The Tanks of Tammuz and The Seventh Day: The emergence of opposite poles of Israeli identity after the Six Day War

Abstract

The Six Day War generated two books that can be added to the pantheon of literary works that have shaped Israeli identity: Soldiers' Talk (Si'ah lohamim) and Shabtai Teveth's The Tanks of Tammuz (Hasufim ba-tzariah). Over the years these books came to symbolize key paradigms in the public discourse – the former representing the figure of the anguished soldier who “shoots and weeps,” and the latter reflecting the cult of generals, with all the arrogance, intoxication with power, and scorn for the enemy associated with it. This article presents a comparative analysis of the two books, arguing that they indicate totally different ways of processing the abrupt transition from the anxiety of the “waiting period” before the war to the euphoria after the rapid victory.

Keywords:

• Six Day War
• The Seventh Day
• The Tanks of Tammuz
• Steel Division
• Shmuel Gonen
• Shabtai Teveth
• Avraham Shapira
• Amos Oz

Notes

 1. (Teveth, The Tanks of Tammuz, is the somewhat shortened English translation of the Hebrew version, Hasufim ba-tzariah (Exposed in the turret, suggesting the fearless behavior of the tank commanders). Quotations that do not appear in the English translation will be cited from Hasufim ba-tzariah. The Seventh Day is the somewhat shortened English translation of the Hebrew version, Shapira, ed., Siah lohamim . Quotations that do not appear in the English translation will be cited from Siah lohamim.

 2. For such accolades about The Tanks of Tammuz see, for instance, the following newspaper articles: Ze'ev Schiff, “Hasufim ba-tzariah le-Shabtai Tevet” (Shabtai Teveth's Hasufim ba-tzariah), Ha'aretz, 30 April 1968; Shmuel Segev, “Alilot gayasot ha-shiryon” (Deeds of the armored corps), Ma'ariv, 15 March 1968. For examples of similar praise for The Seventh Day, see Uri Oren, “Kasheh lihiyot lohem yehudi” (It's hard to be a Jewish soldier), Yed'iot Aharonot, 16 February 1968; Meir Pa'il, “Siah lohamim” (Soldiers' Talk), Be-Mahaneh Nahal, 1 January 1968.

 3. Hayim Guri, “Al Siah lohamim” (About Soldiers' Talk), Lamerhav, 12 June 1968.

 4. Mordechai Bar-On on the cover of the 3rd edition of Hasufim ba-tzariah, written 11 March 1968.

 5. Three books have recently been published on these issues: Gluska, The Israeli Military; Oren, Six Days of War; Segev, 1967. For the war no one wanted, see Shamir, “Mekorah shel ha-haslamah,” 56.

 6. For details on the anxiety and the euphoria, see Gan, “Ha-siah ha-gove'a.”

 7. Shraga Har Gil, “Aharei mabul sifrei ha-milhamah” (After the flood of books about the war), Ma'ariv, 10 November 1967.

 8. Eitan Haber, “Adam bein kotlei ha-pladah” (A human being between steel walls), Yedi'ot Aharonot, 22 March 1968.

 9. Yair Sheleg, “Yoshev be-pa'amon tzlilah, mashkif al ha-historiyah” (Sitting in a diving bell, observing history) (interview with Shabtai Teveth), Kol ha-Ir, 7 January 1994.

10. See for instance Segev, “Alilot gayasot ha-shiryon”; Schiff, “Hasufim ba-tzariah”; Haber, “Adam bein kotlei ha-pladah.”

11. Sima Kadmon, “Hasufim ba-tzariah, perek bet” (Exposed in the Turret, part 2), Ma'ariv, 5 June 1992.

12. As Major General (reserves) Uri Or one of the book's heroes noted, “This book contributed a great deal; generations were brought up on it.” See ibid. The tremendous influence of this book will be discussed later.

13. The description of the way the conversations in the book gradually accumulated is based on the following sources: Ora Armoni, “Niv le-dor shotek” (An idiom for a silent generation) (interview with Avraham Shapira), Ha-Kibbutz, 5 June 1997; lecture by Avraham Shapira in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel on the 20th anniversary of the book's publication, 28 May 1987, in Avraham Shapira's personal archive, Kibbutz Yizre'el; and my interviews (in 2000) with the editors, Avraham Shapira, Amos Oz, Amram Hayisra'eli, Yariv Ben-Aharon, Muki Tzur, Shlomit Tene, Avishai Grossman, Eli Alon, Gad Ofaz, Mordechai Bar-On, and Racheli Bar-David.

14. Ariel Ranan, “4% ba-ukhlosiyah ve-25% meha-noflim,” (4% of the population and 25% of the fallen soldiers), Davar, 7 November 1967. The data on the number of fallen were taken from the memorial booklets published by the kibbutz movement: Ba-drakhim: Havrei ha-“Ihud” she-naflu ba-milhamah” (On their way: Members of the Ihud who fell in the war) (1968); Asher naflu ba-milhamah: Halalei ha-“Kibbutz ha-Me'uhad” (Those who fell in the war: Casualties of Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me'uhad) (1968). 53 me-hem: Halalei “Ha-Kibbutz ha-Artzi” be-milhemet sheshet ha-yamim (35 of them: Members of the Kibbutz Artzi who fell in the Six Day War) (1967). The booklets include the names of those killed after the war during the War of Attrition. In my calculation I have only included those who fell during the Six Day War. In 1967 the kibbutz population numbered about 83,000, i.e. 3% of the total Israeli population, 3.5% of the Jewish population. Shnaton statisti le-Yisrael 1968 (Israeli yearly statistical bulletin 1968), 19 (November 1968): 24.

15. Avraham Shapira speaking in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel (n. 13 above).

16. Sheleg, “Yoshev be-pa'amon tzlilah.”

17. Testimony by Avraham Shapira to Orah Armoni (n. 13 above).

18. Kadmon, “Hasufim ba-tzariah”; Armoni's interview with Avraham Shapira (n. 13 above).

19. Rubik Rosental and Amiram Cohen, “Siah lohamim, perek bet” Soldiers' Talk, part 2), Al ha-Mishmar, 13 April 1987; Kadmon, “Hasufim ba-tzariah.”

20. For a discussion of the multiple voices in The Seventh Day, as opposed to the value-laden worldview of its editors, see Gan, “Ha-siah ha-gove'a.”

21. Teveth, The Tanks of Tammuz, 53–58, 142.

22. See, for example, the criticism of these rules by Shamai Kaplan (who was killed in the battles in Sinai) (a passage that does not appear in the English version), in Hasufim ba-tzariah, 142–43.

23. Avshalom Vilan, “Ha-tzad ha-sheni shel ha-nitzahon” (The other side of the victory), Ha-Kibbutz, 16 June 2005.

24. Sheleg, “Yoshev be-pa'amon tzlilah.”

25. Tamar Avidar, “Be-khol zot albomim” (Albums after all), Ma'ariv, 8 January 1974.

26. Gad Ofaz, “Sha'atah ha-gedolah shel ha-tnu'ah ha-kibutzit” (The kibbutz movement's great hour), Igeret le-Haverim, 10 December 1973.

27. The journalist and writer Adam Barukh contributed a great deal to the focus on Gorodish. On 29 May 1987 he published a long article in the Yedi'ot Aharonot weekend supplement 7 yamim (7 days) about Gorodish, who was in Africa at the time, involved in diamond mining. This article was quoted extensively and later served as a basis for Hillel Mittelpunkt's play Gorodish (see also below).

28. Yehuda Meltzer, “Megulah ba-tzariah” (Shaved in the turret), Hadashot, 24 September 1994 (emphasis added). For additional examples of accusations against The Tanks of Tammuz, see the comments by Amnon Abramovich, “Ha-yom Gorodish lo hayah koreh” (Today what happened to Gorodish would be impossible), Ma'ariv, 4 October 1991: “Gorodish began to believe what they wrote about him in books and newspapers”; and Tami Luvitz “Sodi beyoter” (Highly confidential), Ma'ariv, 1 October 1993: “Maybe Gorodish would not have died as a result of the war, if he had not been born in The Tanks of Tammuz, the book by Shabtai Teveth that transformed him from a major general into a myth and a symbol.”

29. For the play Gorodish, see, for example: Emanuel Bar Kadma, “Moto shel Gorodish hayah zmani bilvad” (Gorodish's death was only temporary), Yedi'ot Aharonot, 19 November 1993; Tzipi Shohat, “Lo kol kakh gadol, lo kol kakh ashem” (Not so great, not so guilty), Ha'aretz, 18 November 1993; Shabtai Teveth, “He'arot ahadot le-Gorodish” (Some comments about Gorodish), Ha'aretz 10 December 1993.

30. Shosh Avigal, “Aluf Shmulik” (Major General Shmulik), Hadashot, 19 November 1993.

31. Boas Evron, “Eikh nehenim mi-kol ha-olamot” (How to enjoy both worlds), Shdemot, no. 71 (Spring–Summer 1979): 45–48. The article was originally published in Yedi'ot Aharonot, 8 December 1978. The article relates to an earlier article “Monolog shel gaz madmi'a” (Tear gas monologue) that was published in Shdemot, no. 68 (Winter 1978): 4–8, in which a soldier describes how he and his friends fired tear gas into a school.

32. Leah Inbal, “Ha-kav ha-adom shel ha-sarbanim” (The red line of the conscientious objectors), Koteret Rashit, 2 March 1983. A similar opinion was voiced by Ilan Ben-Israel from Kibbutz Barkai: “The time has come to draw the brave and hard conclusions and stop following the old path of the good kibbutz boys – to kill and weep, shoot and moan.”

33. About the changing attitude to the heroes of the past, see, for example, Harkabi, Hazon, lo fantaziyah.

34. Kadmon, “Hasufim ba-tzariah.”

35. Terms such as the “speechless” or “silent” generation were often used in the wake of the success of The Seventh Day to characterize the generation that was reticent about its emotions.

36. The circular was published in Shdemot, no. 27 (Fall 1968): 127–28 (although it was unsigned, the author was Amos Oz). (Emphasis added.)

37. Kadmon, “Hasufim ba-tzariah.”

38. See for example the photo of Mordekhai Gur in Yed'iot Aharonot, 7 Yamim, 23 June 1967; photo of Shmuel Gonen, ibid., 30 June 1967, with the caption: “Colonel Shmulik, commander of the unit that subdued the desert.”

39. See, for example, Eitan Haber, “Mefakdei ha-hazitot” (The commanders of the fronts), Yedi'ot Aharonot, 7 Yamim, 16 June 1967 (profiles of three commanders in the war, Major Generals Yeshayahu Gavish, Uzi Narkis, and David Elazar); Uri Oren and Aviezer Golan, “Kakh hudbar ha-midbar” (This is how the desert was conquered), ibid., 30 June 1967; Aviezer Golan, “Ha-mefaked” (The commander), an interview with and profile of Gorodish, ibid., 4 August 1967.

40. Gamzu, Shesh aharei ha-milhamah, 41; Eli Landau, “Raful yarah ke-tothan min ha-shurah” (Raful fired like a regular artilleryman), Ma'ariv, 29 June 1967.

41. Eli Landau, “Be-derekh le-Su'etz” (On the way to Suez)” Ma'ariv, 16 June 1967.

42. Oded Kapelyuk, “Im Arik derekh ha-midbar” (With Arik through the desert), Ma'ariv, 23 June 1967.

43. Geula Cohen, “Be-arba einayim im aluf Ariel Sharon” (Tête-à-tête with Major General Ariel Sharon), Ma'ariv, 15 December 1967.

44. For the extensive use of these epithets, see Barukh, Mah nishma be-vayit, chap. 3, “Gorodish: Ha-esh veha-etzim” (Gorodish:The fire and the trees), 15–43.

45. Oren and Golan, “Kakh hudbar ha-midbar.”

46. Golan, “Ha-mefaked.”

47. The Tanks of Tammuz, 100, 111.

48. The Tanks of Tammuz, 109.

49. The Tanks of Tammuz, 142.

50. Siah lohamim, 73.

51. The Tanks of Tammuz, 282.

52. Hasufim ba-tzariah, 194.

53. The Seventh Day , 80.

54. The Tanks of Tammuz, 282.

55. Hasufim ba-tzariah, 40.

56. Hasufim ba-tzariah, 164.

57. Hasufim ba-tzariah, 99.

58. The Seventh Day, 76–79.

59. The Seventh Day, 81.

60. I have termed the “generation of the state” the “generation in a dilemma” (Gan, “Ha-siah ha-gove'a”). One of the salient characteristics of the Shdemot group was the transition from exclamation marks to question marks, the transition to a faltering speech that made “the right to confusion” a justification for the quest for their own path.

61. Oz, Be'or ha-tkhelet ha-azah, 142–51. Oz used this image to describe the division of labor between the State of Israel and the kibbutzim. I have “translated” this image into a division of labor between the pioneering and the native-born generations.

62. The idea to create a “discussion movement” emerged in the wake of the success of The Seventh Day. The Shdemot group decided to hold a number of additional discussions on the problems of the second kibbutz generation. Muki Tzur wrote the editor's comments on the booklet Bein tze'irim , a supplement to The Seventh Day. In his postscript, “Letter to the Reader,” he called for creating a “discussion movement” to define the identity of that generation, particularly in the kibbutzim (279).

63. Almog, The Sabra, 144–46.

64. Katriel, Milot mafteah, 210.

65. Siah lohamim, 5–6 and 282–83.

66. The concept “emotional striptease” is also used in Siah lohamim by Avino'am Brug, a soldier in the elite commando unit (and Ehud Barak's brother): When Brug sensed that he was going too far in his description of how depressed he had become by the stench of death and the sight of the shattered corpses in Sinai, he immediately felt the need to stop and apologize: “I am slipping into a kind of emotional striptease” (90).

67. A booklet in memory of Amnon Harodi and Hanan Buch, who fell during the Six Day War in the battle for the Old City in Jerusalem, published by Kibbutz Ein Shemer, 1967.

68. His words are cited in Avraham Shapira's lecture in Gan Shmuel (n. 13 above).

69. One of the harsh critics of the anti-emotional and anti-intellectual ethos was Karl Frankenstein. After the Yom Kippur War, when analyzing the reasons for the sense of crisis that had emerged in the wake of that war, he viewed the power of that ethos as one of the main sources both of the Sabras' problems and of the hubris that had led to the nemesis of the Yom Kippur War. See Frankenstein, “Yisrael mul mashber.”