OCTOBER 5 • 2023 | 61
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Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at thejewishnews.com
50 Years After the
Yom Kippur War
T
his Oct. 6, 2023, marks the 50th anniversary of Israel’s darkest days
since its War of Independence in 1948. At 2 p.m. on Yom Kippur
in 1973, as Israelis observed the High Holiday, Egyptian and Syrian
armed forces launched a sneak attack.
Armed by the Soviet Union with modern anti-aircraft and anti-tank
missiles, Egypt’s and Syria’s initial attacks were devastating. Egypt launched
an audacious offensive across the Suez Canal into the Sinai
Peninsula, which had been held by Israel since the Six-Day
War in 1967. At the same time, Syria began a massive assault,
led by 1,000 tanks, in the Golan Heights.
After three days of intense fighting, Egypt was pushed
back, and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) eventually
crossed the Suez Canal and were threatening Cairo. In the
north, the IDF had repelled the Syrians and were on the
outskirts of Damascus.
At the war’s end, Israel had achieved a major military
victory, but at a huge cost to all sides. After nearly three weeks of intense,
brutal fighting, the IDF lost 2,656 soldiers with more than 7,000 wound-
ed. Egypt is believed to have lost between 8,000 and 20,000 soldiers and
as many as 35,000 wounded; Syria had an estimated 15,000 killed and
30,000 wounded (neither Egypt nor Syria released casualty reports).
The impact of the Yom Kippur War was immense. On the positive
side, it set the stage for a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 (and one with Jordan
in 1994). On the negative side, the war eventually led to the downfall of Prime
Minister Golda Meir’s government over questions regarding Israel’s intelligence
failures prior to the onset of the war. The war also changed the nature of inter-
nal Israeli politics.
And, the Yom Kippur War affected our local community. First, the William
Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History holds many pages with
reports about war in the October and November 1973 issues of the JN.
Detroit’s Jewish community did its part to assist Israel in the aftermath of
the Yom Kippur War, providing financial and moral support. For example, see
the ad for the 1974 Allied Jewish Campaign’s Emergency Fund: “Is This Your
Problem, Too?” This letter from campaign chairs William Davidson and Louis
Grossman is an appeal for support for Israel, as well as a cogent synopsis of the
challenges facing Israel after the war (Nov. 30, 1973, JN).
The Yom Kippur War has been a topic of interest ever since 1973. The JN
published stories about the war on its 30th and 40th anniversaries (Oct. 3, 2003,
Sept. 5, 2013). Barbara Sofer’s article on the 10th anniversary still holds true:
“YK War Still in Israel’s Psyche” (Sept. 9, 1983).
To this point, IDF Chief of Staff Herzl “Herzi” Halevi recently declared that those who served in the Yom
Kippur War are a source of inspiration for current IDF members. Some of those veterans have connections to Detroit. Former
executive director of the Detroit Zoo, Ron Kagan, dropped out of college to join the IDF when the war broke out (May 27,
2021). Arik Ragowsky of Farmington Hills was a tank commander in 1973 (May 17, 2018).
The Yom Kippur War is a significant moment in Israeli history. It ranks with the War of Independence and the Six-Day War
as a defining moment for modern Israel.
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN archives, available for free at thejewishnews.com.
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair