The Sounds of Silence

Israel is a country of hustle and bustle, impatience, loud argumentative conversation and general all round noise.

Suddenly, as I sit here by an open window about one o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon, the sounds of silence are slowly descending on the country. 

It's the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

There's simply no where else in the world that one feels the totality of what it means. The country literally turns itself off.

Never mind that the financial markets worldwide are in a state of near collapse.  Here TV and radio will shortly  close down completely for about twenty four hours.

In the meantime all usual programs have ended - instead the the airwaves are filled with traditional Yom Kippur songs.  The styles range from traditional liturgical melodies to new modern interpretations by Israel's leading pop artists. The theme in all is asking for forgiveness and expressing the hope for peace soon

Don't misunderstand. The whole country hasn't suddenly become "religious"  in the accepted sense of the world.  A huge percentage of Israeli  Jews do not fast including many who may attend some synagogue services.

But neither will any of these people non observant drive a car.

The country is absolutely closed down except for emergencies - no cars, no restaurants, no movie house, no TV or radio (except foreign stations on cable).   Not even Christmas Day in the USA is so quite and peaceful.

It is an atmosphere that a Jew cannot experience anywhere else. The most observant Jew in Brooklyn is still is surrounded by the noise of the "other" world.

So we listen to the peaceful music . And we hear the traditional greetings "Gmar Hatima Tova" - "May you be inscribed for good"

Comments

[Dori Sella]

The quiet of Yom Kippur is indeed impossible to explain to someone who has not experienced it. If you are ever lucky enough to be in a place where there are no means of transportation (including airplanes flying above), no machinery, no sounds from electronic devices etc.. savor that - and then imagine that you are in your home - and all around you this silence prevails for 24 hours.

Even if you have no religious affiliations, or decide to spend the day watching videos like many Israeli's do on Yom Kippur (behind tightly closed blinds), the energy around you is contagious and creates a feeling of introspection that in my mind it the whole point of Yom Kippur to begin with.