BH it seems, only anecdotally, that most of the time people, adults, reported (at least publicly) as missing, in Israel, it is intentional. That is not to say the concerned family members should not worry, as they have no idea, but it does seem the missing adult is almost always missing because he or she wants to be "missing".  Sometimes there is mental illness, or even physical illness, involved and the person must be located, but from the news I see, most of the time BH everyone is safe and it is just a matter of personal concern. I am not commenting on whether or not they should be looked for, just that the end result seems to usually be that everyone is ok and he was only lost in the minds of the people who did not know where the person was, not in the person's own experience.

Eliyahu Delouia (sp?) from Netivot disappeared the other day. Delouia is 47 years old and the father of 22 children. You read that right - 22 children!

Delouia reportedly went out to travel to Meron for a few days of prayer. it seems this was normal in the life of the Delouia family - every now and then he would go to Meron for upwards of a week. He would be totally disconnected from the outside world and practically unreachable - he does not carry a cellphone. Right now he could not even call home if he wanted to as they recently got a new phone and like most people nowadays he would not know the number by heart. Mrs Delouia is aware of this and is fine with his trips to Meron.

When Eliyahu did not return to Netivot on Thursday in time for his 7th child's engagement party, Mrs Delouia got worried. She called the police, they opened a case and started to look for him, posting his picture around Tzfat.

Eliyahu Delouia was located a short while later in a local shul, in Netivot, his home town. He went home but didnt bother going home. BH, Eliyahu Delouia is safe and sound, and just needed time away from his family. Of course being scheduled to be away he thought nothing of it, he was scheduled to be away, his wife knew he would be away, and nobody should have been concerned, from his perspective. I dont know how any of this jibes with the engagement party and if he was scheduled to be there or not, and why he chose not to go home for it.

With 22 children, is anyone surprised he needs some time away every now and then?