I lost a dear friend last week. Some of you may know him—his name is Adam Valen Levinson, and he was a beautiful soul.

I’ll try to write a proper memorial post at some point later. For now I just wanted to say that I loved him dearly, and he influenced many people’s lives for good. Unfortunately, as is so often in these situations, he was unable to extend the same kindness and grace to himself as he did for everyone else. That’s a story for another day, or perhaps for the longer post I’ll eventually write.

Before all this happened, Adam wrote a book called Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah. Among other things, it’s the memoir of a young Jewish graduate who learns Arabic and goes off to explore the modern middle east. Long ago I wrote this blurb for the book:

"The Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah is the rare work of art that mixes cultural immersion with personal reflection―and actually gets it right. This book would be entertaining as a novel, but the fact that it’s a true story should make it required reading for anyone who wants to learn about the world. I laughed, I cried, I preordered.”

As I said, it’s a great book, but what’s far more important is that Adam and I became friends after I read it. I brought him to Portland where he spoke at an event I produced, and later we hung out several times in New York and San Diego. This photo is from a few months ago, when we went to dinner in La Jolla and then walked down to the beach.

Adam died on Thanksgiving. It’s hard for me to believe that he’s gone—I’m honestly still in shock from the news. But I wanted to say for now, again, that he was a beautiful soul and should be remembered. ❤️❤️❤️