Peace in Rhodes— Israel’s Almost Independence Day

The Historic Casino of Rhodes

By 1945, Jews were a rare sight in Rhodes. The Shoah had come over the island like a rogue wave in the night. In just a few short days, a thousand years of Jewish life and memory were swept into the sea, much of it lost forever. 

But in January of 1949, a different kind of Jew came up from the Aegean and strolled up to Rhode’s Grand Hotel of Roses. Today, this hotel persists as a dreary casino, but back then “The Roses” was bustling with activity. Government attaches and staff scurried about the building, weaving around our protagonist as he crossed the threshold. 

His name was Eliyahu Sasson, a shami by birth, raised in Damascus and educated in Beirut. In his youth, he participated in the Syrian National Movement and caught the attention of King Faisal who tapped him to publish an Arabic periodical promoting Jewish-Arab cooperation. 

In the great ballroom of "The Roses", Eliyahu Sasson joined alongside Yigael Yadin and Water Eytan to negotiate a truce between the provisional state of Israel and it’s  adversaries. Over the course of five months, armistice agreements with Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordon. It could be said then that the Jewish state was born on the island of Rhodes.

Finally, on July 20^th, 1949, Israel reached terms with Syria, concluding nearly two years of war and establishing Israel’s borders. Strangely enough, the 20^th of July did not become a national holiday. Just a few months earlier, in the midst of war, the Knesset passed a resolution that the Fifth of Iyar (corresponding to May 14^th, 1948) would forever mark Israel’s independence. The Fifth of Iyar commemorates not the achievement of Israel’s independence, but the day on which it declared independence. In other words, the Fifth of Iyar celebrates not a national triumph, but merely a declaration of intent. 

This is rather extraordinary, but not without precedent. Most Jewish holidays commemorate the start of a journey, not its culmination. Passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt, not Israel’s entrance into Canan (there is no Joshua Day!). Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah, not its fulfilment; Sukkot, the journey through the desert. Hanukah marks a victory early on the Maccabean revolt, not its conclusion. Rosh Ashana and Kippur celebrate the dawning of a new year, not its culmination. 

Members of the Israeli delegation in Rhodes

Even Tisha Be’av solemnizes not the actual destruction of the Temple, but rather the date it was set to the flame. Said Ribi Yohanan: “As for me, I would have fixed the fast on the tenth of Av, because the major part of the Temple was burned on that day.” The Sages answered him: “it is always better to mark the beginning of a tragedy (BT Taanit 29a).

All the more so the beginning of a triumph. In the Book of Esther, upon obtaining the King’s permission to defend themselves from their adversaries, the Jews of Susa radiated “light and gladness, and joy and honor” (Esther 8:16). One wonders what they had to celebrate! They still had to get through the war ahead!

The answer, of course, is that intention is a powerful sentiment. When a person of great character resolves to embark on a journey, its fulfilment is a sure thing. Said Rav Assi: “When a person merely intends to perform a mitsva, it is as though he already fulfilled it” (BT Kiddushin 40a). 

Perhaps, it was this principle, ingrained in the Jewish mind since time immemorial, that prompted Israel to shift its independence day. Still, it is intriguing to think that if not for a biblical precedent, Jews might have annually celebrated an armistice signed on the island of Rhodes.