Yom HaShoah

Thursday was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. I know I was in Israel for this day when I was here for the year after high school, but I don't really remember it, so in my head, this was my first Yom HaShoah in Israel and it was definitely a different experience than in America, where, other than in high school, the day would just go by as a usual day. My friend Tali (Boaz's mom) is a teacher at a public elementary school in Ra'anana (not a religious school, just regular Israeli public school) and she invited me to come to the Yom HaShoah ceremony there. I got there a couple of minutes before 10am and the whole school, all dressed in white shirts, was gathered in the courtyard. The principal said a few words and then exactly at 10am the siren went off. The siren goes off across the entire country for one minute to mark a moment of reflection and remembrance and also the start of memorial ceremonies all across the country. Every single kid and adult in the courtyard, immediately stood with their feet together, hands behind the back and head down. David, from his 6th floor window at work looking down on Ahuza, the main street that runs through Ra'anana saw every single car stop wherever it was, even those right in the middle of intersections, and everyone got out of their cars and stood in silence. Everyone in his office, of course, did the same.
The school kids put on a very moving memorial--it was all in Hebrew so I didn't understand a lot of it, but got the basic idea. I definitely got the chills at the end when a girl read a poem and then all of the kids together shouted "Am Yisrael Chai!" (the nation of Israel lives) and then everyone stood up to sing HaTikvah.
When I went to pick up Simon, Freida said that she was very impressed with the kids and how grown up they were that day. She explained to them that it was a sad day and that a lot of Jews had been killed many years ago. They lit a memorial candle and she took them outside for the siren. She taught them all how to stand still during it and she said they all did it and did a great job. I asked Simon later what he did during the siren and he said "I stood like this" and demonstrated the feet together, hands behind the back, head down pose that all Israelis learn in school. He'll be using it again this coming week when there are 2 more sirens for Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day which then leads into Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence Day. This is Israel's 60th year and I'm glad we are here for it! There are flags already flying everywhere--we have ours for our car but keep forgetting to put it on. We do have a big flag hanging from our window though--it came in our mailbox courtesy of Bank HaPoalim. I had to go buy Simon a couple of white shirts that I usually avoid having him wear because he has to wear them on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week!
When I picked up Simon on Thursday and I told him we had to go get Eli, he said "I will just go to Boaz's house while you go get Eli." Boaz lives across the street from gan and was already in front of his house. I told Simon he had to ask Tali if he could go so he yelled across the street to her "Tali, can I stay with you until my mom comes back?" Of course she said ok, so he went with them and I went to get Eli and then we all hung out at Boaz's for a little bit. We came home, grabbed a few things and then went to meet the Dicksons in the park near their house. Simon and Yoav had a lot of fights at first, but then we went back to their house for the kids to play in their gigantic baby pool, and everyone got along much better.
We went straight from there to Playball which meant that Eli had no nap all day and he had really had it by the time we got home. He still managed to eat a decent dinner and then have a bath and go to bed.
We had a nice Shabbos...David took the kids to shul this morning and then when they got home, we packed up some stuff for lunch and took it to the park for a picnic. David and the boys joined another family in their soccer game--it was very nice of them to be so patient with Eli who obviously was very proud of himself for being allowed to play too. I sat in the sun and was in charge of fishing the ball out of the fountain every time it went in, which was fairly often.
After that, we came home and everyone napped and then we went to Boaz's house (we go there a lot, it seems) for Seudah Shlisheet. It was really fun and Simon very much wants to have a sleepover there on Boaz's new bunk bed. I think that's going to have to wait because I don't want to have to go pick him up in the middle of the night!
We didn't get home until 8:30 so the kids had a quick bath and went right to bed.