Dear Graduating Class of 2018, I honor you.  This milestone is remarkable for any teen.  It is even more remarkable for you. You have had your community, our community to hold you.  As you graduate and move on, there will not be the shoulder of a friend in the hallway, the knowing when someone looks…

I recently reached out to Valerie Hughes, one of the organizers of “Rise Up & Write.”  This summer program is offered through the Hudson Valley Writing Project.  Students will be encouraged to research issues of social justice that touch them and write about them.  I am moved to know that this workshop is taking place…

I remember when I began to come up for air after Maya took her life.  I began to think about all of the landmarks that I would miss.  Learning to drive and getting a license, graduating from high school, doing work in Nepal, college, exploring career opportunities, relationships, perhaps marriage, a family. I also remember…

Yes!  That’s it!  My friend understood me, and she got it!  Let me wind the tape back for a minute to put it in context.  Mathew and I have been devoting much time to The Maya Gold Foundation.  This has not been the work of Mathew and me alone; that’s for sure!  It is really quite remarkable to witness all that…

January 25, 2006 Dear Maya, So much is going on in your sweet little life.  I think you’re experiencing a bit of stress these days.  Just as I was putting you to bed, you talked of things at school that have been difficult.  You were going to play a new math game with S.  You…

When I started writing, I chose to call this blog, “Maya’s Gifts.”  Here is a little excerpt from the “About” page: Maya’s life was a gift.  I believe the saying that there is no loss greater than that of a child.  I am living with this loss, deeply.  It is one that I never wish…

Bonnie Meadow, our beloved tutor, shared these words with me as a comment from my previous post.  My thought is that her reflection warrants a post of its own. Thank you, Bonnie. Toldot will always be connected to Maya for me, as Beshalach will be connected to you, Elise. What a profound privilege it was…

Each week, a different passage of the Torah is chanted.  At age 14, when Maya became a Bat Mitzvah on November 10, 2014, her passage (parsha) was Toldot.  As part of the ceremony, one becoming a b’nai mitvah is to share their reflections.  It is called the “D’Var Torah”, or “Words from the Torah”.  This…

October 6, 2005 Maya, Driving you home from school last week, we were talking about your friends.  I moved the conversation to me, and here is how it went: E: Do you know that I have friends too? M: Yes. E: Can you tell me who my friends are? M: Cindy. E: Yes!  She is…

I remember the first week.  It was the end of Shiva.  Rabbi Aura expressed how “we did not imagine that we would make it another day, not to mention an entire week.”  This was so very true.  Yet there we were.  Today marks two years.  How can this be?  And here we are. For those…