National Holocaust Memorial Day

On National Holocaust Memorial Day, at 10am the sirens go off and everyone in Israel comes to a grinding halt for two minutes.  I had a doctor's appointment at 9:36 that very morning.  Although a national holiday, buses run, stores are open, and the doctors are working.  If the appointment didn't take too long David and I could be outside to stand solemnly while the sirens blared.

In the United States, when you go to a clinic, you sign in at the receptionist then sit and wait until a nurse comes out and calls your name.  Then you'll sit in the examination room for a long time and eventually the doctor will come around and see you.  In Israel, you go right up to the examination room.  On the door is a list of names written in Hebrew,  next to the appointment time.  When it's your turn, you just go in.  The problem is figuring out when it's your turn.  As in the US, doctors are always running late, so you can't go by the scheduled appointment time.

When David and I arrived at the clinic, two men were having a discussion.  They weren't fighting, they were just talking really, really loud.  In the US, they would have been escorted out in handcuffs by uniformed officials while everyone else hid under chairs and desks waiting for gunfire.  That's how loud they were, and they were in each others' face.  No one cared -- lah-dee-dah -- except they were so loud one lady did tell them to be a little more quiet.

I went up to the doctor's door to see if my name was even there, and was wondering how I would be able to figure out who was next.  One of the men who had been yelling -- oops, talking really, really loud -- confronted me and said something in Hebrew.  He spoke only Hebrew and I couldn't understand a word he said, but realized he was explaining that my appointment was right after his.  Another woman who spoke English thought she should be in front of me, but it turned out the yelling man was correct, I would go right after him.  I'm always amazed at how much can be understood in spite of not knowing the language.

The appointment didn't take long, and we were out on the street when the sirens went off.   A female Arab with her head covered drove by and she had no intention of stopping, but she was blocked by other cars further ahead gave her no choice.  People came outside of stores and stood on the street, buses stopped, everyone came to a standstill...and this happened everywhere in Israel.

It was a powerful moment.

Here is a link showing highway traffic coming to a halt: http://www.webpronews.com/holocaust-remembrance-day-moving-highway-tribute-israel-2012-04

Earlier this week we went to Jerusalem and visited the Holocaust Museum,Yad Vashem.  Wow.  What an impact.  Anyone who visits this place cannot leave untouched. 

A link about Yah Vashem: http://www.yadvashem.org/