My Sulam Story

Welcome to the story of my Sulam journey.

For the past five years, Sulam has supported me, encouraged me, and always had my back. Especially through my rollercoaster of a senior year.

Rabbi Deck invoked within me a new love of math, and Rabbi Perlis not only caught me up on the basics of chumash, but he brought it to life like no other teacher had before There were even times when I wanted to quit, but Mrs. Licht was there with the tough love.

Sulam partnered with my parents and advocated for my mental health, ultimately finding someone who was able to

diagnose my depression. My parents got me on a wait list to see an amazing therapist. But Sulam worked their magic and got me in right away. My last year of high school was just around the corner.

Two weeks before senior year, my health started to decline. My family had to end our vacation a few days early, and I was rushed to the hospital. I had never been so scared in my life. For everyone else, school began. I missed out on senior sunrise, upper school kickoff, and most importantly, the first day of classes. There I was, still stuck in the hospital with no end in sight, and treatment still wasn’t working. It would have been really hard to keep up hope, except that while all of this was going on, Sulam was there.

Mrs. Heller, Dr. Drang, Mrs. Sushner, Dr. Raven—they all came, bearing yummy drinks and all the sucking candies I desired. From my hospital bed is where I first met Mrs. Houben and Mrs. Baldinger. They made the trip all the way up to Baltimore just to see me. In the depths of my discomfort, I was strengthened by the knowledge that I had an amazing team behind me who would support me no matter what.

I ended up getting a life changing surgery, and was the proud owner of a new ostomy bag.

I was back up and running, except not really running—I was barely even walking.

Sulam was there. They helped me transition back into school, and set me up to succeed in all of my classes and beyond.

When I got back to school, I’m not going to lie, I struggled. But I reached out, and was given the support I needed. I remember, on my first day at Sulam, when I was just a little 8th grader, I would have never reached out for help. Why would I? No one had ever had my back in the past. The years I spent at Sulam, I learned something very important.

I am not alone. I have an incredible team of educators who helped me stand. And when they saw I was ready to go off into the world, they let me go. Today, I hold my head up high, knowing that I am at the end of my grade school journey. Ready to go off into the world. Fully prepared for anything it can throw at me.

And it is all thanks to Sulam.

From a speech Avi gave at the May 2023 Sulam Gala