Yom HaShoah is the Israeli national Holocaust remembrance day. Like all Jewish holidays, it begins at sundown on the night before. On the day of, there is a siren that goes off at 10 a.m. to remember all the lives lost during the Holocaust. The siren lasts for 2 minutes and throughout the day, there is a somber atmosphere. Radio stations play only sad songs, documentaries and ceremonies are the only things found on television, and there is virtually no laughter heard all day.
One thing that I really find fascinating is the fact that when the siren goes off, no matter where you are, everyone stops and stands. Even cars stop in the middle of the highway and stand. I have always wanted to witness being on a highway during the siren. Today, we were able to see it from far away on Highway 1, but it wasn't the same as what it would have been if I were standing on the Ayalon Highway, the fastest highway in Israel.
I found it very interesting that many of the cars didn't even bother to stop. I only saw two cars that stopped within the small area that we could see. It was a little disappointing to see that even though the siren went off and Yom HaShoah is a national holiday, people didn't care to pay their respects to the millions of Jews that lost their lives during the Holocaust.
Today we also learned about some of the general views of Palestinians and Arabs about the Holocaust and its effects. According to our teacher, many Arabs refuse to acknowledge that the Holocaust even happened. I assumed that the drivers that didn't stop were Palestinians that just didn't recognize the significance of the Holocaust, but it still bothered me a little that they couldn't even stop for a moment to even think if they knew anyone who had any relationship with someone who lived during the Holocaust.
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