The night of the speech, I still couldn’t talk. But I couldn’t cancel, either

Rochel Goldbaum

Popular teacher, dating coach, lecturer

Denver, Colorado

Two years ago, I arranged a conference in the Catskills for Mikvah USA’s educational division. The week before the conference, I got sick. With a conference to run, I didn’t have the luxury of laying in bed, and by the second day, I was so run-down, I developed laryngitis. Somehow, I made it through.

Afterwards, I stayed in the Catskills for one more day, as I was scheduled to speak for another group of women about taharas hamishpachah. I didn’t know how I was going to speak; I literally couldn’t get a sound to emerge from my throat. Still, I wanted to try. I went to a friend, and she served me warm water with honey, Ricola drops, and some other concoctions we heard might help bring my voice back.

The night of the speech, I still couldn’t talk. But I couldn’t cancel, either.