Being a prisoner of war can seem like a total failure. It’s every soldier’s worst nightmare. But four soldiers turned this desperate situation into a success.
The soldiers in question were combat pilots who were prisoners of the war in Egypt between 1970 and 1973. In those 3 years, they used their time to translate The Hobbit into Hebrew. The original had been sent to one of the men from their family members using the Red Cross.
Upon their release, they went home and had their version printed in Tel-Aviv. It was then published commercially in 1977, and is still considered the best Hebrew translation of the book by many critics. These men found a way to turn their failure into a success!