Yom Hashoa:Holocaust Remembrance Day, by Baila Litwak

יזכור = remember

I arrived in Beersheba with 36 classmates in mid July and at this point have been living here for nearly 10 months. Yesterday I heard my first siren that was not a drill. Yesterday was Yom Hashoa, Holocaust remembrance day.

According to Jewish law holidays begin at sunset and last until sunset the following day. I realized Yom Hashoa had began when I was studying in my apartment, listening to the radio, and it suddenly dawned on me that they were no longer playing happy, upbeat music. On Yom Hashoa every radio station plays slow, somber music, every TV channels broadcasts either documentaries or discussions relating to the Holocaust. As I was studying for my pathology final I felt too tired to make dinner and too busy to go out to eat so I decided to order pizza. When I went to the dominos website I found that they were closed for Yom Hashoa.

“Dear customers, On the eve of Yom Hashoa Dominos will be closed...”

On Yom Hashoa there are ceremonies throughout the country held at schools, public squares, military bases, etc. I, along with a number of my fellow classmates, attended the Yom Hashoa ceremony at BGU. It was outside in the 90+ degree weather under the scorching sun, yet hundreds of students were there to remember the millions who were “exterminated” during the Holocaust. There were nearly as many students in attendance as there were last month for Purim, which is one of the most fun parties on campus all year. At the ceremony there were speeches, a modern dance piece, a choir that sang two beautiful songs, and six people from the community who told stories of their family members who were killed and those who survived the Holocaust. Each of the six people who shared their family’s story lit a candle in commemoration.

At 10:00 in the morning of Yom Hashoa there is a siren that blares throughout the country, loud enough so that people can hear it where ever they might find themselves at that moment. The siren lasts for two minutes and for those two minutes everything stops.  Every person at every ceremony stands in silence. People stop driving in the middle of the highway, get out of their cars, and bow their head in honor of their brothers and sisters who were killed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeozUSWdoQA

Israel was established to be a place of refuge for Jews being persecuted across the world and a state where Jews could feel independent and safe. Today Israel is still such a place and not only for the Jews. Every year On Yom Hashoa Israel remembers those who were not safe where they lived and were forced to endure persecution, murder, and true hatred. - blogger of the month, Baila Litwak

Holocaust Remembrance Day, by blogger Rebecca Lapham

This is a picture of me on a camel in Jordan. I include this photo for two reasons. (1) All blog posts should have photos. (2) It was a lifelong dream of mine to ride a camel. One of the best things about MSIH is being able to cross things off your bucket list.

I’m so excited to be writing for this blog! I remember reading it last year as I prepared for medical school, wondering what it would be like to live in Israel. While it can be wonderful, adjusting to life in a foreign country is difficult. There’s a new language to learn, a new culture to comprehend, a new..everything. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand why grocery shopping in Beer Sheva is a contact sport, or why the bus schedule is always wrong over the holidays, or why the corner store near my apartment seems to close at a different time every day. Sometimes, living in Israel is endlessly frustrating.

Yet other days, I get to be a part of something that exists nowhere else in the world. This past week, Israel celebrated Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day. In this small country of around 7.5 million people, almost everyone knows someone who was affected by the Holocaust. There are memorial services hosted by various institutions. There is also a siren throughout the country. Check out this youtube video of the country’s response to the siren- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeozUSWdoQA. I was very moved by the experience. It was so incredible to see people of all ages and backgrounds come together and give respect to those who suffered such unbelievable tragedy.

Two days later, I was part of a group of first years who interviewed Holocaust survivors as part of our Clinical Medicine course. We’ve been practicing taking medical interviews for the past few months, and the last few weeks we’ve been learning about geriatrics. Holocaust survivors make up a significant proportion of the elderly in Israel, and have unique health issues. I was fascinated by the stories I was privileged enough to hear. One woman described her year in a concentration camp at the tender age of eight with chilling accuracy, and went on to casually mention learning French and German in less than a year after being taken in by a Swiss family after the war. It made my struggles with Hebrew seem ridiculous. I look forward to further geriatric care while I’m in Israel. I love listening to the stories that can only come from a long life. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up wanting to do a residency in geriatrics.   - blogger of the month, Rebecca Lapham