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He found out that I had never tasted hamantaschen, so he stopped at a bakery to buy the delicious treat for me. My cousin also suggested that I go to a Purim service; but when I went to the Purim service at Hollywood Temple Beth El, I didn't learn anything about the holiday. Since the reading of the Megillah was all in Hebrew, it was necessary to have a red light go on when it was time for the children to be quiet, and a green light went on when it was time for the children to boo Haman. To learn more about the holiday, I read the Book of Esther (Megillah) in my King James Bible, which was the only one I had at the time.

The best part of my life has been the twenty-five years that I have spent with my darling husband, Phil; and I look forward to another twenty-five years with him. Although Phil had a Bar Mitzvah and was a Jewish Big Brother, he is not religious. From Phil, I learned the meaning of a Jewish heart and soul. When we lost our five-day-old daughter, I was advised by a Jewish Family Service counselor to join a Sisterhood for companionship; that's what ultimately led me back to the Jewish community. I am now a Life Member of Hadassah and Jewish Women International, and I took the Holiday Workshop at Temple Akiba. I learned how to conduct a Seder, and I'm in charge of the Sisterhood Purim Bake Sale every year.

Although I took a year of Hebrew at Fairfax High School, reading from the Torah now makes my journey complete. What makes it so special for me to read from the Torah is knowing that the text has been painstakingly hand-lettered in a kind of calligraphy by a scribe who specializes in this type of religious artistry. It's also a real challenge to read text that doesn't include vowels. Although the Torah has been interpreted in many different ways, it is sacred to all of us. That is why the reading of a Torah portion is a great honor and a very unique experience.

I owe it to my father to keep our Torah alive because he dared to die to preserve our way of life. My father now rests in Har Zion Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania, but somehow I feel that he can see what I have accomplished. I hope that what I am doing will inspire my nephew, Jason, to take the torch from me. He is the next generation.

Learn more about this author, Carole Silverman.
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