Dramatic : Historical Diary of American Teen

I was an 19 year old college student in 1967, part of a group of 140 American students studying at Hebrew University. Below are some excerpts from my letters to my parents back home in Minnesota:

May 25, 1967
“Things are very tense here…. Tonight about 20of us American kids are going to kibbutz Gal-On near Ashkelon for a few days to help them out with the harvest since their regular manpower supply is drafted… “

“Some kids have received frantic telegrams from home telling them to come home, but not one has left…

Mom and Dad: “You must know that we would have given anything we possess to have you home safe with us, but we couldn’t insult you by taking away from you the right to decide what you should do. Dad and I have tried to bring up you guys and to instill in you all a high Jewish moral sense of responsibility. . . .”

My dad later told me “Keep your head down when they start shooting!”

May 28, 1967
“Things are so tense here that you can’t imagine—you don’t know how frightened I am. We all think war is inevitable, and we’re scared of war. But rest assured that we are safe—we’re very far from Egypt and an army base and two other settlements stand between us and Jordan -who probably won’t even join it. The army is in a much better position now than ever, and there is no doubt that we will win. And almost assuredly the war will be fought on Arab territory, not ours.

“In the day things are always calm, but it’s scary to go to sleep. . . .

“I never knew I had so much courage. . . I am really a “chicken” at heart, but I am trying. If I am to live in Israel I can’t run away at the first time of trouble. I think of all the Jews have been through—I guess now it’s my turn to serve my people.”

May 30, 1967
The country is so tense and since we must be prepared for the worst, preparations for war have been taken—food is being stocked, shelters cleaned, blackouts prepared. ..Yesterday my friend and I worked in the infirmary ...we rolled bandages, folded gauze and the like…"

“I think that if war breaks out than the US policy is to evacuate its citizens. But I don’t think I will leave nor will most of the kids-if only since we’d miss finals at the University and have trouble getting our trunks home. And when I think of what the war could mean to Israel and to all of the Jewish people, I know I must be a part of it, no matter how hard.”

“Write soon, please, in our hours of fear it helps to know you’re behind us.”

June 6, 1967
“Well, it’s now the second day of the war. It came as a big surprise to everyone... but now we are facing it and it’s already been hard… I just can’t believe what is happening in Jerusalem – the whole city is under fire… “

“We are fighting for survival on a little bit of land ‘cause we have no other place in the world where we can be free. . . In the end no one cares about us except the other Jews –never has there been such unity of world Jewry.”

June 7, 1967
“We’ve got the old city!

The radio is broadcasting "!הר הבית בידינו"

The Wailing Wall! After 19 years!

“They are dancing in the streets in Jerusalem! After two days in the shelters! On the radio we hear them—blowing the shofar for our freedom, crying, singing. . .now they’re playing all kinds of songs about Jerusalem!

“We will never give it up!

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!