In first person… Chanukah ‘73 in the Sinai

While we were living in Israel, we were in the Sinai at Chanukah 1973. We got permission to travel with security personnel to entertain soldiers at the front lines. Some of us were students at Hebrew University. We were all Americans. We sang, we brought drinks, we brought sunflower seeds, we gave the soldiers sufganiot, the Israeli jelly doughnuts. We brought life to them.

We were in an area called Rifidim where there was no water, but there was a base with a field hospital.

While going to the front lines, we would stop at locations where soldiers were based.

I was driving a yellow Volvo station wagon and called myself the driver and photographer. My wife, an R.N., was singing. Another played the guitar and our niece was an art therapist.

Going to the front line, we went over the Suez Canal and over the Sharon Bridge into Egypt. While riding, we were stopped by soldiers and told we would have to go in a military vehicle.

It was pitch black. The sky felt like you could touch the stars in the desert. Artillery shells were everywhere and Sylvia said, "Take a look."

On a distant hillside, the soldiers had taken the artillery shells and used them as Chanukah candles. It was such an inspiring feeling. In the pitch black, we were surrounded by our own and we saw Chanukah menorahs shining.