the Torah portion¶

I can still remember the cantillation of Vayechi, the Torah portion I read at my bar mitzvah 16 years ago, and motherfuckers have the nerve to doubt whether or not I'm a Jew. I practiced that shit for MONTHS, it was that important to me. I know Biblical Hebrew, modern Hebrew, and Aramaic because of my upbringing. I can recite the first chapter of Genesis from memory, most of Magid from the Haggadah, and studied with the 12^th grade Gemara class when I was 14 years old. I BEGGED my parents to let me go to Kollel, starting when I was 13, spending dozens of hours of my free time studying Talmud of my own volition. I often had to find my own way there, sometimes walking half an hour each way, because it was that worth it to me.