Siren Sounds to Commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel

Thursday, 24 April 2025 | A mournful siren sounded promptly at 10 a.m. this morning. Cars pulled to the side of the road and drivers got out to stand quietly beside their vehicles. People stopped wherever they were when the siren began and stood at attention. Two men stood near the lift-gate of their delivery truck, pausing for the two-minute duration of the siren as they remembered six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust—as well as those who survived but were forever changed by the horrors they lived through. These are snapshots of scenes from Jerusalem, and all Israel itself, on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, 2025. 

Yom HaShoah, which began at sundown last night, marks a 24 hour period dedicated to remembering those whose lives were snuffed out by a fanatic regime determined to exterminate every trace of Jewish life from the face of the earth. 

Some 90 years ago, the Nazis and their collaborators set about their mission with fervent zeal and meticulous efficiency. Within a decade, European Jewry had all but disappeared. Collected from urban and rural homes, they were swept into the yawning voids of concentration camps, crematoriums and mass graves. Six million Jews were murdered. Millions more emerged from a living hell to find every shred of their previous lives erased.

The figures are staggering; the timeframe in which they were tallied up ridiculously short. But more than anything, the Holocaust brings with it an overwhelming sense of loss. It is a gaping hole where an entire generation of mothers, fathers, siblings, family and friends should have been.

And so, as the sun set over the Jewish homeland last night, Israel mourned a generation of loved ones who were lost. Sorrow and reverence wrapped like a blanket around the heart of Israel. A hush descended over the usually vibrant city streets as movie theaters, restaurants and cafes locked up early. Flags were hung half-mast. Israeli radio and television stations took a break from their customary entertainment offerings to make way for shows and songs that help keep the memories alive.

Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial site, hosted the official opening ceremony at 8 p.m. Remarks were delivered by President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yad Vashem’s chairman, Dani Dayan, who lit the Memorial Torch. In addition, six Holocaust survivors lit six additional torches in memory of the millions who perished so tragically. 

One of the torch-lighters, Yehuda Hauptman, survived not only the Holocaust but the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre. He and his wife Yehudit, residents of Moshav Tkuma, were spared along with others from their community as, for an unexplained reason, Hamas terrorists passed by rather than infiltrating their moshav. 

Throughout the 24-hour-period Israelis will keep a somber vigil of remembrance. Among them are the children of victims and their children’s children. This has been the tradition in Israel for 74 years: to stop, to stand, to look up or out at what has been built, while remembering those who perished.

Yet despite the grief and somber reverence today, the legacy of 6 million murdered, the inheritance left by a generation nearly lost is not death or defeat. The legacy passed on to those who survived, to those who came after and lived, is life. It is a legacy of life infused with resolve, fierce joy and grim determination. Woven into the very fabric of Israel today is the knowledge that the Holocaust was one episode—one horrific episode—in a series of similar events. The Nazis were not the first to attempt to wipe out Jews from the face of the earth. Moreover, judging by the rising tide of anti-Semitism and the repeated calls by the likes of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah to annihilate the Jewish state, sentiments like those that drove the Nazis are anything but history.

Small wonder Israel’s motto regarding the Holocaust is “Never Again.” It is a pledge pouring from the heart of every Israeli, uttered with resolve and grim determination.

On this solemn day of remembrance, the people of Israel stand strong in the knowledge that the Jewish people survived. Again. Despite the attempts of fanatic regimes to exterminate every trace of the Jewish people, they have survived. Despite the Nazi’s fervent zeal and meticulous efficiency, they have survived. Despite the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Romans, the Crusaders, a coalition of Arab armies, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, they have survived. And because the God of Israel watches over them without slumbering or sleeping (Ps. 121:4), Israel will continue to survive.

Am Yisrael Chai! Let it be known across the earth and for all time: even while air raid sirens wail and Jews stand still to mourn, the people of Israel live—because the God of Israel lives.