A siren cut through the air, two minutes of silence

The settlement is quiet; the tumult is dumbstruck in the busy town

The teacher, the student, the construction worker all stood silent

The bus driver, the attorney, the vendor, the buyer

Bowed their heads, the cleaners, the police officer, the physician

The clerk, the kindergarten teacher, the artist, and those sitting in the coffee shop

Communed with the genius, the bereaved mothers, the suffering fathers, the widows

Comrades in arms, friends since birth, grandmothers, grandfathers, sons and daughters

The difference between the right and left was silenced, between the secular and the religious

All the differences were deleted, the sectarian divide

Two minutes of communion

Two innocent minutes of togetherness

Two silent minutes, to remember, not to forget

Two minutes safeguarding strength and power

And how much are we missing the echoing blast

And during it two minutes of unifying joy

Great joy breaking out from the heart

Joy that connects and causes to forget any pain

And how many of us are missing on the Sabbath and festivals

Two minutes unifying in tradition, in custom

And another two minutes uniting just an ordinary weekday

Oh – so we will have another Independence Day, a great festival.