The past few weeks there have been several memorial days and celebratory days in my life and the life of the country. First it was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. I went over to a friend's apartment to watch the ceremony that takes place at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. It is a very powerful ceremony but only one part is translated into English. They light six large candles in honor of the six million Jews who were killed and each is lit by a survivor and their story is told. Since the stories are prerecorded there are english translations. Obviously mainly survival stories exist, and these stories are really incredible. No matter how much I learn about the Holocaust the stories never cease to amaze me. Another intersting thing about this day in Israel is that nearly all of the stores and restaurants close, the country basically shuts down.
The next day there was a ceremony put together by my school. It was an international ceremony with readings in English, Russian, French, German, Spanish and I am sure a few others. It was a really nice ceremony with songs, poems and even a dance. The ceremony commenced after a nationwide siren went off to commorate those who fell. The entire country stops when this siren goes off, no matter what you are doing, where one is driving, or what else is going on around them.
About a week later was Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day. We had off school for this so I spend/commemorated the holiday in Tel Aviv, last year I was actually in Jerusalem with my parents for this so I was exited to see something new. Just before the national siren went off at 8 I started walking through Tel Aviv towards Rabin Square where a ceremony\concert was about to begin. I got to the corner of busy intersection just as the siren rang. The streets were mainly empty because the country had basically shut down again, but the few cars on the road immediately pull off the road. People were only outside if they were walking to Rabin Square or else they were inside probably watching tv, nothing was open, there was no other reason to be outside.
As we got to the square we bumped into a few friends here and there, everyone went. The front half before the stage was packed with chairs for elderly people and the rest of the square was filled with young people, thousands of young people. Every was quiet and rather somber as people waited for up to an hour for the ceremony to begin. Basically there were different famous artists singing songs related to Memorial Day and different peoples stories of loss and in between they cut to video clips telling the stories of fallen soldiers. It was a really powerful ceremony and I was proud that I could actually understand a good amount of the stories because the Hebrew subtitles really helps. It was incredible to be among such a large crowd, all there for the same reason, at the same time for their own reason. People in this country really respect these days. I have never seen anything like it in the states.
The actual day of Yom HaZikaron there are ceremonies all over the country, mainly at schools and cemetaries. I went to a elementary school in the neighborhood to watch their ceremony, it was an arts school so it was actually an impressive, artistic performance put on by the kids. Another 2 minute siren started this ceremony as well. Its amazing how still and respectful even the youngest were.
Most people do work this day but people do take the time to remember those who they have lost, because everyone in this country has lost someone. You really feel the heavy mood of the country. The interesting thing is that Israel has decided to put Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day) immediately following Memorial Day. There is a huge ceremony on Mount Hertzl (Biggest Military Cemetary in Jerusalem) in the evening and it immediately transforms into a Independence Day ceremony. The mood switches literally at the flip of a switch from the saddest day of the year to the happiest. Its really an amazing transformation to be a part of. People really are happy and celebrating.
I was inside at about 8 pm and all of a sudden I could hear fireworks going off. I immediately got dressed for the night and Idan and I went to stroll the streets. Its just what you do. Not many cars were out and even on the way to Rabin Square the road were closed because they are flooded with people. Everyone goes out to celebrate, young and old. The streets were filled with babies, parents, teenagers, everyone. There was dancing and singing at Rabin Square where just 24 hours earlier was the Memorial Day ceremony. There was so much going on that I just wanted to sit down and take it all in. As I sat on the curb what did I notice? I had gotten sprayed on my legs by one of the kids. They run around with this shaving cream type stuff spraying eachother, making a mess and having a good time. What a sight.
As we started to leave the fireworks went off again. I have seen alot of fire works in my life and these were pretty good!
On the actual day of Independence Day everyone bar-b-ques. Everyone. Idan's army group has a bar-b-que on one of their friends moshavs every year so we went. Normally it would have been maybe a 45 minute drive but because everyone was headed somewhere it took almost 2 hours. Not fun and some of the good meats were gone before we got there but it was still a fun experience. Its interesting to see how people really keep in touch over the years with their army friends, it really replaces college friends that we have in the states and it is taken to the next level. Everything in this country turns into a cultural experience for me and its always fun to see how different people do things. That's all for the holiday update until next month!
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