Teens and Twenties

The importance of death customs has been ingrained in me since birth. When I served as a shomeret for my grandmother, I was instructed not to eat, drink or perform a mitzvah in the same room. In the shock of death, it seemed rather inane to be told it would be considered mocking the dead. My grandmother was gone; she couldn’t do those things because she didn’t exist anymore, a fact that still makes me tear up.

Another tree is down. I’m driving down Lakewood Avenue, figuring that maybe, just maybe, the tree that blocked the middle of North Lake Drive has been removed, and I can go through. After all, they had a whole day. I’m sure things have been taken care of.

The tear is rolling down my cheek. It lands atop my lips. I lick my lips to remove the dryness and the saltiness soaks into my tongue. I take a long deep breath and begin to think. Why? How could she do that to me? We’re best friends. We’ve known each other practically since we were born. How could she go and do such a horrible thing?

Nearly half a million of them fought in Red Army uniforms, under communist slogans but with a personal vengeance that was solely the result of Jewish experience. More than the “Greatest Generation,” they were the living superheroes hidden in plain sight.

Leah Katz, a TeenZone camper at Oorah’s TheZone summer camp and an 11th grader at Midwood High School, read her winning essay about how TheZone changed her views on Judaism at the Jewish Heritage Awards Ceremony held at Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’s office in April. The purpose of the Jewish Heritage Essay Contest is to acquaint public school students with Jewish history and customs and to help foster a deeper understanding of Jewish culture. The contest is open to students of all ethnic and religious backgrounds. Leah’s essay is reproduced in full below.

You have probably been planning your marriage since you were about three. Let’s fast-forward to a big milestone– your twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. (Don’t worry, you don’t look a day over twenty one!) Now, would you appreciate your husband buying you a dozen roses that some florist recommended?

It was September 25, 2006. Tammy, an oblivious, petite, third grader lay in bed, counting her stationary collection, when she decided she needed a drink. As she descended the staircase, she was surprised to see her mother dressed in this bubby-like gown.

I didn’t need that much garlic. After all… how much garlic, exactly, could I put into the chicken without overdoing it? But something made me leave the white, rounded head on the counter after cracking off a few bulbs, rather than putting it back in the fridge. Maybe I’d need more.

A small shoe a rusted silver bell a worn blanket a sign of the glory it once had The First Stage of Life

I can feel the fear pulsing through my veins, blocking out everything around me. I walk down the long, unembellished hall, which is dimly lit with fiery torches at every bend. I can’t help but wonder if it was purposely built this way to terrorize me. As I slowly edge towards the doors, I keep telling myself it’s going to be fine…but what if it’s not? I can feel my stomach twisting as I turn the last corner and come to a complete stop.

“I have a room,” she said. “Saturday I will move in. My church is paying for it. I’m here today and tomorrow, hopefully that will give me enough to get an air mattress, and then I will never do this again.” I wished her luck, and I walked away, feeling moved by the interdependence all humans have on each other, and with a deeper understanding of just how much we get when we give.

He is anyone at all who just simply does not know how to ask, whether scared, uneducated, or yes, young. He represents the people who simply do not know enough yet to ask the serious questions of the chacham.

One of my favorite movies to watch growing up was Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. On a whim, I decided to watch it this past weekend, taking a break from intensive LSAT studying. Julia Roberts plays a woman who works at her family's small-town hardware store. She has earned a notorious reputation for ditching her fiancée on her wedding day.

Prepare for something that will change the lively atmosphere of Coney Island forever. Casinos may be coming to your neighborhood! This must be stopped!

They try to manipulate you into thinking that by definition you're a shell and on the inside your dead, you don't exist. They put zero meaning into life. The shell is their focus - that's what they make of life!

I have to admit it. I was scared. And I don’t get scared. Or at least I don’t like to advertise when I do. But the wording of the e-mail from the U.S. State Department was so… harsh. Violent armed robberies are on the rise in Peru. In just three days I was going to be a U.S. citizen traveling alone to this apparent hotbed of crime called Peru, starting out in big, bad Lima.

"...will the kid say, 'Oh, I'm walking into the strange house, just like Goldilocks?! Maybe the kid will think..” Apparently I had walked into a family discussion of the pros and cons of reading fairy tales to children.

A little while ago, I was at my friend’s house for Shabbos. Her younger sister, who was in second grade, had a friend over; let’s call her T. According to today’s beauty standards, T was absolutely gorgeous. In addition to being physically appealing, her personality was totally adorable.

I close my eyes and fall back rejoining the strong women of my history

At the end of 2012, I was in Israel and looking out at the Jerusalem night sky. I was filled to the brim with inspiration and decided to challenge myself to become a more educated young woman. Simply put, I was going to read as many books in a year as possible. I’m not sure if that would actually have made a difference in my level of education but it seemed like a fun goal at the time.

My relationship with social media is and remains an ambivalent one. Unlike many of my peers, I did not initially embrace social media, from its beginning stages with AOL instant messenger and proceeding quickly on to MySpace and Facebook.

Tommy's eyes were fixed on the screen for the fourth hour that day. He sat there immobile, staring at the people fighting on the TV show. Unsurprisingly, the next day the principal called Tommy's mom - Tommy had beaten up two boys in his class that day.

When the train has departed the station, Fresh of food and of saturation, The journey ahead excites, With all the could bes and the might's,

I nod my head and smile again, The burning creases brand my skin

The New York Muni-Meter system is a disaster! There are many issues that have presented themselves with this new idea and they need to be solved.

It’s history. You can’t deny it. The Holocaust. Just about the worst six years in Jewish history. The Nazis slaughtered our nation during its journey to world domination. Six million innocent people were murdered. We have evidence. We have witnesses. We have proof. So why are people denying it?

Taking the words from my mouth, Twisting them, stretching them, turning them round and round, Negating their true meaning, as it was meant to be heard, You hear what you want without really listening.

Picture this; Mr. Smith is driving down on the Brooklyn Bridge, eager to get to work on time. At the corner of his eye, something flashes. He turns to look at an electric billboard. BOOM…CRASH…BANG… he’s been hit. That billboard took more than his attention - it took his life.

Imagine, sitting through nine classes each day, not understanding the material being taught, and failing many subjects. This would be a terrible school experience.

They say there’s no bigger nightmare than starting to go out / You’re playing emotional mind games that involve another’s feelings, no doubt / Your hopes atop a roller coaster, but soon to be set in loops / Where you’ll have to make good conversation again, over your cream-of-broccoli soup.