What are you seeking in an art photography book? Portraits, landscapes, people on the street?
For the last 12 years, Sharon Abeles, an internationally recognized photographer, has set out with her camera in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh (where she lives) to capture the soul of Purim in the streets by photographing children and adults in Purim costumes that are homemade, eclectic, creative, beautifully designed, and unusual. The result is the book Purim in Costume.
Photography is not Abeles’s only profession. She is also a veteran art and play therapist in private practice with children and teens, with a master’s degree in family therapy from the University of North Texas; she did postgraduate training at the Family Institute of Neve Yerushalayim.
Perhaps the connection here is the “play” she does with her camera.Abeles’s photographs are in the collections of major museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the North Carolina Museum of Art. Her work has appeared in many magazines and in the book Behold a Great Image: The Contemporary Jewish Experience in Photographs, edited by Sharon Strassfeld and Arthur Kurzweil.
Her photography exhibition “Rooms” was held at the American Cultural Center in Jerusalem, Israel. In August 2023, her exhibition “Beyond the Eye: Abstract Crystal and Glass” was at the Art Gallery of the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library in New York, while “I See You – ICU” was in the Lenox Hill Hospital, New York.
Her most recent exhibition was “Painting with Light,” photographs as windows into the artist’s unconscious, in the Jerusalem Theatre. In March 2024, her photograph The Splitting of the Sea appeared as part of a Passover exhibition “Chassidic in Art” in New York.
She is also a recipient of the Ehrenreich Photo-Optical Award.
Abeles’s photographs of the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Supernova music festival massacre were featured at the Hadas Gallery and the Juneberry Tree Art Gallery in 2024 and 2025 in a group exhibition called “October 7: Terror, Hate, and Hope.”
It all began with a borrowed camera
Purim in Costume began as a slide show at the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn, New York, in 2022, in which many of the photographs in this book first appeared.
In her introduction, Abeles thanks Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson, executive director of the museum and Tzivos Hashem; and Goldie Rosenberg, the museum’s education director, for premiering her Purim in Costume photographs. She also thanks Israeli art curator Nurit Sirkis-Bank.
Originally from Woodmere, New York, Abeles made aliyah in 1987. She is the mother of four married daughters and has many grandchildren. She dedicates the book to her mother, Faige Penkin – who was born on the Fast of Esther – on the occasion of her 92nd birthday.
Abeles says that her mother and sister Henya Storch, who both live in Woodmere, believed that she was gifted in art from a young age, drawing and coloring as a toddler and winning art awards at George W. Hewlett High School. Storch remembers saving up money as a teenager to buy a Canon camera and then loaning it to Sharon, her older sister, to use in a photography course she was taking, which they believe kick-started her future career.
Purim in Costume boasts a vast variety of creative costumes, but it is clear that Abeles is not seeking only innovative choices but also intriguing facial expressions and body language, which indicates there may be a story behind each of those choices.In addition to the expected Kohanim G’dolim (high priests in the Temple of Jerusalem), Torah scrolls, rebbes, queens, kings, princesses, clowns, and biblical and historical characters, there is an EMT (first-aid responder), teenage girls dressed as “Shoppers,” a jellyfish, several butterflies, Statues of Liberty, and a juice bar.
I was happy to see that Abeles included a girl in a wheelchair, dressed as a “Honey bunny,” and a lady with a walker called simply “Savta” (Grandmother). There were families who costumed together, like chessboards and artists.There is a recycling bin, Moroccan and Yemenite Jews, Native American Indians, and Indians from India. I was surprised to see some children and one adult dressed as Arabs; perhaps those photos were taken before the current war.
Though Abeles photographed in mostly haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhoods, there is a healthy dose of soldiers, policemen, and one very proud young Israeli fighter pilot, complete with a fighter bomber.
The 173 photographs connect us to the meaning and magic of Purim, while the poses and facial expressions that she captures also reveal family dynamics and individual personalities.
Abeles includes some stellar approbations in the book by emulated professionals who understand that she was aiming for more than a nice book of Purim photos.
There is a foreword by Nissan N. Perez, a photography historian, researcher, and curator who served as founder and chief curator of the Noel and Harriette Levine Department of Photography at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.Perez has curated over 200 photography exhibitions in Israel and around the world. He calls Abeles “A prolific artist… Her unstaged, candid, and natural photographs reflect the skills of an accomplished photographer and therapist.“The photographs capture her subjects spontaneously acting out the roles of their characters, hiding their true persona for a short moment… [It is] unique cultural art and sociological documentation.”
Documenting the joy of survival
Rabbi Berel Wein, founder and director of the Destiny Foundation, a renowned historian, lawyer, author of 20 books, and filmmaker, writes in his preface that Abeles was “my Jewish history student of more than 20 years. “For one day a year, people can pretend to be what they are not. One can be a biblical or historical character, a pirate or a musician, a banker or a warrior…. Purim dates back to the fifth century BCE… [it] is not just a past event about faraway Persia a time long ago.
“It is our current story, always relevant and timely – the joy of survival, of the ultimate downfall of the wicked, of a better tomorrow in physical, spiritual, and global terms. Sharon’s whimsical and insightful photos capture this and more. May we be strong and determined as our own Purim experience unfolds around us.”
Abeles brings an endorsement from Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller-Gottlieb, an international lecturer, author of eight books, biblical studies educator at Neve Yerushalayim, and principal of Bnos Avigail Seminary.
She says that Abeles’s photos “… recreate and flaunt a host of different identities, mimicking the themes of the Megillah as they are interpreted in every generation.”
Abeles’s own five-page introduction makes for fascinating reading, as it gives us a window into her artistic, religious, and therapeutic intentions. She writes, “Masquerading, while not a mitzvah (commandment), is a sacred Purim custom and is in keeping with the theme of hiddenness.
“The name Esther means ‘hidden,’ and though the events in the book of Esther are seemingly random, it is God’s hidden hand guiding the outcome of the Purim story. By dressing up, each person has an opportunity to take on a new identity. Past and present merge; evil and goodness are blurred…”
Abeles describes several family-related background stories that inspired this book, among them the story of her maternal grandfather’s sister, Aunt Esther Beim, whom she describes as “a wise and loving woman… a dignified matriarch who had a soft spot in her heart for orphans.“Her name seemed to sensitize her to the orphaned heroine of the Megillah. Although Aunt Esther’s family was wealthy, she often held her children’s birthday parties in Jewish orphanages.”
Most movingly, Abeles writes: “Another inspiration for this book is a haunting image of children in Purim costumes taken in the Łódz Ghetto in the early 1940s. I hold in my memory the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust and am grateful to be able to photograph Israeli children celebrating Purim in the freedom of our Jewish homeland.” She includes the photo of Purim in the Łódz Ghetto, from the Yad Vashem archives, in the book.
Abeles describes her journey into photography that took her through the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, “…where I was studying drawing, painting, and [learning] sculpture…. I began by taking pictures all over New York City, including the Lower East Side, the Bowery, and Times Square. After graduation, I went to New Orleans and other destinations in the United States, and then to Europe, Africa, the Far East, and South Asia.
“A colleague whom I assisted was Newsweek and TIME photojournalist Olivier Rebbot, who tragically died of sniper fire in 1981 while covering the civil war in El Salvador. The shock of his death made me fearful of a career in political and war photojournalism. I pivoted to less dangerous settings.”
Celebrating Jewish resilience
She writes, “I love the immediacy of photographing people in the streets, in natural light, as they hurry to or from synagogue or their Purim seudot (feasts), give charity, or deliver edible treats to family and friends. “I was captivated by the old-fashioned sweetness of the hand-sewn costumes in the Ramat Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem neighborhoods where I live and work.
“My intent is for this book to be a happy, immersive experience, where readers will feel transported to Israel, the antiquity and modern mixing together everywhere you look. Using one’s talents and creativity is a fabulous way to celebrate Jewish resilience…
“One of my favorite subjects is the girl dressed as a bird, which appears as the book’s cover... When I went to photograph her, she spontaneously turned around and flapped her wings. The bird’s two sides are symbolic of the miraculous turn of events in the Megillah; they fly above the laws of nature, defying extinction and setting a new course to freedom.
“As I photographed the celebrants, I wondered… Does Purim permit introverts to become extroverts? Do family dynamics play a role in wardrobe choice? What stories were they trying to tell? What memories were they drawing upon?
“Many garments reveal a sense of humor…The girl dressed as the Omicron virus introduces a new villain and is a perfect example of contemporary culture working its way into Purim. There is a ‘Fish Tank’ costume. Fish symbolize the Jewish people. Just like water is to fish, the Torah is sustenance for the Jewish people.”
The most clever costume, in my opinion (and it was a hard choice!), was the one of a girl dressed as a Hebrew slave in Egypt, with a baby sling holding six dolls, referring to the midrash that the Israelite women in Egypt gave birth to six children at a time.
Abeles concludes her introduction by quoting from the Megillah. “‘For the Jews, there was light, joy, gladness, and honor.’ Next Purim, who will you be?” As a play therapist, this comment is full of innuendo.
I found it an almost surrealistic touch, but so timely, that Abeles ends the book (spoiler alert!) with a larger-than-life-sized doll called “Hanging Haman.” Perhaps this is her personal statement that, in the end, please God, the good guys win.
May it be so, speedily in our time.
Purim in Costume Design and production: Kobi Franco Design Website: sharonabelesfineartphotography.com. For more information, contact sharon.abeles@gmail.com or Executive Producer Henya Storch of The Storch Agency International at storchhenya@gmail.com
The writer is the award-winning theater director of Raise Your Spirits Theatre, recipient of the American Jewish Press Association Simon Rockower Award for ‘Excellence in Jewish Journalism,’ editor-in-chief of WholeFamily.com, and fellow photographer.
