By: Rebecca
We are all familiar with taking a moment of silence to commemorate the anniversary of an event - usually a tragic one. Whether it is to mark the very minute of detonation at the finish line of the Boston marathon or impact of a plane into the World Trade Center, the hour of a loved one's passing, or the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we pause for a moment to remember. Once that moment is over, we get back to our usual busy lives and forget again.
Sometimes it is to mark a good thing, or nothing at all. We used to stand for a moment of silence every day after the morning announcements in high school. We take a moment of quiet at the end of yoga practice to find stillness in our bodies and minds.
A minute of absolute silence is familiar. But what if that moment was punctuated by a sound? That is what the moment of remembrance is like on Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) in Israel. Promptly at 10:00am, the air raid sirens across the country sound for two full minutes. The tone is steady and unforgettable (and loud!). For two minutes a country of seven million people stands in stillness and silence to honor the memory of the millions that died during the Holocaust. You stop - on foot, in the car, on the train, it doesn't matter. You stop, go outside, and stand, empty handed for two full minutes. It is a powerful experience.
When we toured the Israel Museum, we saw a video of the main highway in Tel Aviv on Yom Hashoah. This is not the same video, but a similar one from a few years ago. It will hopefully give you a little feel for how powerful these two minutes are:
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