From hospital stays to Shabbat dinners, a few lines a day became a Jewish way of reckoning with memory, loss — and the comfort of routine. In January 2011, I wrote my first entry in a five-year diary.

I began my first diary while in grade school, and have kept a paper journal off and on since then. Even in the era of blogs, putting pen to paper can be immensely satisfying and intimate for journal ...