This is a caricature created by the famous Israeli cartoonist Dosh and entitled “Sukkot Night Dream – Reality to follow shortly”. The caricature was published in ‘Maariv‘ on the 10th October 1973 and it describes the atmosphere during the Yom Kippur War. The Presidents of Egypt (Sadat) and Syria (Assad) are held within a Lulav (with the word “Victory”) and Etrog (with the word “Peace”) emblazoned on them. As the title of the caricature shows, on Sukkot of 1973 there was hope that victory and peace would be achieved soon. The Yom Kippur war indeed ended a week after Sukkot.
Would You Like to Know More?
Yom Kippur War - The Yom Kippur War began with a surprise attack by joint Arab forces, led by Egypt and Syria, on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) on the 6th October, 1973. Most of the fighting took place in the Sinai Desert and on the Golan Heights. After suffering many losses at the start of the war, Israel gradually fought back and by the time of the ceasefire on 25th October, had made significant advances both into Egypt and Syria. Despite impressive operational and tactical achievements on the battlefield, the price was very heavy. The many casualties and deaths and the surprise attack caused trauma and shock in Israel that took many years to overcome. However, the war is widely thought to have been the catalyst to the 1978 Camp David Accords in which Israel normalised relations with Egypt, the first Arab country with which this happened.
Sukkot - The Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles), celebrated 5 days after Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, has two central commandments, according to the Torah. The first is that Jews should live in a temporary abode (Sukkah) for seven days (eight days outside of Israel). The second is that on every day of the festival, Jews take the Four Species (Arba’at HaMinim) in hand and make a blessing over them.
Sukkah - During the Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles), Jews are commanded, according to Jewish ritual law to leave their permanent home and live in a temporary abode (Sukkah) for seven days. The Sukkah’s purpose is to provide shade and must therefore be built under the sky (not under a balcony). The walls can be made of any material so long as they are secure whilst the roof (Schach) must provide more shade than light during the day but provide enough room to see the stars at night, thereby giving the sense of a temporary abode.
Dosh - This caricature was illustrated buy Dosh, whosereal name was Kariel Gardush (1921-2000). Gardush was born in Budapest, Hungary. His family was murdered in the Holocaust, after which he moved to France. In France, he joined the Lechi, a paramilitary organisation that operated during the time of the British Mandate and immigrated to Israel in 1948. Although he had studied literature in Europe, due to his lack of fluency in Hebrew, he decided to work as a cartoonist. He worked for the Maariv daily newspaper for many years as a political cartoonist.
