When he submitted his application for a passport, Judah misrepresented his destination. This was necessary because the State Department, having noticed the surge in the number of young men seeking to visit the new State of Israel, began to question, and later challenge the purposes of these would-be visitors. The Land and Labor Organization (“L and L”) responded by enlisting the help of a group of American businessmen in the export business. These exporters provided letters of employment for young men who were allegedly traveling to Europe on their behalf.
In August 1948 Judah and five other “salesmen” received their passports and sailed for Le Havre. The four weeks spent in France were no vacation. They were in Paris for less than three hours, just long enough to go from one railway station to another. The rest of the time was spent in a camp for displaced persons near Marseilles.
In the DP camp the L & L Group joined able-bodied survivors for military training. They also attended classes in elementary Hebrew. They were warned to keep their English conversation to a minimum, in order not to attract too much attention.
On 7th September 1948, the L & L volunteers joined a large contingent of people who were moved from the camp to Marseilles, where they boarded the “SS Pan York,” arriving in Haifa on 13th September.
The New York offices of Land and Labor were closed in November 1948. They had sent some 800 Americans and Canadians to work and fight in Israel. They destroyed all their files and records.
Immediately after his arrival Judah was inducted into the Israel Defense Forces and after Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, he was assigned to the Golani Brigade, a unit of some 3,000 men, then stationed in the Beit Shean valley and the Lower Galilee.
In September 1948 – Israel was not yet six-months-old – there was not yet a uniform army policy on religious matters. As a result, religious soldiers with their special needs were kept in separate plugot – companies of between 100–150 men. Judah was posted to Company “B” of the Golani 13th Battalion, and completed his basic training during the lull of the second truce, 18th July-15th October.
Shortly before Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, the Golani Brigade was directed to leave the Galilee, the area in which it had seen all of its military service, and was sent south to the Negev to participate in “Operations Assaf and Horev.”
At that time the Egyptian forces still held much of the Negev. They had a line from Gaza City on the coast eastwards towards Beersheba, and were expecting another cease-fire. Its control of much of the Negev supported Egypt’s political claim to this large area under the proposed Bernadotte Plan.
The goal of “Operation Assaf” was to pierce the Egyptian lines and to dislodge them from the Central and Western Negev. The major forces of the brigade moved south from Beersheba and then turned north to attack the Egyptians from the rear.
Anticipating a vigorous Egyptian response from Gaza, the western anchor of their line, the 13th Battalion of 400 men, which included Judah’s religious company, was ordered to mount a diversionary attack from the Biblical site of Nachal Grar in the Western Negev, thereby tying up the responding Egyptian forces. The enemy, holding a strong line of pill-boxes responded – as expected by the Israeli command – by bringing a brigade from the south-east of the Negev to counterattack.
Traveling on a long-forgotten road built by the Romans, the Israeli forces surprised the Egyptian Brigade, causing many casualties. Heavily outnumbered, the 13th Battalion was ordered to hold its positions at all costs for 48 hours, until the main Israeli attacking forces could be brought to bear from the north,
Despite heavy casualties inflicted on them by the flame-throwers of the superior Egyptian force – 30 were killed and many more wounded – the battalion held fast. When the main Israeli force attacked, the pressure on the 13th Battalion was relieved, the Egyptian line was broken and their forces retreated south-west to the coast.
Two weeks later, Judah’s unit took part in “Operation Horev”. This was a major assault to clear the Negev of Egyptian forces. Moving south-west from southern Gaza, the attack took the Israelis into Egyptian territory at El Arish.
The final and longest “Operation Uvda” was launched in March 1949. This was a drive from Beersheba south along the spine of the Negev to occupy Um-Rash-Rash, known today as Eilat. The strategic goal was its Red Sea port with its access to the Indian Ocean and the Far East. The operation was based on surprise, and the brigade took seven days to reach their goal, traveling only at night. Also involved in this operation was the Negev Brigade of the Palmach, taking a different route past biblical Uvdat and the Ramon Crater; it was a race for the prize, but it was not a Golani success, as they had hoped it would be. As the Golani neared the objective they heard the welcoming words of the Palmach song – “Anu Harishonim – Anu Anu Haplamach!” – “We are first, we are, we are the Palmach!”
This operation was over: it also ended the war. The survival of the State of Israel was assured. Judah was discharged from the Israel Defense Forces on
7th September 1949.
The civilian aftermath of Judah’s service in the army was brief and disappointing. His hope of making permanent aliyah was not to be.