Recalling the Yom Kippur War’s Impact

By Moshe Phillips

This year, as we remember the Yom Kippur War, far too many of us cannot help but feel disconnected from it because it happened so long ago—even as we stand just three years away from the October 7th Hamas-led attack. What can we do to mark the anniversary of the 1973 war in a meaningful way?

The surprise attack was launched against Israel by the armed forces of Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and their allies on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar in a bid to take back the Arab world’s losses from Israel’s victory in the 1967 war and to bring about the destruction of Israel.

I believe one book illustrates the revolution that took place in the short time between the 1967 Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War better than any other, and it is titled Letters to Talia. That time between the wars was one in which the way Jews from all over the world viewed Zionism and the State of Israel in the context of their connection to Judaism was fundamentally changed.

In this post–October 7th era, when so many North American Jews are completely misguided over how they view Israel and Zionism, there may not be a better book to read than Letters to Talia, even though its words were penned decades ago. The Hebrew edition of the book was originally published in 2005 and became hugely popular, but somehow the book never achieved the status it so richly deserves outside of Israel.

Letters to Talia is eerily reminiscent of Self-Portrait of a Hero: From the Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu 1963–1976. Both reveal the tragic loss that Israel has suffered by sacrificing its best and brightest on the fields of battle for generations. Millions of Jews the world over will again mourn for these hero soldiers this year at Yizkor on Yom Kippur. Letters to Talia is a collection of correspondence between a kibbutz-born secular Israeli high school girl and an Israeli soldier named Dov Indig, one of Israel’s fallen heroes.

Indig fell in combat during the Yom Kippur War on October 7, 1973 (11 Tishrei 5734), while fighting the Syrian army on the Golan Heights. Indig was a dedicated yeshiva student and part of the Religious Zionist movement.

In early October 2012, a book release event was held in the Knesset for the English edition, which Prime Minister Netanyahu and other notables attended. Hagi Ben-Artzi, Sara Netanyahu’s brother, edited the book and figures prominently in numerous letters from both writers.

Many of the letters center around Talia’s desire to put the Jewish religion in proper context in her life as a modern, thinking young woman, Dov’s answers to her questions, and his army experiences.

What makes the book so moving is not just the emotion that the writers attach to their search for truth, but the commitment they demonstrate to the Jewish people, their love of the Land of Israel, and their faith in the State of Israel.

The topics tackled encompass an entire range of issues—from the Israeli surrender of Sinai to women’s rights, and from emigration to the Diaspora to a critique of Western culture. The reader is left to ponder how these young Israelis could have had more common sense than the politicians who surrendered so much of the lands liberated in 1967 that feature so prominently in the book.

Subjects such as religious coercion and the importance of Israeli settlements are discussed at length. The depiction of their visits to Sinai is vivid and leaves the reader with a better sense of what Israel lost when this vast area was surrendered to Egypt at Camp David.

Here are a few random quotes that give a sense of the patriotism of these young Israelis:

Dov: “I am happy to hear from you that most of the kids hold that it is forbidden to give up Sinai and it is forbidden to be tempted by the promises of the Arabs, who until today have broken all of them.”

Talia: “I really envy you that you were on the Golan Heights. I love hiking there more than anywhere else in Israel.”

Dov: “How fortunate we are that we are privileged to be soldiers in the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], which defends the lives of Jews in Israel and throughout the world.”

Talia: “We thought that our amazing victory in the Six-Day War would put an end to wars, and that the Arabs would resign themselves to our existence, but it turns out that we made a mistake.”

Read the book Letters to Talia for yourself; you will be moved by the experience. Wishing you a meaningful Yom Kippur. G’mar chatima tova.

Moshe Phillips is national chairman of Americans For A Safe Israel, AFSI, (www.AFSI.org), a leading pro-Israel advocacy and education organization.