Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Unalterable Commitment to the Momentum of Everyday Life

In a book about her husband’s life and legacy, Leah Rabin, writes about her commitment to do normal, everyday things on the first day of what became known as the Six Day War in 1967:

“I can remember the wailing of the sirens at eight o’clock on the morning of Monday, June 5, 1967. The children had gone to school as on any other morning—just as all the other children did. That morning Yitzhak was on the tarmac, giving our pilots encouragement before they soared off for their mission in Egypt…”

“Three hours after he left the house that day, he telephoned me to report, ‘So far so good…’ I bought vegetables from Naji the greengrocer and cooked lunch for Yuval and Dalia just as I would have on any other day. I have termed moments like these as my unalterable commitment to the momentum of everyday life.”

Leah Rabin, Rabin: Our Life, His Legacy (New York: G P Putnam’s Sons, 1997), 109-110.

Dr Geoff Pound

Image: Leah Rabin.