Jerusalem: Waking Up from a Dream

In front of the Wailing Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem last week, Jewish youths linked their arms for the traditional dances and songs of the joyous holiday of Simhath Torah. Yet the festivities, watched by curious Arabs, could not mask the grim mood of Jerusalem and Israel. The city and the nation are gripped by a cold fury, reported TIME Correspondent Marsh Clark: "It is an icy resolve that has stilled the passing joke. Like the coming of the khamsin, the cruel desert wind that afflicts the spirit of all those in its path, the Arab attack has plunged Israel into a state of shock. The myth of Israeli invincibility and Arab ineptitude has been demolished at one stroke."

Life in Jerusalem proceeds on a near-normal basis, but there is also ample evidence of war. So many young and even middle-aged men are in the army that the city seems populated solely by old men, women and children. Many small businesses are shuttered, while hotels in Holy Land sites are nearly empty or closed altogether. Only two of Jerusalem's movie theaters have remained open--and both are underground. Bus schedules have been drastically reduced and construction has nearly halted, as able-bodied workmen have left for their reserve units. Swimming at Israel's beaches has been banned because of a lack of lifeguards. Universities have postponed exams, and a maternity hospital in the city has cut post-birth confinement from 48 to 24 hours to make beds available for the battle wounded.

Israeli officials have not yet imposed rationing. There have been no signs of hoarding or panic, and the shops seem to have plenty of food (except for a shortage of eggs, probably caused by the blackouts, which have disturbed the hens). Many of the jobs left vacant by called-up reservists have been filled by volunteers, ranging from teen-age American tourists to long-haired Hasidic Jews with white beards. An unexpected benefit of the crisis is the dip in crime. On one day last week, there were only 49 home burglaries in all of Israel, 50% below the peacetime average.

At night, reports Clark, "Israel takes on the air of a nation under siege. In Jerusalem the population goes indoors at sundown and stays there. The lights illuminating the walls have been shut off. Auto headlights are covered with blue paint and the windows are covered with whatever blackout material is at hand, often blankets and rugs. Blackout wardens roam the streets, warning offenders and making arrests."

The telephone and the radio are the pervasive national means of communication. Phone service was one of the first things installed in the Golan Heights, so that servicemen could call home, or at least pass on the message that they were alive and well. The Israeli broadcasting services issue constant--but censored--battle reports. A survey last week revealed that 98% of Israel's population listens to the news bulletins. In fact, national life almost came to a standstill last Wednesday as virtually all of Israel listened in while Premier Golda Meir addressed the Knesset.

So many civilian volunteers have flooded public agencies that many of them are being turned away. Unable to contribute to the war effort in other ways, some Israelis who own cars are on stand-by duty, ready to rush the ill to hospitals or take the elderly to markets. Public officials have been working round the clock and sleeping in their offices. One senior official told Clark that those who have not been mobilized into the armed forces feel "ashamed to go out into the streets. I'm afraid of my neighbor's eyes. I realize that I'm doing important work, but men ten years older than me are at the front.

"Israel has awakened from a very rosy dream," says the official, adding that "we now have a cold resolution, which is dangerous for the Arabs. During peacetime we are perhaps the most divided society on earth, but in time of war, there is a sense of solidarity that comes from the holocaust. The Arabs have put us in a very bad temper."

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