5782 in Review

This year, I:

• Started and completed my second year of rabbinical school, this time in person

• Got engaged

• Planned a wedding

• Supported my fiancé through multiple transitions

• Cried, a lot

• Fought with my parents, a lot

• Fought with my fiancé, a lot

• Learned a lot of Tosfot, and sometimes understood them

• Taught classes and gave sermons

• Went to therapy

• Developed a skincare routine for the first time since eighth grade

• Made myself at home in the shelves of the beit midrash

• Became a lot more comfortable in the pages of sefarim

• Made a lot of diagrams about cooking

• Made new friends

• Angsted about changing my last name

• Learned how to drive

• Packed up my third (and final) Heights apartment for an interstate move

• Packed up my childhood bedroom

• Read a lot of books

• Kept hacking away at my poetry manuscript

• Published four poems

• Got married

• Started covering my head

• Drove from New Jersey to Savannah to Orlando to Savannah (with five days in the Bahamas in between)

• Met a sea lion named Bonnie

• Unpacked my apartment and childhood bedroom in a new house in a new state

• Registered to vote in Georgia

• Did a lot of paperwork and practiced my new signature to go with it

• Surprised my husband by telling him I want a dog

• Got a dog

• Crashed a car

• Bought a car

• Got Covid for the first time since Pesach 2020

• Started my third year of rabbinical school, on Zoom

• Hugged so many loved ones, including davened-for babies

This year, I prepared for Rosh HaShanah by committing to writing a poem every day of Elul; and in the spirit of Elul, I forgave myself when I didn’t reach that goal. This year, I am trying to be less mean to myself. This year, I am going into davening with kavannot (intentions); words and mantras to guide my heart towards God and help me ask Her for help.

This year, I am grateful. May we all have what to be grateful for in 5783 and beyond.