ELUL 15 · DAY 15 of 29 · AUGUST 26, 2026

It was nearly midnight in early December, and I was running through my notes in my hotel room in Atlanta for the next day’s panel on character development. I suddenly heard the door next to my room slam, and a man screaming at his partner, “You n-word lover,” this and that. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking from shock and anger. I resolved to bang on our shared hotel door if he said it again, which he promptly did. 

BANG! BANG! BANG! I slammed my fists on the door. They got real quiet. But what if they only got quiet because they thought I was simply upset that they were yelling at midnight, and not because he was violently screaming the “n-word”? 

I got up, walked into the hallway to knock on their front door, and then lost my nerve, fist raised. I thought to myself, “I don’t know who they are, and what if things get violent?” Knowing I had failed, I remembered what I’ve been taught through Mussar and Torah: courage comes from awe of HaShem.

I knelt and raised my hands in prayer. I stood, walked back into the hallway, and knocked. A middle-aged white man cracked open the door. I told him, “You can’t be screaming the n-word — it’s violent for everyone who hears it.” It felt like my voice shook, and his face flushed. But still he apologized.

I realized I could live with a shaking voice. I couldn’t live with my silence. Baruch HaShem, change is possible.