A country stood still

There is no way for me to describe only with words what I felt today as I witnessed for the first time in my life, the entire State of Israel come to a complete stop as the sirens were sounded throughout the Country in remembrance of those whose lives were taken during the Holocaust.

I had just finished pumping gas at a busy intersection right outside Modiin and was parked on the side of the gas station as a steady siren started to sound. Almost immediately, a bus came to a sudden stop on the side of the road, another car stopped in the middle of the highway and the driver got out of the car, people started getting out of their cars at the gas station, workers stood still. I followed and got out of my car and stood thinking how the entire Country, at this exact same time, was at a standstill. I used the time to think of the lives that were taken, but mainly, I thought of how lucky we are as Jews to have Eretz Israel, how lucky I am to be able to live in this Country, to raise my children Jewish in a State where Judaism is not only taught, but it is lived and breathed every day, in everything we do. I am so lucky to have made the decision to make Aliyah and so proud to be now an Israeli.

Am Israel Chai