In the 1960s, Elie Wiesel worked as a journalist for the Forverts, then one of America’s leading Yiddish papers. Herewith, a translated excerpt from the column he wrote from Israel immediately after its stunning victory in June 1967:
Future generations will probably never believe it. Teachers will have a hard time convincing their students that what sounds legendary actually occurred. The children will naturally swallow each word, but later on, as adults, they’ll nod their heads and smile, remarking that these were fantasies of history.
They won’t believe that this small state, surrounded by hatred, fire, and murder, had so quickly managed a miracle. It will be hard to describe how, amid a sea of hatred, a tiny army drove off and humiliated several well-equipped military hordes of who knows how many Arab countries.
How does the acclaimed scholar and talmudic genius Saul Lieberman put it? In another 2,000 years, people will consider these events the way we think of descriptions of the Maccabees and their victories. Did I say another 2,000 years? No, make that: in another year, or even tomorrow. . . .
We all need to recite the Hallel thanksgiving prayer for being granted the privilege of witnessing these events. The battle has not yet ended, but the enemy has already retreated and won’t easily recover.
Read more on Forward: http://forward.com/opinion/israel/370557/revealed-after-50-years-what-elie-wiesel-wrote-about-the-six-day-war/