Sacrifice and Celebration

I just experience the most meaningful Yom Hazikaron (Day of Remembrance) and Yom Haazmaut (Israeli Independence Day).

Standing in front of the Western Wall

8 PM rang in Yom Hazikaron with a national siren. A few friends and I headed over to the bridge over the highway to witness the cars stop mid-road. The siren rang and all the cars (except the few that have no respect) stopped and we watched many people step out of their cars and stand in silence. It was an eerie feeling with the loud siren blasting, especially when I closed my eyes and felt the vibrations of the sound run through my body. The night continued with our Madrich (dorm counselor) Ira, another madrich Natan, and a fellow student tell stories about 6 separate people they knew (or knew of) that had passed away from serving in the Israeli army. We lit 6 memorial candles in their names a few including: Roe Klein, Michael Levin, and David Kandleman.

The next morning we had a 8:45 AM bus to Mount Herzl, the IDF military cemetery. We got there around 10:30 to see thousands upon thousands of people visiting it as well. Tight security led us barely making it to the national ceremony that began at 11 AM for another state-wide siren. Every stood up right before it began. The siren was so loud this time I imagine since it began right at Mt.Herzl itself. A few important people spoke and than we headed over to the graves to hear stories of fallen soldiers. One noted event, as we were walking over in a large crowd I looked over to my right to see some panic as some soldiers were spring away from something. A few kids then hit the ground and covered their heads. Then people in the crowd began to run. I, being in the crowd grabbed my friends hands as we began to run with the crowd not even knowing what we were running from. A few seconds later a bunch of the Israeli police started yelling in Hebrew 'Run the other way!' So we did, and we kept running. And nothing happened. Just silence and questioning. After 10 or 15 minutes we were allowed to pass through the area. I'm not going to lie, it was a pretty scary experience only when I saw someone hit the ground and cover their heads. Everything happens for a reason so I guess I was supposed to wtiness that.

David's gravesite at Mt.Herzl

We headed over to David Kandleman's grave site. David Kandleman was a student on the Bar Ilan program last year who even though he was not religious, knew he had an important duty to serve for the Jewish people and he did so through joining the IDF. I'm not going to mention how he passed away, but mention how brave he was to just drop everything and walk into the life of a lone soldier in the Israeli army.

Since it was an emotional and hard day our school tried to transition our feelings as we went to go visit the Churva Synagogue and the Western Wall. Unity defined these moments as we all walked freely together through our home, Israel.

The day was coming to end and as night fell the transition of what we sacrifice to have our country turned into a full-fledged celebration of our declaration of our state, Yom Haaztmaut! The night began as me and a few friends headed over to a huge park in Jerusalem to meet up up with our madrich that had the tents and the food to bbq at hand. We got set up pretty late, but it was well worth it since we had fun rolling down hills and playing football with random people! After we gathered fire wood, we began our Mangal (BBQ) with hamburgers, hotdogs, and chicken (all really really good since our madrich is actually a chef). We headed into town in Jerusalem after to witness tons and tons of people gathered to dance around and sing together and support the blue and white colors of the Israeli flag. This defined unity as well as I met so many people, and everyone was so happy to be together! The night ended around 5 AM, even though music was blasting by our tents till around 7 AM.

Out on Ben Yehuda Street in Town

The next morning around 10 we began our day by dropping off all our stuff then roaming around the city of Jerusalem to find random concerts, parties, and food all in celebration of the day. A huge March of the Living concert was going on, and even though you needed a bracelet to get in, a few friends and I acted part of one of the 11th grade groups and snuck into the event. Singing the Jerusalem of Gold song in circles with random kids, and few free bracelets later, we headed over to more parks to find some more familiar faces. Then we headed back over to the western wall to end the day praying to G-d.

The group of us that camped out

My feet were hurting and I was covered in a layer of dirt (and foam since it's custom to spray random people with foam-and I was targeted as a random person :] ) but regardless the whole experience really made me love this place even more. I know that after I finish university in America I will make my way back here since I've never felt so at home than I have here. Am Yisrael Chai always and if you are a Jew, make your way over here fast! This is our home and we are not going anywhere!