Intertextual Relations and Their Rhetorical Significance in Abba Kovner's Daf Kravi

The paper deals with Abba Kovner's Daf Kravi [Combat Page], which he wrote during the War of Independence while he was acting as a Politruk (an Education and Information Officer) of the Giva'ti brigade. The function of the Daf (page) was to invigorate and inspire the exhausted fighters of the brigade, facing the Egyptian army 60 km from Tel Aviv. In order to succeed in his mission, Kovner made an exhaustive use of intertextuality with very well-known texts from Russian war prose of World War II as well as Hebrew texts, beginning from the Bible and ending in his own days. He uses the biblical text as a means to inspire every soldier to be a biblical hero, like Samson and the People of Israel in the days of Moses and Joshua. As for modern Hebrew poetry, he attached his Dappim to the vengeance poetry, especially to Bialik and Alterman. This kind of intertextuality places Kovner as a prophetic hero to the Giva'ti fighters; and according to the partial evidence we have, this kind of rhetorical image found its way to the hearts of his addressee and accomplished his mission.