Thursday, May 1, 2008
Stop and Think about it...
Categories :
Getting Personal . Getting Serious . Israel . News . Opinion
I had heard about this day when I was in Jewish school, I had heard how it was here in Israel... However, to experience it... is definitely completely different
Today is The Holocaust Remembrance Day – Yom Ha’Shoah (in Hebrew). The day all Jewish people in the world stop and remember what we lost in the Second World War… It is a day that is meant to help the new generations remember what so many people went through and avoid letting it die as a distant memory… It hurts to think that 11 million people died, 6 of which were of my own people… It huts to remember what, for me, was the lowest low human beings can get… coming to Israel was the best thing I have ever done in my life, stopping being a minority, becoming part of whole and feeling at home…
During the day sirens ring at two different hours of the day… when that happens EVERYONE stops whatever they are doing (yes, even driving) and keeps a moment of silence until the siren stops…
At school we had a ceremonial, that included speeches, a survivor told her history and we sang the national anthem… I am not ashamed to admit that it brought tears to my eyes, the feeling of being amongst so many Jewish people in such an important day, was amazing… and besides, I simply love the Israeli national anthem…. It's just beautiful…
I would like to take this moment and express what this day means to me and what it should mean to the world…
1945 sounds so long ago… but it is not as it seems… we can find innumerous neo-Nazi websites online and a lot of people that say the Holocaust never happened…
I worry for the day there are no survivors left to tell their stories… I am afraid their experiences will be only pages in a school History books… and that is what this day is for me… The opportunity to stop, remember and ponder on dark days… The world lost 11 million people… and that should NEVER happen again…
It is up to us the bearers of the future generations to not let it happen…
Song of the moment:
Israel's National Anthem - Hatikva (The Hope)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biQtrQpyJGo
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