Yom Kippur… silence is golden

September 23, 2007 - 9:47 AM by Nicky

Ah, Yom Kippur. My favorite day of the year.
Not because I’m religious, but because the streets are entirely free of cars.

Imagine it. Not a single car, or motorbike, or lorry, or truck, or even aircraft polluting the air with noise. Just silence.

Actually it’s not that silent. But it’s a different kind of noise – the swish of bicycle tires, the roll of skateboards and scooters, the trundle of bimbas, and, of course, the sound of children eagerly laying claim to the roads.

There’s no other holiday like this in the world. Can you imagine New York, London, or Paris grinding to a halt for one day and the children taking to the streets?

We cycled off early in the morning yesterday for a trip to neighboring Kfar Saba. Cycling past Israeli-Arab villages, you do encounter a few cars, but out in the Jewish areas the highways are still and quiet. Enormous abandoned cycle paths.

There was just one driver that amused us. A man drove past us slowly with a mountain bike slotted onto his roof rack. He was dressed in full cycling gear, and had obviously just finished a ride around the Horishim forest. All of Israel’s roads at his wheels, but he has to drive to get to a forest.

Ah Yom Kippur. We should have one every four months.
We should give it to the world as a gesture of peace and goodwill.

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