The Story Behind Rechov ha-Lamed Heh

Today, the 5th of Shevat, is the anniversary of the massacre of the 35 members of the Palmach who were killed as they made their way on foot to bring much needed ammunition to the Gush Etzion kibbutzim that had been attacked by Arabs 2 days earlier on January 14, 1948.

The group numbered 38 men (many of them young students) when they set out at 11pm from Har-tuv, but one man sprained his ankle and two others were sent back with him to accompany him. The remaining 35 did not have enough time to reach their destination while it was still dark. Towards dawn when they were about an hour away from the Gush bloc they encountered two Arab women gathering firewood (or an Arab shepherd, as legend has it). The Arabs sounded an alarm and alerted others to the presence of Jews in the area. The commander of the 35 decided to keep going forward, hoping that the group would reach safety before any violence broke out.

However, hundreds of Arabs gathered quickly from neighboring villages and attacked. Rather than retreat, the 35 men fought heroically until their last bullet, and when that was spent they threw rocks at the enemy. The last of the 35 was killed at approximately 4:30pm and their bodies were mutilated by the Arabs.

This ambush was the catalyst for public discourse on purity of arms (one of the values of the IDF which states that soldiers should retain their humanity even in warfare, and never harm a non-combatant) which has made the IDF into the most moral and ethical army in the world.

There is a wonderful series of books written for children called Minheret Ha’zman (The Time Tunnel), by Gelilah Ron-Feder. It is similar to the Magic Tree House series in that two children travel backwards in time to visit various points in history; in the case of this series, the history of the State of Israel and other formative events in Jewish history. There are approximately 50 books in the series, including one about the Lamed-Heh. Although the series is written in Hebrew I highly recommend reading it – you can find it in any bookstore in Israel.

The story of the Lamed-Heh is a tragic story that is part of the fabric of the establishment of the State of Israel and has been held up throughout the decades as an example of bravery and heroism. One of the ways that the 35 fighters have been memorialized is in the street name Rechov ha’Lamed Heh which can be found in various communities in Israel.