Palestine: "Grim Restraint and Fierce Dedication"

Dearest All, 

  It seems I finished my first aid course just in time to be useful. I decided not to wait for official assignments, everything is done in such  a partisan manner anyhow. So, yesterday, waving my Magen David Adom arm band, I somehow pushed through the cordons to the stricken area on Ben Yehudah Street. No question about it, every extra hand was needed.

  Excavations were still going on to unearth survivors trapped under the rubble and debris. Dazed people, some of them with wounds, were wandering around looking for relatives. Nobody was attending to them -- in all the pandemonium it was hard to find the first‑aid stations. I simply set up one of my own.

Scenes from the Ben Yehuda Street bombing, Jerusalem 1948

  In a prominent place, on a sheltered doorway, I drew a big Magen David  Adom with my lipstick; before I knew it I was in business. The workers from Solel Boneh, digging in the ruins, came in to have cuts and abrasions treated. I collected a group of children, some of them in an awful state, who were wandering about waiting to hear word of their parents.  There was plenty to do.

  Are there words to describe senseless human tragedy? Will I, can I, ever forget this day? I am becoming like the Jews who live here: every shock and sorrow nurtures you to grim restraint and fierce dedication.

    Love,

    Zippy

From  Zipporah Porath, Letters from Jerusalem, 1947-1948. Order it from ‎

zip(at)netvision.net.il (Israel) or click here for review and order information

Other letters from the book: Israel: This is my home - 1948; Palestine Partition - November 29, 1947 Palestine: Ben Yehuda Street Bombing

Notice

Letter copyright 1987 by Zipporah Porath. Introduction copyright 2008 by Zipporah Porath and Zionism-Israel.com. All rights reserved. This document may not be reproduced without express permission of the author and the publisher.