THE KOSHER BOOKWORM: Terror in Black September

A first-hand account by David Raab

Issue of Sept. 12, 2008

The year is 1970. Imagine yourself at age 17, experiencing an enjoyable summer in Israel with friends and family. You’re looking forward to going home to Trenton, New Jersey. Your whole life is ahead of you: college, a great job, and all the dreams of the average American teenager.

Then, on your trip home over Labor Day weekend, you are to witness and experience the greatest criminal act in aviation history to date, the hijacking of four passenger planes by Islamic terrorists.

Pretty heavy stuff, you might say, for a precocious teenager, halfway around the world from home. Yet, this was the reality for David Raab, author of “Terror in Black September,” published by Palgrave/Macmillan. The saga lasted for three weeks, but it came to define Raab’s life and his goals for the next four decades. The book is his story.

For this writer, that memorable weekend was spent at the annual Young Israel Intercollegiate get together at the Pine View Hotel in Fallsburg, far from Middle Eastern affairs. Nevertheless, being concerned and active Jews, the events that unfolded soon took center stage for all of us there and for Jews worldwide. It overwhelmed us and served to influence our communal activities for years to come in ways we had not anticipated on that deceptively calm weekend in the Catskills.

It is not my intention to detail all the comings and goings of Raab’s saga. However, given my bent for the historical and to the lessons to be learned, I shall attempt to glean the salient points that will prompt you to further explore this tragedy by reading Raab’s excellent account.

Let me highlight some of the events and personalities involved, people whose actions should influence us forever.

First, we have David Raab himself who, during the three weeks of this horrific ordeal, had the presence of mind — unique for a 17- year-old — to keep a detailed diary of events and impressions that serve as the backbone of the book under review. The actions of the passengers, crew and the Islamic terrorists are described in the diary and in the historical retrospective to an extent that will keep the reader in suspense for the entire reading.

Human frailties and emotions, both good and bad, as well as everything in between, are described with a sensitivity and understanding that excludes judgmental evaluations so common in other similar works. Also, the actions of the governments involved, their detailed diplomatic maneuvers — talks, as well as the military actions that dominated the outcome of this tragedy — are brought into sharp and informed focus by the author.

In my interviews with Raab, I sensed a sacred mission in his writing of this book after so many years. He explained to me the pain and hurt that he experienced in recalling the events of so long ago — the people, now long gone, especially the Holocaust survivors among the passengers who were to witness a new form of “selectia” by terrorists whose hatred for Jews knew no bounds. Their de ja vu experiences were the most tragic of all those in this book’s narrative.

However, the most heroic story of this experience involved an eight-year-old girl named Zipporah Moraine who was returning alone to the United States after an extended stay in Israel. Even though she was an American citizen, Zipporah was traveling on an Israeli passport, which could have had fatal consequences for her had it become known to the terrorists.

Also aboard the flight was a prominent rabbi from Brooklyn, Rabbi Yaakov Drillman, who to this day graces the rabbinate in New York. His leadership in this dire time is the type of stuff that legends are made from. However, this was no legend. This is the actual story as detailed by Raab in his book. This is an action that will live on in the annals of our people for all time. It was simple, fast and to the point.

“The guerrillas would never find young Zipporah Moraine’s Israeli travel documents,” Raab said. “Rabbi Yaakov Drillman, a passenger who had become aware of her predicament, had eaten them.”

My dear readers, this leadership is on par with the heroism of the great leaders of our people through the ages. To risk one’s life for the sake of a total stranger is an awesome act and an honor for me to retell in this review. Rabbi Drillman’s action is equal to those whose gave their last full measure so that others might live, and he in turn, was to survive to witness the greatness of his act without seeking the fanfare and the honor others would have craved.

Surely, there were others on those planes that were prominent, and other writers have noted their presence in other publications. Their involvement has also been documented, some in greater detail, by Raab, especially the predicament that Rav Yitzchak Hutner faced on this same flight.

Nevertheless, the actions of mesirat nefesh by Rabbi Drillman — an action unheralded to this day — in my opinion, deserves to be the centerpiece of this review. We can all truly learn from it. Yet, other lessons are to be learned, lessons that for many have neither been taught nor learned.

Please read on, carefully.

The Black September experience served to foreshadow events that were to haunt the world for decades to come. The tragedy of 9/11 has come to overshadow Black September, both in terms of the role that aviation has played and in the numbers of those who perished. Yet, given the behavior of the diplomats of Europe and other neutral powers, one cannot help but speculate that had the global community responded with greater firmness and vigor to the actions of these Islamic fanatics, then all the tragedies that were to come might not have occurred. Raab believes that this is the lesson to be learned from the incidents recorded in his account.

As time passes, the actions of those who wish us ill are becoming more manifest in the war on terror. Our country, the United States, and our faith are under relentless attack, and only a firm and informed hand can serve to stem further harm. With G-d’s help, that will be the lesson of Black September, a lesson that will soon be learned with new national leadership, both in Washington, and in Jerusalem.

Read this book, and learn and hope.