What I learn from the debates and disagreements surrounding the Memorial Day siren is how important it is to remain silent.
Well, even when I was a child, about 50 years ago, I knew that the siren on Memorial Day symbolized a certain sacredness in the eyes of a certain public.
I was taught that we have our own ways of remembering and that there are others who think that this is how we should honor the fallen. I knew how to respect others and never cause them unnecessary suffering or a feeling of disrespect on my part, so when I would come to places where people honor the siren – I would stand like them and whisper a chapter of my own Psalms.
Over the years, we have grown and matured, and as in any large and broad community, so too among us there are those who believe this way and those who believe that way. Some of us believe that those standing at the siren should be respected and that we should stand, and there are those who believe that we should not stand when the siren is blown.
Of course, when some of us left the national norm, evil people rose up against us. They began to defy all of us, speak against us, write against us, photograph us, and search for us.
The more publications, the more photos, and later the better television footage, were published against us - the more a few of us decided to embark on an even more exhausting war of attrition.
Some stand and some don't stand - and in public. Some blow their horns and some don't hear.
Imagine what would have happened if they hadn't been photographing us and showing us, and peeking into our neighborhoods and even screaming to scare us.
If it weren't for all of this, it's possible that most of us would still be standing by today, honking our horns, as we did in the past, and honoring their request. After all, between us, it's not a crime.
And I learned silence from a siren.
How do you learn silence from the noise created around the siren?
Do you want your children to get what you ask for? Stop looking for them, stop filming their shameful behavior and highlighting it.
Do you want your partner to accept your request? Stop complaining over and over again, stop glorifying his actions that are unacceptable to you - you are only reinforcing the path of denial and making him resist you.
Do you want a certain public to accept your constitution? Stop shouting, do your own thing and maybe others will learn from you.
What can be done quietly and modestly, we can never do loudly.
And on the sidelines, something personal for these photographers who take pictures during the siren.
Maybe it's just a good idea to act as you should when the siren sounds: stand still, with your feet together, your hands free, and your head calm - and think about the fallen.
It's a shame that you are busy with other things while blowing the horn. And if you say that you yourself do not agree with the idea of blowing the horn – do it for the sake of your brothers who are standing. And if you say that you do not wish to honor these – honor the reciters of the Psalms. Close your eyes and whisper to yourself.
Just, for God's sake, don't desecrate the holy siren with unnecessary photos, because the Haredim don't stand for the siren - everyone already knows that.
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