...we didn't have plates, so we had to beg, borrow, and steal...

Sixty-four.  An even number and a square.  The year in which the Ford Mustang was introduced, and also, the age of Israel.  Israel has survived 64 years and is still going strong.  Leading up to the independence day celebration, Yom HaAtzmaut, are several other days that are an important part to the history and the future of Israel.

Yom Hazikaron Ceremony
Outside the Old City Walls

About a week and a half ago, we remembered those who perished in and were affected by the Holocaust.  Yom HaShoa, Holocaust Memorial Day, is honored with ceremonies both in the evening and throughout the following day.  At 10am, there is a nationwide siren and everyone stops what they are doing, stands, and remembers those affected by the Holocaust.  There are plenty of stories from people driving on busy highways: as soon as the siren sounds, and even a bit before, cars pull over and people get out to stand and remember.  I was not on a busy road.  I was not even around people.  I was alone in the lab pipetting.   I had been in my own bubble for the past couple hours, but as soon as the siren sounded, I was jarred out of my focus and stood up.  I cannot tell you what the rest of the campus felt like, but for me, being alone and experiencing that minute might have been even more meaningful than being in a busy place and looking around to watch as people paused.

Yom Hazikaron Ceremony
The little lights are our candles

The following week (this past Wednesday) was Yom HaZikaron, the memorial day for fallen soldiers.  The night before, there were ceremonies throughout Israel.  I went to a ceremony in the Sultan's Pool just outside of the Old City walls.  There were speakers, musicians, movies, and another siren.  This time I was surrounded by thousands of people and also by several pretty busy roads.  As was expected, everyone paused, and afterward, the ceremony officially began.  As we came into the outdoor stadium, we had been given electric candles, and to open the ceremony, the whole stadium "lit" their candles and together remembered the soldiers that had fallen fighting for their country and our country.  The ceremony lasted over three hours, and I am proud to say that I understood almost all of it (so Israeli!).  At last year's ceremony at the military cemetery, Har Herzl, I barely understood a thing.

The following morning was another siren.  I was in the lab again, but this time, I was in the computer work room instead of in the secluded corner lab.  The siren sounded and my fellow labmates and I stood.  At the end of the siren, we all sat back down as if nothing happened; a spoon clanked in a hot cup of coffee prepared a few minutes prior, an email was sent, a document saved.  Only a few minutes after, once we wrapped up the tasks we were in the middle of, did we discuss the siren.  We discussed it not in a memorial way but in a logistical way.  There was an Israeli, a Russian immigrant, and me, an American immigrant in the room, and we tried to brainstorm if any other country existed that had the infrastructure for nation-wide memorial sirens.  In the US we have weather sirens in some places, in Europe there are out of date WWII sirens, but in Israel, where these sirens are necessary to save lives, they are also here to help us remember.

 

We remember the lives that were and the lives that are, and as Yom 
HaZikaron comes to a close, Yom HaAtzmaut comes in.  Just like in the States, the traditions involve drinking beer and barbequing. A lot.  There were also fireworks, lots of blue and white, oh and did I mention barbequing?   My friends and I had a rooftop bbq the night of Independence Day and the following day we had a HUGE bbq in the park, along with the rest of Israel.  Along with our burgers and wings and hot dogs and kebabs, we also got to see the air show; beg, borrow, and steal plates and cups from our picnicking neighbors (the potluck might not have been so lucky in terms of utensils, but we had a ton of food!); and relax in the sun while celebrating our new country.  The whole day was so Israeli!


After a bit of time off from work, a bit of hiking, and a ton of eating, I am back into the swing of things in the lab.  I'll keep you posted!