I had expected that my bar mitzvah (Jewish coming of age ceremony) would be awesome but normal.

It’s a strange statement, as it seems so obvious. But throughout this pandemic, I’ve learned what it actually means.

I never thought that the start to my senior year of high school would include my mother being taken to the hospital for COVID-19.

2020 has been a life-changing year.

On a weekend in early February, I attended the Quaker Youth Leadership Conference (QYLC) for the third time.

It doesn’t exactly have positive connotations, yet 2020 most definitely was full of protest, and it is hard to say that we ended up worse for it.

In 2020 I learned how to garden.

This past December, I celebrated Hanukkah in a way I never imagined.

Imagine this: an 11-year-old boy hears about an opportunity to be in his school’s production of Newsies.

“The coronavirus is spreading.”

In 2020 I learned that a community can be many things.

2020 was an unusual year.