Subject: IDF paratroopers Tzion Karasenti, Yitzhak Yifat, and Chaim Oshri / Photographed by: David Rubinger / Location: the Kosel / Date: June 7, 1967. The bigger picture: The photographer wagered on his photo of Rabbi Goren, but his image of the three awed faces spoke to hearts around the world.
It was June 5 1967 and tiny Israel surrounded by 22 Arab nations threatening genocide was again at war — but this time the stakes were higher than ever. Even Jordan — the neighboring enemy that had maintained a somewhat cold peace with Israel after taking over Judea Samaria and half of Jerusalem in 1948 — joined the fray and swore to push the Jews into the sea.
For 19 years with barbed wire and Jordanian legionnaires blocking the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City there was a black hole in the heart of every Jew. The Kosel was in captivity. And now it looked like it would all be over.
In Meah Shearim just meters away from Jordanian positions pious Jews spent the previous Shabbos digging trenches and sandbagging openings against sniper fire. The Chief Rabbinate had appropriated the Ramat Gan national park for a mass graveyard in anticipation of tens of thousands of casualties. The nations of the world had turned away. Was it possible to have two holocausts in a single generation?
But then something happened as if G-d decided to make a public confirmation that He alone was running the show. The Egyptian air force was decimated before it even got off the ground. Egyptian troops fled the Sinai leaving their rifles and even their shoes behind. On every front fighting was fierce and casualties were high yet victories were nothing short of miraculous.
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