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.

A person's diary should be a private place where they can express themselves without fear of judgment from anybody else, and it goes without saying that loved ones should respect that. Unfortunately, ...

Dear E. Jean: My wife recently confessed to me that she read my diary. It contained very personal information, most of which was about her (and my fears regarding our marriage). After apologizing, she ...

Lust, cruelty and a desperate need for attention ... I thought my old journals would bring back warm memories – in reality they were a document of the unique misery and painful insecurities of ...