A Watershed in Retrospect (The Yom Kippur War Twenty Years On
- RAK REKA No. 18)
Activity Ideas Heroism
and Involvement - Articles
Efrat's Story
Efrat, formerly an officer in the tank corps, was a student who
returned home to Ness Ziona for Yom Kippur.
"On Friday, before the fast, you could have cut the atmosphere
with a knife. So many of my friends finishing _ service didn't
get leave. Some who did were recalled," she explains.
"We'd been waiting out the security situation for a long
time and everyone's nerves were on edge."
"After Kol Nidrei, on the way home for the first time
ever, even in our secular community - we saw cars on the road
- on Yom Kippur! Something was definitely up. But without
television or radio, we were totally in the dark. As we walked
home, everyone was talking; many people had been missing from
the service and families began telling us who'd been called
up.
"Next morning I stayed home with a girlfriend. The phone
rang - this was the second shock I'd had - the phone in our
house on Yom Kippur never rang - my girlfriend had been recalled
to her base. It was a strange feeling, a strange day. And
all the time, I was waiting, thinking, when will I be called
up and what's happening with my boy-friend on the (Suez) Canal,
my friends, my classmates. Actually, I wasn't called up for
a while."
At the service, the synagogue grapevine was busy; few people had
really prayed that morning.
"There were lots of cars on the road, people leaving for
the army. This was the Yom Kippur when everything we took
for granted changed. "
At about 1 pm, when most Israeli synagogues break for the hottest
hours of the day, Efrat's father returned home. He, too, had been
called up.
"My mother made him eat some soup to break his fast while
she collected his kit. At 14.00 the air raid sirens sounded
all over Israel and we heard the radio was back on the air,
so we tuned in, and knew we were at war."
"We knew what war was. It wasn't on our doorstep, so there
was no worry for ourselves; the shops were closed so we couldn't
stock up on food. We spent the time worrying about friends and
relatives. The first days were so fraught with anxiety, not knowing
anything, not knowing who was serving where.
"My mother was mobilized as a nurse. I didn't return to
Jerusalem on Sunday - and that's when I learned my boyfriend
had been wounded. The Army didn't manage to contact families
until Thesday - we heard through a relative clerking at the
hospital. We rushed down to see him in a jeep in the blackout
even before we told his parents. My first thought was that
his face looked fine, so he must be OK. I didn't realize he
how serious his injuries were: I never thought to ask, then.
"Later, I found out he was paralyzed from a spinal injury.
Every day both our families pushed through the chaos and confusion
of other visitors at Tel Hashomer Hospital. Then we started
seeing lists of dead and wounded in the press and media; suddenly,
facts began to replace rumours. I found out that one of my
friends had been taken prisoner, three others died in combat.
It was a difficult time.
"We saw my boyfriend every day, we even drove down in
the car on Simhat Torah when his father rushed home to tell
us he was dying. But we arrived too late... He was such a
wonderful boy... a magical person..."
Source: Interview. Jerusalem, August 26. 1993 – Editor
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