I'd barely started my research when I realized that I've stepped into a minefield of controversy as to the historicity of what's written in the Talmud. Apparently there are two camps, which are divided into further subgroups. To the right are the mostly Orthodox and Israeli scholars who say all the sages mentioned in the Talmud did indeed live exactly as described there, that what's written in the Talmud is history as well as holy text. These scholars say that the Talmudic sages wielded great in… Continue

On to the next step in my research. I knew who Rav Hisda was and I had an intriguing story about his daughter marrying two sages. In addition the time and place they lived looked to be fascinating to research. Now it was time to dig a little deeper and develop a basic timeline. Obviously nearly all information concerning Rav Hisda and his family would come from the Talmud, which is not a historical document, but I was dismayed to immediately discover a serious problem.

According to Tractate Moe… Continue

Who was Rav Hisda? Rav Hisda was a Babylonian sage of the third generation mentioned frequently in the Talmud. Descended from a priestly family, he first studied under Rav, who was his principal teacher. After Rav's death he attended the lectures of Rav Huna, his companion and the same age as himself. Poor in his youth, Hisda later became a wealthy brewer. At the age of sixteen he married the daughter of Hanan b. Raba and together they had seven sons and two daughters. One of his pupils, Rava, b… Continue

When considering whether to write about Rashi's daughters or Rav Hisda's daughter - once I determined whether or not anyone knew their first names - I needed to check out the time period when they lived. I wanted my novel to have a happy ending, or at least a satisfactory one, and that would be problematic if my characters lived where Jews were being horribly persecuted or where everyone was dying from some plague.

According to the Talmud, Rav Hisda lived in Babylonia [current day Iraq] from ab… Continue

Once my RASHI'S DAUGHTERS trilogy was finished, readers started asking what I'm writing about next. At first, perhaps to fool the Evil Eye, I avoided answering, other than stating that it wouldn't be RASHI'S GRANDDAUGHTERS. After all, I have no contract with Plume for any more books, so in theory I could just stay home and enjoy my grandchildren. Except that I enjoy both researching Jewish women in history and imagining how they lived. And more important, way back in 1996, when I was thinking of… Continue