Kyle had a depth of character that grew out of the unique circumstances of his life.
He had a strong sense of his Jewish identity and he planned to go to Israel and become whole there.
He had the Shema tattooed on his chest, I advised him against it, and when finally I saw it, it was even bigger than I imagined it would be.
He acted unconditionally with integrity and strength.
He protected his mother and father from the outside world, even when he disagreed with them.
He was a role model to his little cousins who are my children, Jeremy and Carlyn.
He had assembled an amazingly thoughtful group of friends from all races in Berkeley, and the parents who came along with those friends were his friends also.
As his friends have noted, he loved clothes and he used to borrow this suit for special occasions.
When his pants got too low or his warm up suit got to baggy I used to tell him I knew a good tailor who could do alterations.
He worked for the last two summers in my architecture office and he won the respect of the people there of all ages. As a going away present they considered buying him a belt.
In the past few months, when I saw Kyle with Hanna, I had the sense that he had freed himself from the most difficult aspects of his upbringing.
I have always known that it was Kyle who was ok, and it was the world around him that was imperfect.
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