Rabbi Itzik and the Sabra, pp. 931-1016 Summary

The time is 1948 and Isidore Gottesmann is studying his almanac. He was in the area during World War II and decided to settle there because of meeting a young Jewish girl, Ilana, whom he eventually marries.

When the British give the Palestinian mandate to the United Nations in November, 1942, they devise a plan for an Arab state, Jewish state and an international city of Jerusalem. The result of this is the outbreak of war. The British are due to depart on May 15, 1948 and Gottesmann and his group are supposed to defend and hold the Upper Galilee section. The area contains five thousand Jews and a hundred thousand Arabs.

Gottesmann is looking at the figures. Most of the Jews are in Safed and are elderly or religious with only one hundred forty...