Yakima Waner writes by email:
I have been very blessed to know Monica Ressel.
She is the matriarch of the United Hebrew Institute of Brakpan and has been the secretary of the synagogue for the last 35 to 40 years and still reigns.
She turns 93 on July 13.
Monica is a remarkable woman filled with independence and “chutzpa”.
I am sure there are many others who can share stories about Monica such as my father Ernest Waner, president of the Shul, a man who also has great endearment and respect for Monica, but I would like to share how I see her.
Every time I see Monica she represents a beacon of light and displays the perfect performance of how we should all live life.
She has no reason to pretend she is something she is not, she expresses how she feels with no filter and I really love that about her.
She still lives in the same house in Brakpan where she raised her sons with her beloved husband Max.
She lives on her own and refuses to move out and be in the care of others simply because she has no reason to and is perfectly capable of looking after herself.
When I speak of Monica I love to brag about the fact that she still played tennis in her 80s, for me thats amazing.
I see people who are decades younger with not even a percentage of the wit and enthusiasm with which Monica wakes up each day.
She adores her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and every time she gets the opportunity she shows me photos of each of them like they are the greatest gifts in her life.
I feel sad for them because not being able to visit her is a massive loss in each of their lives.
I love that she is not politically correct for anyone, especially to those she should be as the secretary of the Shul.
As secretary she still does her service at the Brakpan Jewish Cemetery by attending all funerals and sharing her condolences.
I love that she still calls friends close and far to see how they are doing and what I admire the most is that she makes an effort to phone widows and widowers to comfort them during their difficult time of loss.
When I see Monica I see a heroine and a matriarch of a vital period of Judaism in Brakpan, a period that has lost most of its predecessors.
There are different types of heroes in this world.
Monica is a woman who will never show vulnerability not because she doesn’t have any, but because she will never let it defeat her.
Even though her body ages, her spirit and her identity doesn’t.
She has managed to succeed at something that many attempt for a life time, and that is to be forever young and a never forgotten symbol of a beautiful period of Judaism in Brakpan.
I love you Monica.
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