A Very Short Note about Memory, Contradiction, and the Six Day War

It is arguably the most famous photograph in Israel’s modern history. Taken in June 1967 (days after I was born), at the end of the Six Day War, the David Rubinger snap shows three paratroopers, rocked with emotion, as they stand before the newly liberated Western Wall. The identities of two of the three members of the 55th Paratroopers Brigade are undisputed. For years, however two different men have each claimed to be the soldier on the far left.

There have been lawsuits and countersuits. Inconclusive forensic exams. Rancor and anguish. And then, on Thursday, a court in Tel Aviv declared each of the two who claim to be “the one on the left” can continue to do so:

Both sides agree to put the argument behind them and transmit to the people of Israel a message of unity and reconciliation, in which the court will not be required to decide the question of [who is] photographed in the photo, while both sides will continue to believe in the truth they hold,” wrote Tel Aviv District Court Deputy President Benny Sagi, who brought about a compromise over the matter in his ruling on Thursday.

A lawyer for one of the two paratroopers praised the ruling as “poetic justice that leaves both options valid, existent and possible.”

I cannot tell you how happy this story makes me. As a ghostwriter, as an historian, and as someone with a soft spot for relativism, this decision (“Solomonic”, the Times of Israel says) captures a fundamental truth about the limits of the law, of science, and of memory itself.

Logic say that only one of the two claimants is the leftmost paratrooper in the Rubinger photo. Theoretically, it is possible that neither is, but it defies reason to declare that both are the one depicted. But so what? Reason is a servant, not a master. There is no doubt an absolute truth in this case, but in this instance and in so many others, wisdom lies in recognizing that achieving that certainty is neither possible, nor particularly desirable.

”Both options valid, existent, and possible.”

One suspects this is true of many other things, and I intend to deploy this example the next time a loved one challenges my recollection of a conversation!