There are two days a year in Israel when a siren is heard throughout the country. Yom Hashoah and Yom Hazikaron. Yom Hashoah, Holocaust rememberance day- today, and Yom Hazikaron, Israeli memorial/veterans' day- next week.
At 10am the siren sounds and people stop and stand. This morning, while standing in silence with my classmates right before the end of class, I remembered the first time that I was in Israel during a siren.
In 2003, I was studying at Hebrew University and volunteering a lot on the ambulances. On Yom Hashoah, I was on shift and we were on the Begin Highway, on our way to a call (with lights and sirens) when the national siren sounded. All of the cars moved to the shoulder and the drivers and passengers got out and stood next to the open doors. The driver of the ambulance turned to me in the back and said- see they have a siren and we have a siren- as he kept driving to the call.
I think that this year was more meaningfull and just as powerfull.
If you want to see what it was like, check out one of the many youtube videos. This one is from two years ago. It is of the Tel Aviv highway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_7RRBH1jgs
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