Memorial Day is a big deal in this country. There have been so many wars that everyone knows someone or knows someone who knows someone who died in a war or a terrorist attack. I didn't attend any ceremonies, but I heard that every neighborhood has one for their own fallen along with the national ceremony which takes place at the Kotel. I didn't go to any ceremonies partly because it didn't feel right to walk in on someone else's mourning and partly because, frankly, I'm a foreign student; I don't know anyone who died and I had a lot of homework to do. Instead I listened to the radio, which played exclusively downbeat songs, probably mostly about soldiers though it was hard to tell with my poor level of Hebrew. I did catch one song that I knew from high school, though: חורף 73 (video here; English lyrics here) in which children conceived after the Yom Kippur War sing about how peace never came, no matter how much their parents promised.
Another aspect of Yom HaZikaron is that the entire country stands still in remembrance of the fallen for two whole minutes, one at 8pm and one at 11am. The minutes are marked by a very loud air raid siren; this is what it sounded like from inside my room. Interestingly, though, the radios don't shut off; I had to turn it off on my own when the siren blew.
Immediately following Yom HaZikaron is Yom HaAtzmaut, which is a totally different scene. At night, Yom HaAtzmaut is one big party: at the shuk, at clubs, in government plazas, etc. Ahuva, Alexis, Marc, Abigail, Alexis's friend Avi, and I spent the night at Ben Yehuda Street, which was packed with people dancing and singing and spraying each other with silly string. Observe:
Another big thing downtown was the selling of massive inflatable hammers. Ahuva bought two for an impromptu dual with Alexis, though there were others much bigger. No matter how much I try I can't seem to find the origin of the hammer thing, but they're Big in multiple ways.
After about an hour walking around Ben Yehuda we headed over to Gan HaAtzmaut to watch the fireworks display off the roof of the Leonardo Plaza Hotel. Surprisingly, fireworks aren't a big part of independence day in this country. Not only was the show half an hour late, but it was insanely short. Observe it in its entirety:
After the fireworks Ahuva and I went home, though Marc at least stayed out until 5am. The next morning Ahuva, Alexis and I got up early to head to Kibbutz Na'an for a traditional Israeli barbecue, which is basically what Israelis do for Yom HaAtzmaut. Not so different from American independence day, right? The big difference is that you're not eating hamburgers, hotdogs, potato chips, and coleslaw; instead, it's Israeli salads of all kinds, hummus, pitas, fries, grilled cauliflower, and as many kinds of meat as you can imagine--chicken, steak, kabob of various sorts, etc.
The big thing about the barbecue was that it was an informal AHA reunion of sorts. Kibbutz Na'an is home of Gideon Meiry, who used to be head of security for AHA, and Guido ('06). While nowhere near all the AHA alumni in Israel were there--at least two that I know of were missing--there were a good seven of us, including Alexis ('04), Ahuva ('05), Rachel Herman ('07), and myself ('07). Actually I didn't know any of the AHA people other than those I've mentioned, so it was more of an opportunity to experience Yom HaAtzmaut Israeli-style than anything.
After lunch a member of the kibbutz took us to the Kibbutz history museum, where we learned about the kibbutz before Israel existed as a country. Na'an was one of many kibbutzim that hid weapons underground, and the house that became the museum was built on top of one of the underground weapons storage rooms. It's actually pretty cool; they still have some weapons down there, along with an old morse code machine.
There are a whole bunch of other really cool things, too. For instance: an old airplane on the roof of a building on the main road, a museum set up like a pre-Israel house (yeah, that museum), and an armored vehicle outside of the museum. We also learned that no one know why the kibbutz was built where it was, because though it's high up it has absolutely no water source, which isn't good for a country where it doesn't rain. It's a big mystery.
After the tour we came back to Jerusalem and I started on my homework for Wednesday. To be honest, Tuesday day felt like the 4th of July, and I kept expecting someone to come out with a flag cake any minute. Monday night felt like a big celebration of some sort, or maybe Jerusalem turning into one big dance club. I don't know. I don't tend to pay attention to these holidays in the States (even though Hillel does do things for them), and I don't think I'm really missing out on anything. I prefer the holidays that involve Torahs and hallel and cheesecake, thank you very much--which is, of course, Shavuot, the one last holiday for which I'll be in this country.
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