Rashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved: A Novel of Love and the Talmud in Medieval France Review
Anton, Maggie. "Rashi's Daughters: Joheved: A Novel of Love and Talmud in Medieval France," Penguin Plume, 2005.
A Human Drama
Amos Lassen
In 1608, Salomon ben Isaac returned home to Troyes, France so that he could take over the family business of winemaking. He also began a journey of knowledge which still influences the way Judaism regards the sacred text, the Torah. He wrote the first commentary of the Talmud and began to teach Talmud secretly to his daughters. Joheved, the eldest of his daughters, discovered that this study awakened her mind but she was also aware that there was a risk involved. Women were not to study so se had to keep her passion hidden. When she eventually became engaged to Meir ben Samuel, she was forced to choose between happiness in marriage and being true to her love for Talmud.
This is the first of a trilogy about the daughters of Rashi and is about a time when most women were illiterate. Rashi's daughters, however, were not only literate but they studied Talmud. The author brings the age to life by being full of information and wonderful detail. Joheved's wish to study the Talmud was something unheard of at that time in France and what we read seems so real it is as if Maggie Anton had actually been there. She recreates the French community of the time and included details of Jewish ritual. A daughter at that time was considered to be chattel and the only choice she really ever had was about her marriage. Joheved was strong-willed and she was an intellectual. When the time came for her to marry she wanted a man who matched her intellectually and who was not just someone to father her children.
I understand that the author spent seven years in research for this book and she manages to put us into 11th century France. She knows the politics and how to make parchment and soap and this is all given to us in great detail. She brings in Talmudic discourse and the harvesting of grapes as she creates wonderful characters. We see the class struggles and we get the world of ideas... but from the point of view of a woman. As for the master himself, Rashi, he is larger than life and we see him as a son, as a husband, as a father and a grandfather as well as a great scholar.
Anton writes in crisp language and she takes us back in time to give us a look into a fascinating world. Most of know who Rashi was but few of us know anything about Rashi, the person. We know he was perhaps the greatest of Jewish scholars but we do not know him as a father around the house. This is a welcome addition to Jewish (and all) literature and the book is a compelling read. We are drawn in and we stay there, knowing that another book is coming.
Rashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved: A Novel of Love and the Talmud in Medieval France Feature
- ISBN13: 9780452288621
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Rashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved: A Novel of Love and the Talmud in Medieval France Overview
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.
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