How Yitzhak Rabin Saw the Six-Day War: A Testament of Faith

Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu of blessed memory shared that he received a telegram in which Rabin, then the Chief of Staff, remarked on the Six-Day War, saying, "From Hashem this has come; it is wondrous in our eyes."

"Several years ago, a man named Yitzhak Nahum brought me a telegram. He had invited Rabin after the Six-Day War to come to the Rambam Institute in Tel Aviv," recounted the rabbi. "When Rabin couldn't make it, Yitzhak Nahum asked him to write something about the war. One might have expected Rabin to say 'we won, we conquered...'. Instead, Rabin signed it as 'Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin', writing: 'From Hashem this has come; it is wondrous in our eyes'."

"This is his telegram!", the rabbi added excitedly. "Rabin was saying that we owed the victory in the Six-Day War to divine intervention! Yes, we had weapons, but consider the odds against the nations surrounding us. Everything seemed ready, and Abdul Nasser claimed he would soon be drinking coffee in Tel Aviv... They had closed the straits, leaving us in a very difficult situation! But we prayed, fasted, and called out – and Hashem listened. 'From Hashem this has come' he said himself – 'it is wondrous in our eyes', and indeed it is! This came from Hashem, and it's a wonder how He helped us."

Later, the rabbi mentioned another occasion showcasing Rabin's belief. "Let me remind you of something else about Rabin," he said. "The Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi Sha'ar Yashuv Cohen, invited Rabin to a yeshiva dinner in America. He invited him half a year to a year before the Scud missile period, and after the missiles, they held a fundraising dinner. Rabin told them at the event: I want to tell you, that the Scud Missile War against Israel was a miracle from heaven!"