I'll never forget spring 1967. The terrible stress and worry which predated the miraculous Six Days War. culminated in Israel's liberation of Jerusalem's Old City, including the Temple Mount and Kotel, Western Wall.
During those tumultuous weeks I was simultaneously busy with all of the things that American high school students did in their last weeks of school, being that I was about to graduate and finally leave Great Neck. As one of the very few Jewish student activists, busy with NCSY (National Conference of Synagogue Youth,) SSSJ (Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry,) Betar and all the pro-Israel activities I could find, my priorities were very clear to me.
It was hard to be "two places at once," listening to all of the news updates and attending lame duck classes, which no longer had any real purpose. The school administration made it pretty clear that they could take revenge and withhold our diplomas if we had dared to skip classes or even the "Senior Class Beach Day." At Jones Beach, I went from student to student giving them the opportunity to donate money to Israel via the NCSY Torah Fund. And in class, my friend and I took turns sitting on a gigantic transistor radio which was tuned to a news station, so we could hear the latest from Israel.
But the television newscast I remember best found me babysitting, just across the street from my house. That was when I saw and heard the reports of the IDF liberating the Old City and the Kotel. I can't find it on youtube with the loud crying of the soldiers, which I remember so clearly to this day. As they cried, so did I.
Do you have any memories of that historic and miraculous time? If so, what are they?
During those tumultuous weeks I was simultaneously busy with all of the things that American high school students did in their last weeks of school, being that I was about to graduate and finally leave Great Neck. As one of the very few Jewish student activists, busy with NCSY (National Conference of Synagogue Youth,) SSSJ (Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry,) Betar and all the pro-Israel activities I could find, my priorities were very clear to me.
It was hard to be "two places at once," listening to all of the news updates and attending lame duck classes, which no longer had any real purpose. The school administration made it pretty clear that they could take revenge and withhold our diplomas if we had dared to skip classes or even the "Senior Class Beach Day." At Jones Beach, I went from student to student giving them the opportunity to donate money to Israel via the NCSY Torah Fund. And in class, my friend and I took turns sitting on a gigantic transistor radio which was tuned to a news station, so we could hear the latest from Israel.
But the television newscast I remember best found me babysitting, just across the street from my house. That was when I saw and heard the reports of the IDF liberating the Old City and the Kotel. I can't find it on youtube with the loud crying of the soldiers, which I remember so clearly to this day. As they cried, so did I.
Do you have any memories of that historic and miraculous time? If so, what are they?