Johnson mentions how she encountered Uri Dromi, the only obituary writer in Israel, for Ha’aretz, a liberal newspaper. Dromi writes only two short stories about people who died every week. Having lived in Israel for 11 years as a child, the fact that Ha’aretz publishes even two obituaries is quite surprising to me.

Johnson wonders, “How is it possible in any country, but especially a country like Israel, crammed as it is with history and violence and eventful deaths?” This really resonated with me. When I was a child, I never saw either obituaries or death notices in newspapers. Death notices, the kind that just give generic information about the death of the person, were only placed as signs on walls around the neighborhood.

It is possible that I was so young that it never occurred to look for such a thing in the newspaper, but I have never seen longer obituaries in any Israeli media outlets, whether print or online. This is the case in spite of the fact that Israel has fought several wars over the last 60 years and there have been several suicide bombings in Haifa, the city where I lived.  Tragic as it is, there were many opportunities to write poignant stories commemorating those killed. And yet, I did a quick web search to see if Dromi’s stories are accessible online on the Ha’aretz website and I could not find any.

So, what I take away from all this is that people come from different places, have different traditions and beliefs. Although this project is geared mostly to a North American audience, we should not assume that a published story commemorating a person’s life is a self-evident concept for people. I am American, but it wasn’t for me.