Bidspirit auction | ”Today We Have Entered Your

”Today We Have Entered Your Gates, Jerusalem, City of David and Solomon, in the Hands of the Armies of Israel” – Historic Battlefield Broadside Documenting the Breakthrough to the Western Wall During the Six-Day War - ”This is a historic victory so great that it cannot be expressed in words...” – Battle Bulletin – Central Command, Thursday, 29 Iyar 5727 (June 8, 1967). Official battlefield bulletin marked ”For Internal Distribution to IDF Soldiers Only, ” issued by the Central Command during the Six-Day War, printed just one day after the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Western Wall. The bulletin contains a detailed contemporary account of the breakthrough to the Western Wall. The front page bears a proclamation by Central Command General Uzi Narkiss, who solemnly and resolutely announces to his troops that Jerusalem, the City of David and Solomon, is now in the hands of the armies of Israel, and that beneath the shadow of the Western Wall the soldiers had sung Hatikvah that very morning while remembering the Israel Defense Forces personnel who had fallen in the battle for the city. Alongside a map identifying the gates of the Old City, the Temple Mount, and the Jewish Quarter, the bulletin features a vivid, first-hand report by the military correspondent under the title ”The Crown of Jerusalem, ” as well as the moving column ”The Great Moment at the Western Wall, ” signed by ”Didi” (the poet and journalist Didi Menusi, who served as Central Command's war correspondent during the conflict). These texts describe, in vivid detail, the daring breakthrough through the city walls, the collapse of the frontier that had divided Jerusalem for twenty years, and the emotional encounter of the battle-weary paratroopers and soldiers with the stones of the Western Wall: ”We passed through it by way of the gates that had been opened... Yes. Tears of emotion, the singing of Hatikvah; the Chief Military Rabbi arrived carrying a Torah scroll. The sounding of the shofar... Yet all these together cannot express what is taking place in the heart. For this is a historic victory so great that it cannot be expressed in words...”. On the reverse, beneath the evocative headline ”The Jewish Heart Salutes the Western Wall, ” three iconic photographs capture the first moments following the liberation of the site. The upper-right photograph shows senior headquarters and command officers saluting with profound reverence; behind them, affixed to the ancient stones of the wall, is a street sign from the British Mandate period bearing the street name in Arabic and English, accompanied by the quotation from Hatikvah: ”So long as deep within the heart, the soul of a Jew yearns...” To the left is a photograph documenting the soldiers' first prayer and salute before the massive stones of the Wall. At the bottom of the page appears an especially moving photograph of Central Command General Uzi Narkiss smiling as he receives a warm embrace and kiss from Rabbi Shlomo Goren, beneath the symbolic caption: ”The Commanding General Receives a Kiss from Historic Jewry.” The breakthrough into the Old City and the arrival at the Western Wall on June 7, 1967, marked an unprecedented emotional moment in which ancient history, bereavement, and the intensity of battle converged. The paratroopers of the 55th Brigade entered through the Lions' Gate under heavy fire, and following Motta Gur's iconic announcement, ”The Temple Mount is in our hands!”, they hurried for the first time in nineteen years to the narrow, hidden alley leading to the Western Wall. There, battle-hardened soldiers who had only moments earlier lost comrades in the fierce fighting at Ammunition Hill broke down in tears, pressing themselves against the ancient stones in overwhelming emotion. The symbolic climax came with the arrival of the Chief Military Rabbi, Shlomo Goren, who sounded the shofar and recited the El Malei Rachamim memorial prayer in honor of the fallen. [1] leaf (complete issue). Printed on both sides. Light fold marks. Good condition.