Yom HaShoa

May 5, 2008

Yom HaShoa
Today is Holocaust remembrance day – a totally different day when celebrated here than in America. All young people wear blue bottoms and white tops (blue and white are Israel’s colors). I had the day off of work so my friends and I went to the freeway near us at 10am and this is what I saw:
At 10am a siren goes off and everyone stops what they are doing and observes a national moment of silence. As I looked out at the highway I saw cars slowly pulling over at 9:58 and by 10:00 the freeway was dead. Everyone physically got out of their cars and stood up while the sound of the siren filled our ears. I looked to my left and to my right and saw that pedestrians had stopped mid stride. I saw a little old man slowly getting out of his golf-cart car. It took him a while to get up and stand up, but he did it. He got on to his weak feet to honor all of our ancestors who died in the Holocaust. It was an absolutely fabulous sight. Tears filled my eyes as I looked around and realized that the whole entire country of Israel was stopped right at that moment. No car was accelerating, no movement occurring. A whole entire country at rest for one minute. I loved it.