Like Dreamers, The True Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation, by Yossi Klein Halevi (HarperCollins Publishers, 2013)
By Sheila Orysiek
SAN DIEGO — In June 1967, the Israeli Defense Forces miraculously overcame the combined attack launched by three of its neighbors: Egypt, Jordan and Syria. But as miraculous as that was, to many the even greater miracle was the reunification of Jerusalem which included the Western Wall on the site of the ancient Temple. It was the fulfillment of a dream and a prophecy.
Yossi Halevi, using the individual perspective of four of the Israeli paratroopers involved in this military victory, gives a comprehensive history before, during and after the event. Each man’s life is followed in great detail. The four came from varied walks of life; secular socialist to ultra religious. Each man responded differently. One was swept away by the awe of the moment while another saw it quite dispassionately and yet another turned away completely from what he saw as Israel’s “agenda.”
Halevi continues to follow the lives of the four men through the decades after the 1967 six-day war and the impact the war had upon each of them. In addition, he uses that war to analyze and investigate the resulting political and socio-economic effects upon Israel and present his view of its place in the world.
I found the description of the liberation of Jerusalem and the fulfillment of the two thousand year old prayer which Jews have recited through the millennia “Next year in Jerusalem” to be gripping. However, the book soon became involved in the minutiae of Israeli politics as well as the excruciatingly detailed events in the lives of the four paratroopers.
Even though there is a four-page “Who’s who” list of people who appear in the book – it still becomes difficult to follow as Halevi moves back and forth from character to character. It doesn’t help that all four of them have either a first name or a second name which starts with the letter “A.” And, unless the reader is deeply interested in Israeli politics, the drop from the wondrous to the mundane is much too evident.
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Orysiek is a freelance writer who specializes in the coverage of the arts and literature. You may comment to her at sheila.orysiek@sdjewishworld.com