YOM HA’ATZMAUT

Independence Day is a special day. People walk on the streets carrying Israeli flags. It is not unusual to see groups of people break into spontaneous dancing together, especially on Emek Refaim.

Someone noted that all of Israel on Independence Day appears to be on fire. Why? That is what you get when millions of people crowd every single park for BBQ’s with the family. Either get to the park early and stake a claim, or stay home!!

In the supermarket a few days ahead of the holiday, there was a huge mound of watermelon on sale (it is summer here and the melon season started a few weeks back). After all, you can not have a BBQ without watermelon. On top of that, a separate section of the meat department had a huge amount of burgers, dogs, kebabs, chicken parts, and bags of chicken hearts under a sign that simply said: Independence Day.

In the produce department, there were jars of mayo stacked near the potato display. Again, what is a BBQ without potato salad? The beverage department featured hundreds of bottles of soda and plain water. Getting the idea here???

The most common question heard these days is, “What are you doing for Yom Haatzma’ut? The assumption is that you will do something to honor Israel on its 66th birthday. In synagogue that morning, we had extra prayers and Psalms in honor of the Jewish national homeland. As for us? We are going to a BBQ! But, no hot dogs for us. We had kabobs in a pita- after all, it was Israel Independence Day!!