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Palestine Jews associated Rommel with Romulus
Very different, however, was the perception of Rommel by Italian common soldiers and NCOs, who, like the German field troops, had the deepest trust and respect for him. Paolo Colacicchi, an officer in the Italian Tenth Army recalled that Rommel "became sort of a myth to the Italian soldiers" and that the Bersaglieri baptised him "Rommelito"(perhaps also a reference to both men's small stature: "Rommelito" means "little Rommel" while Romulus means "the little boy from Rome". Incidentally, Palestine Jews associated Rommel with Romulus as well, based on Ohr Hachaim's 200-year-old commentary on the account of Jacob wrestling with the angel*).
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*) The commentary was written by the Ohr Hachaim in the eighteenth century on the Torah parsha. On the verse Numbers 24:17, he commented as following: In the Chumash, Yaakov is called by two names, Yaakov and Yisroel. When he is referred to as Yaakov, things do not work very well for the people of Israel. But after he wrestles with the angel and he becomes known by his new name, Yisroel, the nation prospers. In the commentary, it says that if he is called Yaakov, he will be killed by Rommel. The name Rommel was actually spelled out in Hebrew almost two hundred years before the war. The commentary goes on to say that if Yaakov is called Yisroel, Rommel will not destroy him and the nation will prevail.
It is more probable that the reference is to Romulus, one of the founders of Rome. But seeing the name Rommel spelled out phonetically, along with the lettering over the grave, was enough of a sign for the rebbe to declare that the Jews of Palestine would not be harmed. |