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Israel comes to a standstill for Holocaust Remembrance Day

by tikun | April 21, 2009 at 01:20 am

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op/ed

How can I describe the feeling of standing on a street in silence with hundreds of "strangers" at attention listening to the 2 minutes of sirens blaring throughout the city. All cars and buses emptied as the pedestrians stand along side them contemplating those dreadful events.

I was overwhelmed by the solidarity of the moment. Then, like magic, as with the parting of the sea, it closes a chapter on the unimaginable hatred and everyone goes back to LIVING their lives as individuals and as a people free in the Jewish State.

While there is much to be done here to make life for all our citizens fair and equal we nevertheless strive to work toward that goal to express ourselves freely regardless if it might not be all that popular.

This is one of the driving forces that keep us viable and striving for peace. In spite of hostility and the need to find a partner for peace we continue as a nation living and doing our part in the social sciences, arts and entertainment, agriculture, technology, and our will to survive that contributes to the best of what humanity has to offer. I pray for peace and equitable settlement of our work a head of us.

Israel came to a standstill for two mournful minutes on Tuesday as air-raid sirens pierced the air in memory of the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust

Cars came to a halt and people froze in their tracks, many with heads bowed, in memory of the victims. An official wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem was to follow. In deference to the solemnity of the day, restaurants, bars and places of entertainment remained closed.

In Tel Aviv, a malfunction in the siren system caused the siren to last for an additional four minutes.

At the opening Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem on Monday night, President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed that there would not be a second Holocaust, their pledges ringing in the shadow of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vicious anti-Israel speech at the UN conference against racism in Geneva.

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Paschen

at 03:20 on April 21st, 2009

We need to remember each genocide and every genocide and make a day of remembrance for all victims of the Holocaust and any genocide.

Cite each and every one internationally and annually.

This is a good post Tikun.

albertacowpoke

at 03:27 on April 21st, 2009

A good post. We must never forget what humanity is capable of. Our sense of decency must work toward a better world.

tikun

at 04:38 on April 21st, 2009

Thanks for your comments.

jazzyzazzy

at 07:46 on April 21st, 2009

After seeing a documentry film about the holocaust,I find it upsetting to even let the thoughts of it enter my head.

Barbara McPherson

at 09:15 on April 21st, 2009

If we are to consider ourselves civilized, then we must remember what has happened in the past and strive to never repeat it. Thank you for the eyewitness report.