Chapter 45, Yom HaAtzma’ut

“We will be starting a new tradition this year,” announced Frida our teacher. “Now that the government decided to cut on the military budgets, there won’t be any more Army parades or marches. The faculty of our school decided to start marching ourselves.”

Every year, for “Yom Ha’Atzma’ut” the Israeli Independence Day we had a big military parade. Most of the time it was on the street of Tel-Aviv or Jerusalem. I never got to go to any of them. We couldn’t afford it. The last year my aunt Rachel got us tickets and we were all excited to go. That year, for the first time, it was happening in Be’er Sheva. We took the train and stayed at Aunt Rachel’s house (I don’t know why we always call it Aunt Rachel’s house instead of Uncle Rone’s house – they are both my parent’s siblings). I was so glad we arrived early to the train station. There were so many people, they lined up all the way to the street. As I said, we were early, so we got to our seats, but soon after, it got so crowded there was no more places to sit or stand. People were even piling on the luggage racks. 

The next day was the Independence Day’s Parade we were all waiting for. We sat on bleachers along the main street with more than a hundred thousand people. The parade had to start early in the morning. Be’er Sheva was a desert town and would get very hot for people to sit outside.

Before we knew it, we heard the speakers play the Israeli anthem. We all stood up and sang along. Soon after, the first squad of soldiers started marching in unison to the beat of the music. We saw soldiers from all branches of the army. The foot soldiers, the paratroopers, the air force, and even the women soldiers dressed in skirts and sandals. Behind them we saw all kind of vehicles. Armored vehicles, missile carriers, and even the heavy tanks who ruined the roads with their big heavy metal chains. No wonder they were canceling the parades. Besides the price of the gasoline to run all the vehicles, the time for training the troupes just for show and the price of running the airplanes who came later and flew really low and scared Avi to death. Avi didn’t like noise, he hated even the fireworks the night before.

The day before Yom Ha’Atzma’ut was the Memorial Day for all the soldiers who sacrificed their lives defending Israel. We had a siren blasting at 8:00 AM, everyone had to stop what they were doing and stand up straight silently for one minute until the siren stopped. There were many memorial events on that day, even the radio played only soft Israeli music. And at night just as the sun set, we would hear one more siren but this time as soon as it was over everybody would go out to the street to celebrate. (A few years later this second siren was eliminated – too harsh of a change from sadness to party.) The streets were so full of people, you couldn’t walk without rubbing onto someone else. There were concerts and dances as well, and of course, the fireworks.

“So, kids we will have to get together outside at 10:00 and stand in triplets, straight lines and practice marching and singing. For 2 weeks straight, every day at 10:00 we lined up and marched for about 2 miles singing and cheering for our team.”

Well, of course we cheered, this was after all, a competition. We had to dress up with a unique costume. We had to create banners and decorate them. We had to write cheers for our team. The best team would be the first in line to receive ice-cream treats and the bragging rights. This was fun, no one had problems missing classes in the middle of the day, not even the teachers. Those weeks after Passover and before the Independence Day except for Yom HaShoah which was another sad day in memory of the Holocaust, we enjoyed the fresh air and feel the approaching summer. 

 

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Cabbage and Potatoes

 

I believe, if my memory serves me right, this is an Ethiopian dish. Easy to cook, simple ingredients and very tasty. You may cook it well until it is soft, or just a little to make it somewhat crunchy. 

 

Ingredients:

¼ Cabbage

1 Red Onion 

1 Big Potatoes

½ Cup Chopped Parsley 

1 tsp Salt

¼ tsp Black Pepper

2 TBSP Olive Oil

 

Chopped the onion and cut thin strips of the cabbage. 

Sauté the onions in olive oil with the salt. Cut up the potatoes to ½” cubes.

Add the potatoes to pot with the onions and simmer until potatoes are soft. Add the cabbage, black pepper and parsley. Keep simmering for 10 more minutes until the cabbage soften and serve.

 

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