Today is April
28, 2014. Today is also the 29th day of the Jewish month, Nissan.
On this
Jewish day each year, the state of Israel remembers the Holocaust—the Shoah. On
this day, once a year, Israel falls silent. Jews say nothing.
We do not
speak. We remember.
We remember the
murder of millions of Jews in Europe during the Nazi reign (1933 – 1945). We
remember how states and armies and soldiers worked day and night to destroy millions
upon millions of men, women and children simply because they were Jews. We remember
how non-Jewish citizens, governments and bureaucracies nodded, winked and worked
to arrest, transport, torture, burn, starve and murder so many Jews so
effectively.
Today, the
Jewish state remembers. Only Israel remembers.
We remember
how Nazis demonized Jews, then killed them. We remember how Nazi sympathizers
joined the rush to kill. We remember how animals were more important than Jews.
We remember how Jews were seen to be so unhuman they had to be exterminated.
Today, many
nations say they understand the Holocaust. Many express their horror for what
happened. But only one nation stops everything in the middle of a work-day to remember.
Only the Jewish
state stands in silence.
At ten AM
this morning in Israel, an air raid siren sounded. All over Israel, Jews heard a
siren--a mournful, ear-splitting shriek that penetrated to your core. At ten AM
today, that siren sounded for two minutes.
For those
two minutes, busses stopped mid-intersection. Taxis stopped. Cars stopped.
Trucks stopped.
No one
pulled over to the side of the road.
They just
stopped.
All over
Israel, drivers and passengers stopped. Each one got out of his car. Each stood--silently.
No one spoke. No one laughed.
Pedestrians
across Israel stopped walking as soon as the sirens began. No one moved. No one
spoke.
Israel stood
silent.
Israel
remembered.
For two
minutes, Israel didn’t move. For two minutes, Israel listened. For two minutes,
the only sound in Israel was a single-note wail that made your insides vibrate.
It was the
wail of remembrance. It was the cry of
the Holocaust. It was the call to remember.
For two
minutes, Israel remembered. For two minutes, Israel understood: Jew-hate exists.
Jew-hate kills.
All over Israel,
Jews harkened to that wail. All over Israel, we stood. We stood to remember
what Nazis wanted for Jews. We stood to remember how silent the world was. We stood
to remember how so many souls were slaughtered, burned, hanged, murdered and
gassed.
For two
minutes, we heard within that wailing shriek the sounds of innocent souls being
slaughtered.
Within that eerie
wail, all of Israel understood the impact and import of remembrance: never
again.
Across
Israel, Jews understood the call of Hamas. Across Israel, Jews understood the
meaning of Mahmoud Abbas’s political logo—a map with Israel erased.
Across
Israel, the sound of remembrance continued: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Across
Israel, we stood in silence. The sound of the siren engulfed us--man, woman and
child. No one was exempt: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
For two
uninterrupted minutes, we remembered the death of so many Jews--and the lust to
kill Jews.
For two
minutes, we stood in silence to remember that there are those who still want to
kill us. There are those who still use Nazi propaganda to demonize us. There
are those who still dream to wipe us out.
Today, we
remembered.
Yom HaShoah:
the day we remember what we must never forget.
It is the
day we hear the cry of the siren. It is the day we understand what it means to
see millions of Jews killed.
It is the
day we remember to say, never again.
