大象传媒

From Laura Marks, a campaigner for social action and interfaith relationships.听
Much as I tried to delay or disregard it, this week I hit the big six oh. It had seemed so far off yet, Jewish or non-Jewish calendar, my 60th birthday arrived. I had planned a little party with some friends and family, a special Friday night dinner with my mum who shares my birthday, some dancing, a new outfit, or even a weekend away with my husband. But after 5 weeks of high carb binging, the most forgiving of clothes stretched to their limits, with my hair both shaggy and shockingly grey, and my house cluttered up with 5 adults and a dog, none of whom understand that scrambled egg pans don鈥檛 magically wash themselves up, and never mind the lockdown, I wasn鈥檛 in a birthday state of mind. In Judaism birthdays matter and within each one, there鈥檚 meaning.听
The Talmud teaches at aged 5 to study scripture, at 13 to take on the obligations of adulthood, to marry at 18, earn a living at 20 (interestingly after marrying), and at 30 we peak in strength. We are not to give advice till 50 (I started that one early) and at 60 we disagreeably, officially, Jewishly, hit old age. However, things then perk up.听 At 70 we are considered complete and 80 is the age of strength when, according to Rabbi Deborah Kohn we bring wisdom and experience for the well-being of all, and we are able to make this a better world for all the generations to come.听
With that in mind, I hacked a very rough centimetre off my fringe with kitchen scissors, donned my rubber gloves to scrub the kitchen, baked myself a cake and unashamedly ate most of the mixture raw, and retrieved my lap top charger from under the dog鈥檚 basket ready to meet and greet my friends on line. My birthday bagel brunch was cooked for me by my resident family, and shared virtually with friends dating back 40 years, the egg pan amazingly washed up, left shiny and put away.听 My extended family sung to me and my mum on line, more recent friends surprised me with a Zoom party, the smaller than intended cake was devoured, and the dog enjoyed his longer than average walk in the park.听 If this is old age, roll on 80.