Years ago Ezi used to lecture in the army about saving people from fallen buildings.  Ever since then when a building falls down he watches closely and kibbitzes.  The Surfside tragedy is the worst.  So much to kibbitz.  Yes, as the Israelis are saying, there still may be pockets where people can be alive, but from the first moment he was giving me the proper plan of action.  Of course he never tells anyone because he really has no avenues of communication, but I’m pretty sure he was right.  He said it’s a layered operation and you have to lift off the ceilings layer by layer with forklifts, very carefully but with gread speed.  

I don’t know anyone who lives there but I have not been able to take my eyes off the news for hours a day.  This is not like me – today a soldier was stabbed here and I haven’t turned on the news.    We’re usually used to ignoring terrible things so we can go on with our lives.  I don’t think we’re nonchalant, but helpless.  There are so many tragedies in daily life here that we note them, and go on.  Not just political. One minor example:  the streets of Tel Aviv have been ripped up for a few years now, part of the preparation for a subway that will probably be in use after I’m long dead.  So I ignore the mess.  Today they ripped up the beautiful green corner of our street – this time to widen the turn-off.  We went to see it.  The olive trees had disappeared, and the grassy arc where we used to sit was a hole.  We have been listening to bulldozers for months, widening the avenue nearby to create a designated bicycle lane and a wide walkway (where NOONE ever walks) .  They work at night – noisily and voraciously – and we just close all our windows and keep counter noise on. I doubt that any one of the neighbors who haven’t had their land confiscated by the government has said a word.  We haven’t.

But the rescuing procedure in Florida has been too much to bear.