It's been a while since we've had a decent parade in this town. But if you were traveling around the Deering Avenue section of Portland today, you may have seen a grand parade going right down the sidewalk. We hope this is the first of many parades we see in 2021!

Levey Day School
Levey Day School
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Who was behind today's parade in Portland?  We can thanks the great students, teachers, and staff at the Levey Day School, a Pre-K to 7th-grade independent school in Portland, who were celebrating Israel's 73rd Independence Day - Yom Ha’Atzmaut - with a small parade through the neighborhood. The students led the march while wearing Israel’s national colors and waved flags they made in their art classes. What a great thing!

Levey Day School
Levey Day School
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The Levey school had an official police escort from our heroes at the Portland Police Department.

 

Levey Day School
Levey Day School
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This is an histroric day for sure. Historian Michael B. Oren has written about April 15, 1948:

"The Jews of Palestine ... were dancing because they were about to realize what was one of the most remarkable and inspiring achievements in human history: A people which had been exiled from its homeland two thousand years before, which had endured countless pogroms, expulsions, and persecutions, but which had refused to relinquish its identity—which had, on the contrary, substantially strengthened that identity; a people which only a few years before had been the victim of mankind’s largest single act of mass murder, killing a third of the world’s Jews, that people was returning home as sovereign citizens in their own independent state."

 

Levey Day School
Levey Day School
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Way to go Levey Day School!

 

Levey Day School
Levey Day School
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Levey Day School
Levey Day School
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KEEP READING: Here are the most popular baby names in every state

Using March 2019 data from the Social Security Administration, Stacker compiled a list of the most popular names in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., according to their 2018 SSA rankings. The top five boy names and top five girl names are listed for each state, as well as the number of babies born in 2018 with that name. Historically common names like Michael only made the top five in three states, while the less common name Harper ranks in the top five for 22 states.

Curious what names are trending in your home state? Keep reading to see if your name made the top five -- or to find inspiration for naming your baby.

 

 

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