Yom Ha'Shoah in Israel

Probably the most powerful community/shared experience I have ever been part of. I was in Jerusalem for Yom Ha'Shoah - Holocaust Memorial Day - in 2004. We stood on the sidewalk outside Hebrew Union College, on David Ha'Melech. Everything ground to a halt with the wail of the sirens. Everything except the wind, the birds and the sway of the trees.

This happens all across Israel at 11:00 AM on this day. The entire country stops what they are doing, stands up in their classrooms, in the market, in the street, gets out of their cars, and stands in silence to remember the six million.