One of the most impacting stops we make on our Israel tours is at a home for Holocaust survivors. Along with that, a stroll through Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum and Remembrance Center, leaves each person very contemplative of the atrocities endured by the Jewish people during the Holocaust. It is very sobering to consider how evil the “final solution” truly was.

Bring those thoughts and emotions forward to what occurred in Israel on October 7, and it is easy to understand why Israel commemorates Yom HaShoah, their day of remembrance of survivors. This year, that day will fall at sundown on Sunday until nightfall on Monday.

Sandwiched between Passover and Yom HaZazikaron (Israel’s memorial day for fallen soldiers), Yom HaShoah is somber and will be marked nationwide by a 2-minute siren on Monday morning, during which literally everything comes to a standstill. Traffic stops in the road, the light rail stops in its tracks, nothing moves at Ben Gurion airport, and pedestrians freeze on the spot. Each stops to deeply consider the loss of 6 million Jews. As a nation, Israel is determined never to forget what happened in those darkest days of their history.

On Sunday evening (Monday in Israel), why not set aside 2 minutes to honor our Jewish friends, and to pray for Israel’s salvation. Continually, they are threatened on every side, but will not be destroyed. May the memories of lost loved ones be a blessing, and may the reality of their Messiah be made clear.