Many of us challenge ourselves to achieve something special by the time we reach an important birthday or milestone.
Some attempt to learn a new language, while others decide to give up smoking or lose a few pounds, for example.
For one woman, Sharon Steele, an Israeli-Brit, turning 60 last week was particularly poignant as it fell on Purim, a festival which has always held a special significance for her due to its proximity to her birthday.
Not usually one for parties or a big fuss, this year was different for Sharon. She felt she couldn’t let the day pass unmarked in light of this happy Purim coincidence.
Whereas others may have held a fancy dress party or invited friends and family over for a Purim seuda, Sharon took on the onerous task and responsibility of learning to recite the megillah to mark the day.
“Despite my lack of enthusiasm for both being the center of attention and for big birthday celebrations, when I found out that my 60th birthday fell on Purim, I knew it was cause to mark the occasion. So, I opted to try and learn to read Megillat Esther,” she said.
Not only would this be a meaningful way to mark her birthday, it would also enhance her cognitive function, she told me. Like so many of us older women, Sharon felt she was slowing down in this regard and wanted to sharpen her skills – and what better way to do it?
Learning the megillah
Once the decision had been made, Sharon then had to find someone who was both willing and able to teach her. With the help of a rabbi friend, she was put in touch with a woman named Debbie Ziering and together, they embarked on a course of lessons.
The hardest part for Sharon stemmed from her lack of musical ability, making it all the more difficult to memorize the notes. Endless, agonizing practice sessions made it particularly difficult for her husband, Richard as the day drew nearer: “It has been quite a challenge both for me (total absence of musical ability) and for Richard (total frustration with my lack of musical ability),” she joked.
As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, the reading was particularly poignant for Sharon, describing it as her own personal miracle.
“As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and the niece of Mengele twins, [her twin aunt and uncle were taken to Auschwitz – along with her father and grandmother – where they became victims of Dr. Josef Mengele’s deadly genetic experiments] it is my own personal miracle to have read the Megillat Esther last night with my daughters and my niece Emily at my side.”
ALTHOUGH SHARON placed an enormous amount of pressure on herself to learn as much as possible, for her, the most important thing was to get it right, even if that meant she couldn’t get through the whole story.
This didn’t matter to the organizers of the women’s megillah reading who invited her to come along to recite it for them on Purim eve. She was welcome to do as much or as little as she could manage, they assured her.
Although it took a while for her to agree, happily, the evening was a success. Around 70 women of all ages and levels of observance came to hear Sharon’s megillah reading. The atmosphere was one of joy and cohesion as everyone listened attentively, silently cheering her on and rising to boo at the mention of Haman.
In the end, Sharon was delighted to have managed the first three chapters, which, she says, mirror her own family’s suffering during the Holocaust insofar as they set out the background of the Purim story – the decree against the Jews and the punishment meted out to them by Haman.
“The beginning of the story recounts what has been described as the first potential Final Solution. To have the privilege of reading this text on the eve of my 60th birthday, as a resident of the State of Israel and living side by side with three of my second-generation first cousins, fills me with hope, as well as a sense of responsibility.”
This momentous milestone in Sharon’s life was immediately followed by International Women’s Day on March 8. The significance was not lost on Sharon: “In the megillah, catastrophe was averted by a courageous woman [Queen Esther] who overcame her reservations and chose to follow her conscience and stand up to wicked laws. A lesson for everyone throughout all of the time and a cause for celebration that has special resonance for me today,” Sharon said.
Like Queen Esther, Sharon has shown herself to be a courageous woman, having put aside her own reservations on her 60th birthday, to serve the women in her community by reading the megillah to them. Next year, she hopes to be in a position to do it again, with a recital of all 10 chapters.
The writer is a former lawyer from Manchester, England. She now lives in Israel where she works at The Jerusalem Post.