Yitzhak Rabin’s address on receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem — Mount Scopus
Your Excellency, President of the State, Mr. Prime Minister, President of the Hebrew University, Governors, Teachers, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I stand in awe before you, leaders of our generation, here in this venerable and magnificent place, overlooking Israel’s eternal capital, and the birthplace of our people’s ancient history. Together with other distinguished people, who are no doubt worthy of this honor, you have chosen to do me great honor by conferring upon me the title of ’Doctor of Philosophy’. Permit me to express to you here what is in my heart: I regard myself at this time as the representative of thousands of commanders and tens of thousands of soldiers who brought the State of Israel its victory in the Six-Day War, as a representative of the entire IDF [Israel Defense Forces].
It may be asked why the university saw fit to grant the title of Honorary Doctor of Philosophy to a soldier in recognition of his martial activities. What is there in common between military activity and the academic world which represents civilization and culture? What is there in common between those whose profession is violence and spiritual values? I, however, am honored that through me you are expressing such deep appreciation to my comrades-in-arms and to the uniqueness of the Israel Defense Forces, which are no more than an extension of the unique spirit of the entire Jewish People.
The world has recognized the fact that the Israel Defense Forces are different from other armies. Although its first task is the military task of ensuring security, the Israel Defense Forces undertakes numerous tasks of peace, tasks not of destruction but of construction and of the strengthening of the nation’s cultural and moral resources.
Our educational work has been praised widely and was given national recognition, when in 1966 it was granted the Israel Prize for Education; the Nahal, which combines military training and agricultural settlement; teachers in border towns and villages contributing to social and cultural enrichment; these are but a few small examples of the Israel Defense Forces’ uniqueness in this sphere.
Today, however, the university has conferred this honorary title upon us in recognition of the IDF’s superiority of spirit and morals as was revealed in the heat of war, for we are standing in this place by virtue of heavy battle which, though forced upon us, was forged into a victory that is already being called miraculous.
War is intrinsically harsh and cruel, bloody and tearstained, but this war in particular, which we have just undergone, brought forth rare and magnificent instances of heroism and courage, together with humane expressions of brotherhood, comradeship, and spiritual greatness.
Whoever has not seen a tank crew continue its attack with its commander killed and its vehicle badly damaged, whoever has not seen soldiers endangering their lives to extricate wounded comrades from a minefield, whoever has not seen the anxiety and the effort of the entire Air Force devoted to rescuing a pilot who has fallen in enemy territory, cannot know the meaning of devotion between comrades-in-arms.
The entire nation was exalted and many wept upon hearing the news of the capture of the Old City of Jerusalem. Our sabra youth and most certainly our soldiers do not tend to sentimentality and shy away from revealing it in public; however, the strain of battle, the anxiety which preceded it, and the sense of salvation and of direct participation of every soldier in the forging of the heart of Jewish history, cracked the shell of hardness and shyness and released well-springs of excitement and spiritual emotion. The paratroopers, who conquered the Wailing Wall, leaned against its stones and wept. As a symbol, this was a rare occasion, almost unparalleled in human history. Such phrases and cliches are not generally used in the IDF, but this sight on the Temple Mount, beyond the power of words, revealed, as though by a flash of lightning, a deep truth.
And more than this, the joy of triumph seized the entire nation. Nevertheless, we find more and more a strange phenomenon among our fighters. Their joy is not full-hearted, and more than a small share of sorrow and shock permeates their festivities. And there are those who do not celebrate at all. The warriors in the front lines saw with their own eyes not only the glory of victory but also its price, their comrades who fell beside them bleeding. And I know that the terrible price paid by our enemies also deeply touched the hearts of many of our men. It may be that the Jewish People never learned and never accustomed itself to experience the thrill of conquest and victory, and so we receive it with mixed feelings.
The Six-Day War revealed many instances of heroism far beyond the single daring assault which dashes unthinkingly forward. In many places desperate and lengthy battles raged. In Rafah, in El Arish, in Um Katef, in Jerusalem, and on the Golan Heights, there and in many other places, the IDF soldier was revealed as heroic in spirit, in courage, and in perseverance, which leaves no one indifferent once they have seen this great and exalting human endeavor.
We speak a great deal of the few against the many. In this war, perhaps for the first time since the Arab invasions of the spring of 1948 and the battles of Negba and Deganiah, units of the Israel Defense Forces stood on all fronts, few against many. What this means is that relatively small units of our soldiers often entered seemingly endless networks of deeply dug fortifications, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of enemy troops, and faced the task of forcing their way, hour after hour, in this jungle of dangers, even after the momentum and excitement of the first assault had waned and all that remained was the need to have faith in our strength, the notion that we had no alternative, the goal for which we were fighting, and the necessity to summon up every spiritual resource in order to continue to fight to the very end.
Thus, our Air Force persisted in striking our enemies. Thus our armored forces broke through on all fronts, our paratroopers fought their way into Rafah and Jerusalem, our engineer corps cleared minefields under enemy fire. The units which broke through enemy lines and reached their objectives after hours upon hours of fighting, forged on and on while their comrades kept falling right and left, yet they forged forward, only forward. These soldiers were carried forth by spiritual values, by deep spiritual resources, far more than by their weapons or the technique of warfare.
We have always demanded the very best of our youth for the Israel Defense Forces. When we coined the slogan "Hatovim la’Tayis" — the Best to the Air Force, a phrase which became a concept — we had in mind not only courage and technical skills. We meant that if our pilots were to be capable of defeating the air forces of four enemy countries within a few short hours, they must have moral values and human values.
Our pilots, who struck the enemies’ planes with such accuracy that no one in the world understands how it was done and people seek technological explanations of secret weapons; our armored troops who beat the enemy even when their equipment was inferior to his; our soldiers in all various branches of the Israel Defense Forces who overcame our enemies everywhere, despite their superior numbers and fortifications; all these revealed not only composure and courage in battle but a fierce faith in their righteousness, an understanding that only their personal stand against the greatest of dangers could bring victory to their country and to their families, and that if the victory was not theirs, the alternative was annihilation.
Furthermore, in every sector IDF commanders of all ranks far outshone the enemies’ commanders. Their resourcefulness, understanding, readiness and will, their ability to improvise, their concern for their soldiers and above all, leading their troops into battle — these are not matters of materiel or technique. There is no rational explanation, except in terms of a deep consciousness of the morality of the war they were fighting.
This all starts and ends with the spirit. Our soldiers prevailed not by their weapons but by their awareness of their supreme mission, by their awareness of the righteousness of their cause, by their deep love for their homeland and by their recognition of the difficult task laid upon them — to ensure the existence of our people in our homeland, to defend, even at the price of their own lives, the right of the Jewish People to live in its own state, free, independent and peaceful.
This army, which I had the privilege of commanding through this war , came from the people and returns to the people — to the people which rises in its hour of crisis and overcomes all of its enemies by virtue of its moral stature, its spiritual readiness in the hour of need.
As the representative of the Israel Defense Forces, and in the name of every one of its soldiers, I am proud to accept this honor.
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