When ninth-grader Elliot Gilats thinks of his favorite childhood memory, he remembers the time he almost skipped his speech at his sister’s bat mitzvah.
He was around 9 years old when he was asked to give the shehecheyanu, a Hebrew blessing. This speech is given to celebrate special occasions, like holidays such as Yom Kippur, Passover, Hanukkah and more, or in Gilats’ case, a family member’s bat mitzvah. “It’s basically [saying], like, thank you God, … I’m grateful that I am here and I’ve made it to this moment, and [I’m grateful for] what has gotten me to this moment,” he said.
Gilats was ecstatic, but incredibly nervous. Halfway through the service, he rushed off to the restroom and didn’t return until the moment before he was meant to speak. “And my sister still teases me about it,” he said. “But I did fine.”
Memories are something Gilats treasures. Reminiscing on his childhood helps to remind him of the importance of his family and peers in his everyday life. His memory of the end of eighth grade does exactly that.
Gilats enjoys looking back at old photos and feeling the sense of nostalgia that comes with discovering the way people and places have changed over time. So when the school yearbooks arrived in the last few weeks of eighth grade, he was excited to have a way to reminisce on the past. “Looking at the pictures always reminds me of, you know, previous years when we would go around and sign people’s yearbooks. … They had [the eighth grade] submit a baby or toddler photo, and then a current photo,” he said. “Pictures are, you know, kind of a huge thing when it comes to [nostalgia] for me.”
Not only photos, but videos, are a reminder of old memories for Gilats. “My parents have a tradition of on or right around my birthday, for both my sister and I, they’ll do … a little video interview with us, [asking] what happened [that] year,” he said.
“It’s just like, oh, you know, this is what our living room looked like. This is what we looked like,” he said. “Last year, for my sister’s [18th] birthday, … we watched a bunch of her, and that was just very nostalgic. [It was fun to see] us as little kids and how we interacted.”
Gilats’ holiday traditions also remind him of how much he values his family and the memories he’s made with them. His family has hosted a Hanukkah party with much of his extended family for the past several years “That’s always a lot of fun,” he said. “We eat together and just, like, have fun.”
They usually have a gift exchange, similar to white elephant, or a book exchange, which Gilats enjoys, although he’s skeptical of some of the gifts. But he doesn’t mind if the gifts aren’t always perfect, because he’s glad for the chance to just be with the people he loves. “[Getting] everybody involved and, you know, spending time together, that’s a lot of what … holidays are about,” he said.
“[I’m] grateful that I can spend time with my family and … that I’m able to do this.”
Gilats’ childhood has shaped who he is today in many ways. His family’s yearly Hanukkah parties remind him how much he values the people around him. Yearbook photos help him connect with his classmates – and nearly forgetting his speech has made him realize that his sister will probably never let it go.
Updated 1/22 to add PodBean
Updated 2/4 to change featured image