This is a portion of the Torah that I believe represents my values ​​as a whole. The portion is part of the Parsha Ha-Shavuah which focuses on the story of Sarah (Abraham's wife) having a child at a very old age and the details about it. Included in the portion I'm reading is an emphasis that you should be generally hospitable to others and that families don't always follow "traditional" patterns. Now, let me explain my values ​​and how they fit into that Parsha: Humor - Humor is important to me because it helps me keep a fresh and clear outlook on life and generally brightens someone's day, or my day in general. Plus there's that old stereotype that "Jews have so much to joke about that they can't stop." So why not keep joking about everything!? It definitely helped us overcome some of the difficulties our ancestors had, and in my experience, humor can make any situation better. Family: for me family is the same thing as community; another value that plays at least a small part in my life. Community is family and family is community. I think of the Duke Lemur Center as a community of people who love to do the same thing, but at the same time I also like to think of it as a family. There is also the more traditional sense of family that we all know. Moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins ​​and other extended family members. Loyalty: I chose loyalty for a few reasons, but mostly the first thing I thought when I saw it was: wouldn't it be ironic to choose “Loyalty” as a value, but then not stay true to your values ​​and your choice of values The whole issue of loyalty - to people and things - is maintaining the belief or whatever faith you have in that thing or person and sticking to... middle of the paper... and the editorial work my Dad helped me do. this (and almost everything I write today), because boy, I need it! I would also like to thank my uncle for the hard work he has put into handling this whole thing, and for being a generally awesome uncle. Finally, I would like to say thank you fully Ira for all the hard work you've done to help me make this whole process manageable, organizing meetings, giving me guidance and nudges in the right direction, and being the person I can ask questions of and get a straight answer from , A thousand thanks! Of course I'm very grateful and I hope we can continue to get to know each other even when all this is over. What did this experience mean to me/do for me… why was it worth all the effort I put into it. Works CitedMarx, Harpo. 1961. Harpo speaks! [New York]: B. Geis Associates; distributed by Random House.