The war of Yom Kippur: Part 1

00:01 In this time, Yidden of Eretz Yisrael find themselves in war. Am Yisrael are all as one body with their minds and hearts tuned into Eretz Yisrael, monitoring the situation and davening for the immediate yeshua of all Yidden of Eretz Yisrael and everywhere. The tragic events which began on Shemini Atzeres and in Eretz Yisrael also Simchas Torah brought memory flashes of fifty years earlier, the war which began on Yom Kippur, Teshrin lamed daled, late nineteen seventy-three. It was then that Tsahal, the IDF, was attacked from two fronts. From the south was Egypt, from the north it was Syria. Tsahal was not prepared, was not mobilized at all, and suffered the loss of a few thousand soldiers, Hashem yikim domam, in the first days of the war, lei ata vlei alinu. Speaking about the war that began Yom Kippur, we now begin, be'ezras Hashem, a series of installments elaborating on what took place by the Rebbe, beginning from three full years prior to the outbreak of the war, referred to as the Yom Kippur War. The expression of the Rebbe was, "Azei gerufene Yom Kippur Milchama." From then, three years earlier, the Rebbe, being the einei ha'edah, the eyes of the nation, has over forty-two years foresaw difficult situations and therefore cautioned what should be done to avoid a disaster. And at times, the Rebbe strengthened Klal Yisrael by clearly stating the miraculous outcomes, as in the Six-Day War in Teshrin chaf zayin, nineteen sixty-seven, and the Gulf War of the year tinose, nineteen ninety-one. Likewise, a

02:15 few years before the war of Yom Kippur, the Rebbe began alerting on the insecure situation at the time, which was leading into a very dangerous matzav. Sadly, the Rebbe's warnings and directives were not adhered to for political reasons. Eventually, this led up to the war on the day of Yom Kippur. The Rebbe addressed this topic in public and during many yechidiyots in private audiences with various personalities in Eretz Yisrael, as generals, Knesset members, et cetera. We begin with citing from a letter written by Rebbe Efraim Potash in London and published in the monthly Chsidish HaDeher, number two twelve, for the month of Tishrei this year, Teshrin pei daled. He writes as follows, "In connection with the fiftieth anniversary of the Yom Kippur War in Teshrin lamed daled, I would like to add some information from behind the scenes that I heard from my late uncle, Yehuda Avner, alav ha-shalom. His diplomatic career included postings as Israeli consul to New York from nineteen sixty-seven to nineteen seventy, first secretary to Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin in Washington, D.C. from nineteen seventy, Israeli ambassador to UK, England, nineteen eighty-two to nineteen eighty-seven, Israeli ambassador to Australia, nineteen eighty-eight to ninety-three, and at various times advisor to five Israeli prime ministers." Parenthetically, Yehuda Avner was zecher to many hours of yechidus with the Rebbe as he was chosen by Menachem Begin after the Rebbe requested it to report back to the Rebbe about the Camp David discussions with President Carter. He was the guest speaker at the Kinus HaShluchim in

04:20 Teshrin sameches, two thousand and eight, and was interviewed by Jem for about six hours around that time. He was niftar in the year two thousand and fifteen. Being my mother's youngest brother and my family hailing from Manchester, UK, he would try to visit as often as possible, and on one memorable occasion in nineteen seventy, he appeared in Manchester for a short visit. The family would always try to pump for inside information, and on that occasion he revealed the following, warning us not to share it outside the family. One morning in nineteen seventy, Arik Sharon, the general, turned up in the Israeli embassy in Washington looking extremely tired. My uncle asked him, "Arik, why are you looking so worn out?" And Arik answered, "I have been up all night." And my uncle asked, "Doing what?" Arik answered, "I was with the Lubavitcher Rebbe for a few hours." And my uncle continued, "What were you talking about?" And Arik answered, "Well, first of all, he took out a map of the Sinai Desert and started talking about how I had conducted the attack on Abu Agila during the Six-Day War, pointing out that had we attacked from a different direction, our casualties would have been less." My uncle asked, "Was he right?" Arik answered, "With hindsight, I had to admit that he was right." Then he began to talk about the sand in the Sinai and how it affects tank mobility and what can be done to the tracks on the tank to improve grip. After that

06:13 he says to me, tell me, what do you think about the Barlev line? I replied that I have doubts about its effectiveness. In the event, the Barlev line, a very long mound of sand along the Israeli side of the Suez Canal, proved useless as a defense as the Egyptians simply hosed it away with high-powered water jets. Then the Rebbe asked, how would you get over to the Suez Canal if the Barlev line is in the way? I replied, why would we want to cross the Suez Canal? Rebbe continued, it may be necessary one day. I suggest that you, as commander of the Israeli army in Sinai, arrange for a camouflaged breach point in the Barlev line to the south of the Suez Canal that will enable you to get across in a clandestine way with camouflaged pontoon bridges ready to deploy across the canal. And please do not ask the politicians for permission. It transpired that Arik Sharon listened to the Rebbe's advice. During the war of Yom Kippur, after the Egyptians swarmed across the Sinai Desert and initially pinned down the IDF, Arik Sharon took 12 tanks and daringly crossed the Suez Canal at the prearranged point. He managed to blockade the three roads leading from Egypt to the Sinai Desert so that supplies could not get through to the Egyptian Third Army in Sinai. The Third Army was completely cut off and the UN and United States began begging Israel not to starve them out. The story of the Yom Kippur War includes

08:11 many other miracles, but basically it was Arik Sharon's move behind the Suez Canal that clinched the Yom Kippur War in Israel's favor. So now we know that in that fateful Yechidas in Tov Shinlam in 1970, the Rebbe was preparing for the war begashmius also, not just beluchnius, a full three years before the actual war.