A siren pierces the air, two minutes of tranquility

The colony is silent, in the usually bustling city

A teacher, a student and building worker stand still

A truck driver, a lawyer, a seller and a buyer as well

Bowing their heads joined by cleaners, police and doctors

Clerks, teachers, artists, and café goers -

United stand widows, bereaved mothers and troubled fathers

Comrades in arms, childhood friends, grandparents, sons and daughters

No quarrels between right and left, between secular and religious

 All differences - erased. The ethnic gap for a moment ceases.

Two minutes of communion

Two entire moments of union

Two minutes of silence, to commemorate, to remember.

Two minutes of embracing great fortitude and power.

But a reverberating blast is what we really miss

Announcing two minutes of unifying bliss

A joy to bursts out from deep within our souls

A joy to wipe out all pain and to connect us all.

And how we really miss both on Shabbat and holidays

Two minutes of tradition and of customs on these days

And another two minutes of unity on ordinary days

Then shall Independence be celebrated all the way