Dawn: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Elisha has probably killed before, but the circumstances were very different. He has participated in various actions against the British occupiers, like ambushing military convoys and setting an army encampment on fire. Ever since he arrived in Palestine a few months ago, he’s been trained in terrorist techniques, the use of various weapons, and the Movement’s ideology. In the basement of the Movement’s hideout, John Dawson is securely imprisoned right now.

Gad tells the recruits that once the British learn that the occupation will cost lives, they will leave. While this is cruel, he says, the Movement has no choice. For centuries, Jews have tried to be better than other people, but this only led to the death camps. Now they’ve learned that they can only rely on themselves. Therefore they must be like everyone else and “kill those who have made us killers.”

On the last day of training, a masked man—Elisha thinks it was the Old Man himself—lectured on “the eleventh commandment,” which is “Hate your enemy.” The man’s gentle voice filled Elisha with emotion, and his masked face reminded Elisha of the beggar. Elisha felt part of “a Messianic world” where every action has meaning.

Once, when Elisha was a young boy, the grizzled master had taught him the reason behind the sixth commandment: it’s wrong to kill because, in doing so, a person takes one of God’s jobs into their own hands. Now, Elisha reasons that it’s necessary for the Jewish people to “become God” in order to change the course of their history.

The first time Elisha participated in a terrorist action, it made him sick. Imagining himself in an S.S. officer’s uniform, Elisha found himself “hateful.” He remembers how the ambushed British soldiers ran helplessly like drunken rabbits. Six terrorists carried out this attack against about 20 British soldiers; it was accomplished in under a minute, with everything going according to plan. When Elisha returned to the training school and saw Gad’s pride, he was overcome with nausea, remembering S.S. guards casually mowing down Jewish prisoners.

That first operation wasn’t easy, but at least Elisha had been with a group. When he executes Dawson, however, Elisha will be alone. Gad turns off the Voice of Freedom broadcast and reminds Elisha not to torture himself. Elisha wonders if God wears a uniform. Then he reminds himself that God is a terrorist.

A short time later, Ilana arrives, accompanied by her bodyguards Gideon and Joab. She looks exhausted and reports that today she saw the Old Man crying. Joab adds that there’s unrest and anxiety everywhere as people appeal for Dawson’s execution to be called off. Gad frets that Jews still have a mindset of persecution and don’t yet have the courage to strike back. He feels especially bitter about David ben Moshe’s execution because they were childhood friends. He’d even been commanding the operation when David was wounded and captured.

During the nighttime operation, a British army truck pulled into a paratroopers’ camp and resupplied their arms, citing an expected terrorist attack that evening. The truck was actually filled with Movement terrorists, not British soldiers. Just before the British sentry figured this out, Gad knocked him senseless. However, the sentry recovered in time to start shooting at the fleeing terrorists, and he wounded David ben Moshe while David was providing cover for his comrades. Elisha understands Gad’s pain over the whole incident. Yet he almost envies Gad’s ability to mourn his friend. Elisha himself has no more friends to lose—that’s why he became a terrorist in the first place.