Most days, one of the first things Barbara does when she wakes up is check the news feeds on her phone. If nothing else, we’ll find out if it will be hotter than usual or even hotter than that in our part of the world. But a few days ago, she read an announcement in Ivrit that she shared with me. To honor the memory of a young soldier from our community, Yonadav Raz Levenstein, who had fallen in battle a day or two before, there would be a Civilian Honor Procession starting down the hill in Mitzpe Nevo and going through the city and continuing on Midbar Yehuda, a main road around the corner from us, until the city exit. We couldn’t figure out if that meant that people would be walking or driving. If they were walking, I figured, when they reached us, I would go down and join the march, my Israeli flag – formerly to protest, now to show unity – in hand. The procession was supposed to begin at 9AM, but, this being Israel…… Starting at about 9:30, I took my position, cup of tea in hand, by our living room window. No matter who, what, when, or where, if they came our way, I would see them. Sure enough, starting at about 9:40 I noticed a dramatic increase in vehicular traffic. Well, that answered my question. A fleet of cars, stretching for blocks and blocks came by. No way I could join them on foot.  I later noticed a post on our Anglo email group that the procession wasn’t just a local affair; they were on their way to Har Hertzl for the military funeral, so of course they were driving. What I should have done was stand on the street waving my flag, paying silent tribute to the fallen soldier, as some other people did – but I didn’t think of it in time. Another small opportunity to contribute that eluded me – alas.

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