It began Sunday night. Sunday is our Monday here, so I was at work like usual. By the time I left work, that evening, the sun had already set and I noticed it was unusually quiet on the streets. Most businesses that were usually open, were not. Then I remembered that a friend had warned me, things would probably shut down, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
She was right. Everything was closing. Even the Israeli version of '7/11' called AMPM, the 24 hour market that I've never seen closed before! They were all shut down.
When I got home, I turned on the TV, because a special national ceremony was supposed to be on, with the Prime Minister and the President live at the national Holocaust Museum (Yad Vashem). I turned on the TV and I quickly saw on my cable menu, that most of the channels were completely off the air!
The movie channels were all playing movies about the Holocaust, like 'The Pianist', 'The Reader', 'The Diary of Anne Frank', 'Deliverance', etc... The History Channel and Documentary Channel were only showing programs about the Holocaust. The kids channels had age-appropriate kids shows, educating children about the Holocaust. And every other channel was completely OFF THE AIR! They had graphics, with candles saying 'programming is suspended for Holocaust Remembrance Day'. Wow, that was so powerful to me. The music channels just played soft, reflective music all night.
I think it stung me so hard, because the only other time in my life I'd seen something like that, was just after September 11th. I remember most channels, like the Shopping Channels and Entertainment Channels also put up graphics, saying they were suspending programming due to news events. And MTV and ESPN were taken over by their parent-company's news operations. I knew this was a major event in America, because every part of life suddenly changed.
That's how I felt Sunday night, here in Israel.
The next morning I woke up and turned on the news. All of the TV hosts were wearing black. All black, as if they were going to a funeral. I guessed that this must be the dress code for today's somber holiday. And so, I too, dressed in black and headed out to work.
As I walked to the bus stop, I saw so many people, probably 1/3 of the people on the street, dressed in black. Women in black dresses. Guys in black shirts and pants. I almost began weeping, at the site of it. Like we were all one family, all going to one funeral, for people we all loved. It was so so moving.
You see, unlike in America or other parts of the world, the question isn't 'DO you know someone who was impacted by the Holocaust'...but instead it's 'WHO do you know that was impacted by the Holocaust...' Everyone in this nation has a relative or friend that was in the Holocaust or who survived, etc... Everyone. That is no exaggeration. In my office that morning I learned of co-workers that had parents in the Holocaust, and entire generations that were killed.
All of this was a build up to 10am. At 10am, something so overwhelming moving happened, it's hard to describe in words. At 10am, the entire nation came to a stop for 2 minutes.
Sirens, resembling that of a tornado siren, were blasted in every city, across the entire nation. And, when the siren began to sound, everyone and everything STOPPED!
Buses pulled to the side and everyone in the buses stood up and bowed their heads. Cars stopped in the middle of the road or highway, and everyone got out of their car, stood next to it and bowed their head. Soldiers went into 'salute' position and stood at attention for the full 2 minutes. Everywhere, in every office, home, street, restaurant, store....everyone stopped, bowed their head and silently listened to the wail of the siren.
What a 2 minutes.
I was actually working, I was out at one of Tel Aviv's busiest areas, filming the event for a video. I had heard about moving this was, but never could have imagined how much so. My hand that was holding the camera began to shake....and it was all I could do to hold back the tears. The moment, the scene, the history being reflected upon, came rushing to my mind all at once. It was truly something.
I was up on a pedestrian bridge near a Tel Aviv skyscraper....I could see the highway, I could see the stopped buses, I could see soldiers....it was remarkably sad and moving.
Then when the 2 minutes finished, the siren concluded its wail and slowly people got back in their cars, pulled back into traffic....and life went back to normal. For some reason that moment of silent awkwardness, just as people began to move again, was very powerful. The spirit sort of hung in the air. Wow, palpable.
I think the USA should start such a somber tradition each year on September the 11th. Perhaps it would help people to try remember what those days were like in 2001, when the towers fell and we feared our entire country might as well. I never felt such unity as I did in those days after September 11th....that is, not until this week in Israel.
This coming Sunday night the sirens will wail again, in memory of soldiers killed in wars defending Israel. The sirens will mark the start of another day of morning. Then, again on Monday morning they'll sound to mark the end of the mourning period.
Then, I'm told something remarkable will happen. Because on Monday morning, after the siren finishes....the nation goes from mourning to rejoicing. For the rest of Monday is celebrated as Israeli Independence Day. Our version of the 4th of July.
Wow! My teacher at Hebrew school tried to describe it to me. How there is probably nothing quite like it on earth. To turn on a dime from mourning to rejoicing like that.
Reflecting on those killed, to celebrating that our nation is alive! And we are alive! Praise God!
Already, the Independence Day celebrating has begun. Every light post has Israeli flags on it, on every street! Every car has 1 or 2 Israeli flags attached to their windows. Entire buildings are lit up, with their windows in a pattern resembling the Israeli flag.
I can not wait for this celebration!
This year Israel turns 62!
As I was walking after work, yesterday, and seeing all the flags...I thought...'why are we celebrating in such a way?' Then I thought, 'you know, there's no other nation on earth, that has other nations, every day, expressing their desire to see them completely and literally wiped off the map'. And so, we celebrate. We are on the map again this year. God has protected us and sustained us for another year. And for that....we rejoice!
Up from the ashes....look what God has done!
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