Product Description

The first two novels in a dramatic trilogy set in eleventh-century France about the lives and loves of three daughters of the great Talmud scholar

In 1068, the scholar Salomon ben Isaac returns home to Troyes, France, to take over the family winemaking business and embark on a path that will indelibly influence the Jewish world—writing the first Talmud commentary, and secretly teaching Talmud to his daughters.

Joheved, the eldest of his three girls, finds her mind and spirit awakened by religious study, but, knowing the risk, she must keep her passion for learning and prayer hidden. When she becomes betrothed to Meir ben Samuel, she is forced to choose between marital happiness and being true to her love of the Talmud.

Rich in period detail and drama, Joheved is a must read for fans of Tracy Chevalier’s Girl With a Pearl Earring.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27084 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780452288621
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"This carefully researched work provides a glimpse into the little-known medieval Jewish world in which Rashi lived and worked." -- Naomi Ragen, Dec 2004

Anton turns sketchy knowledge of Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi) and his family into an absorbing historical novel. -- Jewish Times News, August 18, 2005

Much like The Red Tent, it delves into rituals of women who were forgotten by history and marginalized by society. -- Library Journal, July 12, 2005

Recreates a medieval French community faithful to little-known details of Jewish ritual, including marital relations, childbirth, life-cycle events and holidays. -- The Jewish Press, Jan 11, 2006

Takes the torch from Anita Diamant, while using more research to explain the phenomenon that is Rashi and his daughters. -- The J of Northern California, August 25, 2005

The way Anton's extensive research and imagination combine to retrieve the lives of Jewish women is realistic and captivating. -- Dvora Weisberg, Nov 2004

 Blending passages of Talmudic argument with imagined human dramas of the medieval scholar's household, it entertains and educates. -- Judith R. Baskin, Dec 2004

Review
“A forceful novel of the power of learning, faith, and the two sides of love.”
Midwest Book Review

“Anton has reimagined the life and world of the famed eleven-century biblical teacher Rashi through the lives of his three daughters.…Readers will definitely be hooked on this series.”
—Romantic Times
“Impressive work…a fine storyteller…an absorbing, detailed account.”
—Jewish Journal

“The writing successfully captures the pace of medieval life and pulls the reader into the details of the characters’ lives.”
—Jewish Times News

From the Author
"Rashi's Daughters" is the story of the three daughters of the great Talmudic authority Salomon ben Isaac, a.k.a. Rashi, who lived in 11th century Troyes, France and had no sons. At a time when most women were illiterate and the rare educated woman was one who could read the Bible, Rashi's daughters studied Talmud. They were also vintners, merchants and mothers of the next generation of Talmudic scholars.

Built on seven years of exhaustive historical research and ten years of Talmud study, "Rashi's Daughters" explores what might have been, weaving actual events, as described in responsa literature and Talmud commentaries, into an account of the lives of these amazing women. Talmud is an integral part of these novels; readers will learn along with Rashi's daughters as he explains selected texts. This is also the story of the medieval French Jewish community, how they lived, loved, worked, ate, prayed and interacted with their non-Jewish neighbors. A wealth of material about Jewish women's daily lives is provided, including how they observed life cycle events and holidays.

I wrote this book because I wanted to share my research into Jewish women's lives in medieval France, how the prosperity and tolerance they enjoyed differed from the negative stereotypes usually associated with the Middle Ages. In addition, I wished to encourage women to study Talmud, the foundation of Jewish Law that, until very recently, women have been unable to access. I hoped to share the excitement and pleasure Talmud study can engender.

Customer Reviews

What Stands Out Is The Author's Ability To Seamlessly Infuse Her Knowledge Into the Lives Of the Characters
One of the most brilliant biblical commentators that ever lived was Salomon Ben Isaac, better known as RASHI (RAbii SHlomo Itzchaki).

Rashi was born in 1040 and died in 1105, living for the most part of his life in Troyes, France. He was widely renowned for his succinct explanations and elaborations of Biblical text that were quite innovative, as they were written down, shifting from an oral to a written tradition.
In addition to running his own Yeshiva (Talmud academy), Rashi operated a wine making establishment, in order to support his wife and three daughters.

Author Margaret Anton's, Rashi Daughters, is the first in a series of a three-volume family saga of the fascinating lives of Rashi's three daughters, Joheved, Miriam and Rachel. The initial novel focuses on his eldest daughter, Joheved.

What makes this historical fiction particularly absorbing is Anton's ability to seamlessly infuse her own historical and biblical knowledge into the lives of her characters with rich detail of an era unfamiliar to many of us.
Apparently, the author devoted five years of historical research and ten years of Talmud study prior to her writing the series.

Most significant is the author's meticulous research enlightening us of every thing from backward superstitions, sexual rituals and marital relations, Jewish holidays, childbirth, life-cycle events, to the daily lives of Jews living in eleventh century France.

Particularly compelling, however, is the way Rashi himself is depicted. Anton does not loose sight of his fundamental humanity. He is portrayed as not someone who is haughty, narrow minded and stubborn, but rather a sensible man who sought middle ground solutions to some of the difficult challenges he had to face.
Examples of his sharp mind can be seen in the manner he skillfully handles the request made to him by his daughter Joheved to put on tefillin (phylacteries, small leather cases containing passages from scripture worn by Jewish men while reciting the morning prayers).
Another is how he dealt with the insistence by his daughters that they be permitted to learn the Talmud. In fact, some rabbis felt that if you teach women the Talmud you teach them lechery.

Rashi's Daughters is a wonderful, richly textured yarn incorporating all the sights, sounds and impressions of an eleventh century Jewish community, where Jews did not experience the anti-Semitism prevalent in later centuries, and where the Church tolerated Jews, rarely interfering with how they practiced their religion.

Anton's sentimental portrait of Joheved and some of her rebellious adolescence reactions is admirable and even at time surprising when you consider that this was an era where men were not too eager to have women in a position of knowledge.

Readers will find Anton's first book in the series a pleasant read with well-defined principal and ancillary characters and some engaging tales, and I am looking forward to reading the second pertaining to Miriam.


Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures

The power of learning, faith, and the two sides of love
Set in 1068, Rashi's Daughters: A Novel of Life, Love and Talmud in Medieval France is a novel about a winemaker and Talmud scholar, who undertakes an action that would be viewed negatively by the community if it became known - he dares to teach the Talmud to his three daughters. The eldest daughter finds her mind and spirit awakened with her learning, yet knows she must keep her knowledge hidden, even from her betrothed. Yet when she and her husband encounter their first crisis, the eldest daughter must make the fateful choice between marital happiness and her true self. A forceful novel of the power of learning, faith, and the two sides of love.

no matter your faith, this is our history
I became interested in this book through a friend. I was fascinated by how the author made these medieval times come alive. Her discussions of medical care, herbology, and most important Talmud and studying were a wonderful backdrop for this entrancing tale.

Not being Jewish, I don't really understand the discussions of Talmud; I have not studied them. But, I do, through this book, understand their importance and meaning to Johoved. The author has somehow shared that in her book.

I look forward to her next book. If it is as well-written as this, it should be a "best-seller".