack with its commander killed and its vehicle badly damaged; whoever has not seen sappers endangering their lives to extricate wounded comrades from a minefield; whoever has not seen the anxiety and the effort of the entire Air Force devoted to rescuing a pilot who has fallen in enemy territory, cannot know the meaning of devotion between comrades in arms.

The entire nation was exalted and many wept upon hearing the news of the capture of the Old City. Our Sabra youth and most certainly our soldiers do not tend to sentimentality and shy away from revealing it in public. However, the strain of battle, the anxiety which preceded it, and the sense of salvation and of direct participation of every soldier in forging the destiny of Jewish history cracked the hard shell and released well-springs of excitement and spiritual emotion.

The Six-Day War revealed many instances of heroism far beyond any single attack. Relatively small units of our soldiers often entered seemingly endless networks of fortification, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of enemy troops, forcing their way, hour after hour, in this jungle of dangers. After the momentum of the first attack has passed, it is the necessity of belief in our strength, and the goal for which we are fighting, that causes us to summon every spiritual resource to continue the fight to its very end.

Thus our armored forces broke through on all fronts; our paratroopers fought their way into Rafiah and Jerusalem; our sappers cleared minefields under enemy fire. The units which broke the enemy lines and achieved their objectives, only after hours upon hours of struggle, continuing forward, only forward, even while their comrades fell. These soldiers were carried forward by spiritual values, by resources far more powerful than their weapons or the technique of warfare.

This army, which I had the privilege of commanding through these battles, came from the people and returns to the people, to the people which rises in its hour of crisis and overcomes all enemies by virtue of its moral values, its spiritual readiness in the hour of need.
 

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