Tzippori:A City Rich in Jewish HistoryExploring the home of the Mishnah is worth the trip

The Yom Kippur WarAn American VolunteerRemembers

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Is r a e lIs r a e l

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t was Yom Kippur, October 6th,1973, when we first heard thenews: Egypt and Syria had

attacked Israel, unprovoked and with-out warning. Before we even brokeour fast, we tuned in to the news onTV that night. We learned that Egypthad crossed the Suez Canal onmakeshift bridges and had attacked theBar-Lev lines. Syria had pushed intothe Golan Heights with masses oftanks, and both forces were taking afierce toll in Israeli lives. Planes hadflown over the Sinai and GolanHeights and had met no resistance.

Many Israeli generals had warned

The Yom Kippur War

An American Volunteer Remembers

An American Volunteer Remembers

By Irwin H. Krasna, M.D.

I that the Arabs were planning anattack, recommending that the coun-try mobilize for war and not to permitsoldiers to return home for the holi-days. Prime Minister Golda Meir andDefense Minister Moshe Dayan werenot convinced, saying that Cairo andDamascus “saber rattle” to aggravateIsrael, and that an invasion was unlike-ly; and their opinion prevailed.

Accordingly, many Israeli soldiers,pilots and other essential military per-sonnel were permitted home for YomTov. Only a skeleton crew was leftmanning the Bar-Lev line along theSuez Canal, and only a few tank crews

were left on the Golan Heights. Agreat number of these soldiers werehesder boys — yeshivah students whovolunteer to serve in the army for fiveyears instead of three, combining armyservice with Talmud study. Because oftheir religious dedication, many hadvolunteered to stay “in the field” onYom Kippur to conduct services fortheir comrades. When the attackoccurred, this small defense force wasrapidly overrun and killed.

That night all soldiers were mobi-lized, the hospitals were emptied of allbut critically ill patients, all truckswere requisitioned and all Israelis a

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broad were asked to return to Israel assoon as possible to rejoin their units.

I was a practicing doctor, living inForest Hills, New York, at the time.My decision was made quickly. I toldmy family and two medical partnersthat I would try to go to Israel to helptake care of the wounded. When wordcame that a seat on a 707 to Israel hadbeen reserved for me, I went to Mt.Sinai Hospital. As chief of pediatricsurgery at that facility, I received per-mission to take surgical needs with meto Israel. I gathered a few dermatomes(for skin grafts), cantor tubes, gallonsof betadine solution, scrub brushes andointment, as well as a few boxes ofcadaver skin and pigksin sent fromWalter Reed Army Hospital.

The scene at JFK Airport was bed-lam. Young Israeli men waving $100bills begged for seats on the last planeto Israel, to be able to join their units.I thought, “What a difference from thescenes Americans witnessed, of peoplerushing to get on the last helicopterleaving Saigon, to l e a ve a country atw a r. He re, our boys are begging to bea l l owed to re t u rn to their country atw a r.” Even as they clamored, deep-d own eve ryone knew that not all thosewho would leave on that 707 woulde ver return. And yet they begged to go.

The plane was full and there wasn’tmuch conversation, just quiet and deepthought. What would the country looklike when we arrived? Will the centerof the country be bombed? Would thecivilian population be spare d ?

As it turned out, all the casualties we reat the northern and southern fronts, andthe civilian populations of all thre ecountries we re spared. On the plane, Imet Dr. Chaim Boichus, a senior pedi-atric nephrologist of Tel Ha s h o m e rHospital, the main military (and civil-ian) hospital in the Tel Aviv area. It iscomprised of Quonset huts of a pre -1948 British military camp. Not know-ing where I would vo l u n t e e r, he suggest-ed that I go with him to Tel Ha s h o m e r,w h e re they would surely be able to putmy surgical talents to good use.

The hospital director went over myresume, saw that I served in the U.S.

Air Force in 1956-1958 during theSinai War, and decided that I was atrained military surgeon. After receiv-ing a chaluk [white coat], a pair ofscrubs, a military ID, a meal ticketand a dormitory room assignment, Istarted working in the operating room.The chief of plastic surgery was Dr.Borenstein, a Bellevue-trained surgeon,who joined the hospital as a plasticsurgeon in 1948. His second-in-com-mand was Dr. Haggai Tzur, a superbIsraeli, trained locally, and a very orga-nized person. Two other plastic sur-geons, from Tel Aviv and Netanya,were drafted to the unit. All maleinterns and residents were gone, at thefront with their combat units. Batya, aRussian intern, and Miki, an Israeli,served with us. Both women workedday and night without complaining.

In truth, I had never before workedas a physician during war time. I hadto adjust to war casualties, massiveburns, dying young men, helicopterscoming in hourly and busloads ofnon-critical wounded. Most of theburns were tank casualties. It becamerapidly apparent that the lubricantsused in the Israeli and American tankswere flammable, and everyone in atank hit by a missile would be imme-diately incinerated.

It was ve ry hot in the Middle Eastduring October 1973, and the Is r a e l isoldiers in the tanks stripped down totheir undershorts and goggles. T h eflash after the tank was hit was rapidand burnt off all the skin of the exposeda reas. The eyes and shorts areas we rep rotected from the immediate flash. Ifthey got out of that tank rapidly, theywould sustain first and second degre eburns. If they did not, they sustainedp u l m o n a ry burns and third degre eburns. The tank battles in the Si n a iwe re described as the biggest tankbattles in the history of war. Fro mseeing the Israeli casualties, I canb e l i e ve that.

All the wounded re c e i ved fir s taid in the field or in a MASHunit in the Sinai or in the Go l a nHeights. When they arrived atthe hospital, they we re triaged in

the large receiving units, run by Tr a u m aChief Dr. Wolfstein, who had re l i n-quished his additional position as chiefof pediatric surgery since my arriva l .Many who we re sent to us we re termi-nal — advanced total body third degre eburns. These boys we re sent to a pri-vate room in a special building, withIVs and respirators, to spend their lasthours with their families.

hose considered operable wouldall arrive in the operating roomwith chest x-rays, extremity x-rays

(if indicated), and a tag describing theinjuries and what needed to be done.There was no second-guessing nordetailed physicals: since there were somany casualties, we had to work fast.There were only ten ORs, and thepatients sometimes were lined up forhours. We took them in the orderthat they were triaged. Of all thecasualties that arrived at Tel Hashomerand were treated, I would say that over90% survived. Many survived withsevere handicaps and severe scarringand disfigurement, but unlike so manyothers, they lived.

I was in charge of one of five surgi-cal teams. Dr. Borenstein, Dr. Tzur,two plastic surgeons from private prac-tice and I were each in charge of anoperating room. We were assisted byBatya and Miki, one surgical residentand some nurses. We would bring thesoldiers into the operating room, cutoff their burned uniforms or under-wear, catheterize them, start another

Four young burn patients, and two of the nurses.

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IV and, using betadine scrub brushes,scrub off all dead and burnt tissue. Ifthe burns were extensive, we wouldcover them with pigskin, or vaselinegauze for the smaller areas. We wouldestimate their body surface areaburned, for fluid calculations, and sendthem to the recovery room. Fromthere, they would go to the plasticsurgery Quonset hut. We never didskin grafts on the first trip to the ORbecause the incoming casualties neededthe room for surgery. We would oftenoperate 12-24 hours without let up;then make rounds, and sleep for a fewhours, until we heard the helicoptersarriving again.

The lady who was in charge of thed o r m i t o ry building gave up her ro o mfor a volunteer doctor and slept on ablanket in the hall. She would knockon my door at all hours of the nightand say, “Pro f e s s o r, there are newwounded.” I would go to the operatingroom and set up. When it was quietfor a few hours, we would elective l ytake the patients back to the ORs forre d ressing of wounds or skin grafts.

The first week was very hectic, withnew casualties coming in three to fourtimes a day. Ninety percent of thecasualties were burns, with a few bulletwounds or orthopedic wounds.

The spirit in the wards was serious,with parents or wives always at thebedside. Dr. Borenstein (the chief )would speak to each family himself.We had a young pilot whose jet hadbeen hit by a Russian SAM III, and heejected while his uniform was inflames. He had many extensive burnsover his entire torso. Although his facewas spared, his body would have exten-sive scarring. His wife never left hisside.

hen the soldiers awoke andwe re told that pigskin cov -e red their burns, they all

wanted to know if the Chief Rabbinatehad approved the use of pigskin, sinceit is not permitted to raise pigs in Is r a e l .We assured them that use of the pigswas absolutely approved in this case.

Israel was losing the war after the

first seven to ten days. Hundreds oftanks were lost, the Egyptian army wasnearing Eilat and the Syrian army wasrecapturing the Golan Heights.Supplies were diminishing and thingslooked very bad. One morning, whilelooking out of my window in myroom toward Ben Gurion airport, Isaw the largest plane I had ever seenland at Ben Gurion. It was anAmerican Galaxy jet, loaded withtanks and bombs. Five minutes later,another one with an American flaglanded, and they kept on coming forthe next two days. Secretary of StateKissinger and President Nixon hadcome through. Everyone in Israel, and

especially at Tel Hashomer, was elated;and the war did indeed turn aroundafter the resupplying of war material.I will never forget the airlifts that camefrom the U.S. that prevented Israelfrom being overrun.

After about ten days, we had moretime to do reconstruction on ourpatients. We used mesh grafts formost grafting because most woundswere extensive. These were lengthy,bloody procedures, and tiring to per-form. We usually had two or threesessions a day, and often worked in thewee hours of the morning, if newcasualties arrived.

The chief of surgery decided to placeall the volunteers on eight-hour shifts.My name can be spelled many differ-ent ways in He b rew, and when the ro s-ter was made up, I saw my name ont h ree daily shifts; as Krasna, Krafnaand Krasner. I took all three shifts.

I was the only pediatric surgeon inthe hospital. Dr. Borenstein called me

one day to see a child with abdominalpain who had been brought in. I toldthe parents that the boy had appen-dicitis and the parents were upset withhim for “doing this in the middle ofthe war.” Another child was broughtin with a puncture wound of theabdomen, inflicted by a playmate.They were playing “war” and he wasthe “bad Syrian.” As I was operatingon him, I heard the nurse say toanother nurse, in Hebrew, “TheseAmerican surgeons are all so slow,” notknowing that I understood the lan-guage. I told her, in Hebrew, that Iam not slow, I am careful. Sheepishly,she apologized for what she said.

Although I had a meal ticket forthree meals a day, I used it only a fewtimes. The OR always had coffee,cookies, salami and soup, becausemost of the surgeons did not have theleisure to leave the operating room fora quiet meal.

I did not have any opportunity toattend services during Sukkot or torest in a sukkah during the entire holi-day. Children sent get well cards to allthe soldiers, with pictures of sukkot,lulavim and etrogim. These cards werehung next to the beds, and the soldierswere very proud of them. I had anopportunity to make the brachah onthe lulav and etrog once, becauseLubavitch young men went around tothe wards, to enable everyone to makethis special blessing. Except for thisone occasion, and the get well cardsfrom the school children, there was noevidence to me that it was Yom Tov.To this day, I always have an uncom-fortable feeling on Sukkot as I remem-ber the one that I “lost” in 1973.

Towards the end of my stay, I wentto all the patients to say goodbye andwish them well. They asked me toremember them and I photographedas many as I could, along with photosof the nurses and other doctors.

As a cease fire was declared,reporters and television crews appearedat the hospital. How they got there isa mystery to me, but these brave peo-ple do find a way to get into the midstof trouble all the time. Dr. Borenstein

I consider myself fortunate to have been

in a position where Iwas able to contributesomething during this

crisis in Israel’s history.

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called me into his office and asked meto show a reporter around the wardsand let her speak to the wounded. Sh ewas a re p o rter from New Yo rk m a g a-zine and when she heard I was a NewYo rk e r, she wanted to interv i ew me.Her name was Nora Ef ron, and I didnot know at that time that she wouldsomeday be ve ry successful and famous.

They also permitted a TV crew intothe OR suite and x-ray area, and sinceI spoke English and was a U.S. volun-teer, I was interviewed. The segmentappeared in New York on a Fridaynight so my family did not see it; butothers did, and said I looked tired andskinny, but it was definitely me onscreen.

I left after 16 days, when civilian ElAl flights resumed. Some friends pickedme up the afternoon before the fli g h t ,and while driving, we stopped at a re dlight. In front of us, an army gasolinet ruck made a rapid left turn, and turnedon its side. Eve ryone who saw it hap-pen was momentarily immobilized inshock. Be f o re I knew it, I was out ofthe car, climbing on the truck andpulling the driver out to safety. When Ihad him safely away, I re a l i zed that theignition was still on. I

ran to the truck again and shut off theignition, while my friends we re ye l l i n gfor me to “get out of there!” I was stillin a “high-action” mode.

ny man in Israel in his 40s or 50swho has visible burn scars cansafely be assumed to be a Yo m

Kippur War veteran: know, when yo ulook at him, and remember what hecontributed to Is r a e l’s surv i val. Eve nthose of us who vo l u n t e e red felt hum-bled at the time by these self-sacrific i n gc i t i zens. What do you say to the Is r a e l ipatients and doctors when you leave togo back to your safe, quiet country ?How do you ove rcome the feeling ofguilt — that these young men almostdied protecting the Jewish state for usall, while you returned to the safety ofyour home?

When I arrived at Ben Gurion air-port on Friday morning, there were nocivilian planes on the tarmac. All Isaw were Galaxy jets and hospitalplanes, and I met many of the youngmen whom I had met on the way toIsrael, who were now returning to theStates. Needless to say, not everyonewas returning. “You remember theheavy guy who sat near the window?

He was killed at the Suez Canal…The red-headed, skinny guy – he’s stillin the hospital…” Others not return-ing were kept in their units for manymonths — and missed their schoolingor lost their jobs.

I considered myself fortunate tohave been in a position where I wasable to contribute something duringthis crisis in Israel’s history. Imaginemy pride in 1982 when my son,Mark, was one of the few interns inTel Hashomer Hospital during theLebanon war, since the other interns,Israeli citizens, had been drafted toserve in the infantry.

The dark days of October, 1973, arelong gone. Yet the latent, eternal valorof the Jewish nation is a resource anduniting force for Jews the world over.We have a tendency to view our histo-ry on a grand scale, yet it is the per-sonal experiences that fuel our resolve.Why are all these memories so fresh tome? The experiences of war becomean unforgettable fact of your being.When you are having a cup of coffeeat midnight in the ward, and you hearan adult male voice cry “Imma” —that is a voice that lives with youforever.

The Burn Unit Staff,after the hostilitiesended. Seated: Dr.Krasna; Batya, theintern; ProfessorBorenstein; Dr. HaggaiTzur.

Back Row: Thirdfrom left: DannyKatznelson, Chief ofPediatrics A; sixth fromleft (with glasses):Chaim Boichus, Chiefof Pediatrics B; secondfrom right: volunteerphysician fromAustralia; the remainderare housestaff and oneprivate plastic surgeon(middle in back row).

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magine standing on a street thatthe Tannaim might have walked on1,800 years ago — talk about

touching our Jewish souls with oursoles! Within the last ten years, thearchaeologists’ spades have revealedmuch of the ancient city of Tzippori,one of the most important Jewish cen-ters in the period of the Mishnah.

In Masechet Rosh Hashanah theTalmud teaches that with the destruc-tion of the Second Temple in the year70 CE, the Sanhedrin went into exilefrom Jerusalem along with the Jewishpeople. The court moved fromJerusalem to Yavneh, and eventually inthe mid 2nd century to Beit Shearimand from Beit Shearim to Tzippori

and from Tzippori to Teveria. Its lead-ing Jewish citizen at the end of the2nd century was Yehudah Hanasi andit was here that he completed the mas-sive project of compiling Torah she-be’al peh [the oral law] into one orga-nized set of six volumes, the Mishnah.

The earliest reference to Tzipporiseems to be in the book of Joshua(19:35). In Masechet Megillah, welearn that one of the fortified citieslisted in this verse is Tzippori. “Sowhy is it called Tzippori?” asks theTalmud and then answers, because “itsits on the mountain top like a bird(tzipor).” Every visitor to Tzipporishould make sure to include a stop inthe restored Crusader building on thetop of the hill. Take the short flight ofstairs to the observation roof: the rea-son the Talmud described the city inthis picturesque way will be obvious.

We know from Jewish and Romanhistorical records that Tzippori was aRoman capital of the Galil and a

major commercial center as well as aplace of Jewish learning. There seemto have been two very different com-munities living side by side. One ofthe first restored areas that the modernday visitor encounters on a tour of thesite is the Roman theater. TheTzippori theater is not as large orimpressive as other theaters from thesame time period which have been dis-covered and restored in Beit Shean orCaeserea. But I have often wonderedas I stand in the Tzippori theaterwhether it wasn’t precisely this placewhich inspired our Sages to interpretthe first verse of Psalms as prohibitingJews from attending the Roman the-aters (Masechet Avodah Zarah).

Continuing a short distance pastthe theater, archaeologists have uncov-ered what they believe to be a street ofa Jewish neighborhood of Tzippori.The discovery of a number of mikvaotthat can be clearly seen in the remainsof houses that once lined the alley is a

Peter Abelow was a Jewish educator inthe United States for more than 20 yearsbefore making aliyah with his family in1990. He is now a licensed tour guide,specializing in family and group toursthat make Israel come alive “Jewishly.”

TZIPPORIA City Rich in Jewish History

Exploring the home of theMishnah is worth the trip

By Peter Abelow

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most convincing clue. For those of usinspired by historic speculation, it istempting to wonder, did YehudahHaNasi himself walk on this street? Itis entirely possible that Hillel,Shammai, Rebbe Meir or Rabbi Akivaonce stood on these very stones! Forthis alone, it is worth a visit toTzippori.

Walk a few feet towards the top ofthe hill and 800 years forward in time.The building is the previously men-tioned Crusader fortress, but many ofits building stones were from theMishnah/Roman period, convenientlypicked up by the Crusaders on the siteand incorporated into the walls.Before entering the building, pay spe-cial attention to the corner stones.They are Roman sarcophagi. There isan observation deck on the roof fromwhich, on a clear day, you can seeTzfat to the north, and from theGolan on the east clear across Israel tothe Carmel Mountains and Haifa onthe west.

n the main floor ofthe building is ashort video about Tzippori (well

worth viewing) and on the secondfloor, a small museum.There are interactive com-puters that add to one’sappreciation of the siteand provide a fun activityfor children. Anotheradvantage of the museum– it’s air conditioned, awelcome respite on a hotsummer day.

From an archaeologi-cal point of view, one ofthe highlights of a visit toTzippori is the restored3rd to 5th century Romanvilla. The mosaic floor ofthe triclinium (diningroom) is very well pre-served. It depicts thestory of Dionysis, theGreek god of drinkingand revelry. Was this thehouse of a Roman or ofan assimilated Jew? One

thing that is very clear, the owner wascertainly well off and the Talmudicquote displayed on the wall under-scores this fact. “‘Who is a rich man?’says Rabbi Jose, ‘He who has a bath-room near his dining room.’” Indoorplumbing was a luxury of the wealthy.Here we see the signs of an ancientbathroom just a few feet from the din-ing room.

So far, everything we have dis-cussed is on the hill. A visit toTzippori would not be complete with-out a visit “downtown.” Do not leaveTzippori without a stroll on theCardo, the colonnaded street, to viewthe “Nile Mosaic” in the large publicbuilding at the foot of the street. Ifyour children played the mosaic gameon the computers in the Crusaderfortress, they will recognize patternson the floor of the entrance hall. It isalso fun to try to find the many ani-mals in the Nile Mosaic. Ancient his-tory savants may ponder why the peo-ple of Tzippori, so far from Egypt,chose this theme.

The Talmud says that when YehudaHaNasi died, he was eulogized in the18 synagogues of Tzippori. To thebest of my knowledge, two have been

discovered so far, but neither is opento the public yet. One of these, nearthe parking lot, had a magnificentmosaic floor, similar to those whichhave been discovered in Teveria, BetAlpha and Jericho. In the not too dis-tant future, the floor will be restoredand the snagogue opened to the pub-lic, adding another meaningful featureto a visit to this city.

Tzippori is part of the NationalParks Network. It can be reached by ashort drive through Moshav Tzippori,just a few kilometers south ofHaMovil junction (on the Tiberias –Haifa road). On selected eveningsduring the summer, the park is openfor a special program in which actors,dressed in Roman attire, stroll thestreets and recreate the ambiance ofthe Roman period.

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