Sunday May 4 2014 - Tuesday May 6 2014
This past week I had the opportunity to experience 2 holidays very significant to Israeli culture, Yom HaZicaron: Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen soldiers and Yom Ha Atzmauot: Israel Independence Day.
Memorial Day began on Sunday night where all of EIE went to the Kotle to watch the national ceremony with speeches given by the president of Israel and parents of soldiers who passed away. The area was crowded with people and a community supporting one and other. It was so amazing to see how a whole country comes together and supports one another. This memorial day is much more somber than Holocaust Remembrance Day because every person who lives in Israel knows someone or knows of someone who has died in Israel’s battles whether it was 66 years ago or very recently. The following day a very mellow mood went through Tzuba. The chardar ochel was quieter. People respected one and other. We participated inTzuba’s ceremony which took place at the cemetery onTzuba. Although I could not understand what the speakers were saying, it was so amazing to see a whole community there. Even soldiers in the army, who are not members of the Kibbutz, came because a member of kibbutz Tzuba had passed away and they were together in the same unit of the army, so they came to support the families. The day went on with the same mood. But…. suddenly dinner hit and it’s like everyone was a new person! For dinner we had a delicious BBQ followed buy a celebration with the Kibbutz with dancing and singing celebrating life and the country of Israel! In the evening we all got dressed up and went to BenYehudah which was crowded with people! People were dancing, shopping, and spraying each other with silly string! It was so amazing to watch a country go from sadness and mourning, and to change so quickly to celebration! I never really understood what it meant to show “country pride”. I feel like Israel is the only country to do it in the right way. Having the two very opposite days in a row is what makes Israel the best country in the world! It teaches us to appreciate how amazing this country truly is and it’s because of these people who fought in battle that we still have Israel! Yes we mourn their lives but we also celebrate their lives and thank them for everything they did to allow Israel to be 66 years old!
At 2:00 Am we got back to Tzuba after an amazing night of dancing and celebrating! On Tuesday we continued celebrating Israels Birthday by having a beach BBQ! Wealso participating in an EIE maccabia games! We were all divided into four teams Pink, Green, Yellow, and White we were all given really nice jersey t-shirts according to ourcolour that say “NFTY EIE ask me I was there” on them! I along with three others were chosen spisificly by themadreihem to be a maccabia caption! W-H-I-T-E WHITE TEAM WHITE TEAM VICTORY! We had a tough day of weal barrel races, sand mermaid, and tug away! Drum roll please….The white team came in ……DEAD LAST!!! Oh well we still had tons of fun! After a BBQ lunch, a fun competition, and some swimming we packed up and headed back to Tzuba for a Pizza party dinner to end of Israel Independence day!
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