I've received several emails recently asking about the Hebrew on the covers of RASHI'S DAUGHTERS. Before I reveal the sources and translations, I'll share how any Hebrew got to be on the cover of BOOK I - JOHEVED. Back in Fall 2005, the deal with my cover designer was that for an initial fee, she would provide 3 draft covers. If I liked one of them, we would go with it as the basic design, and if not, I'd pay more for another 3 potential covers. I wasn't so much worried about having to pay for a…
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Added by Maggie Anton on November 29, 2009 at 2:24am —
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Those who have followed my blog since the end of 2006 may recall that while doing a book tour in Israel, I joined
Women of the Wall at the Kotel to celebrate Rosh Hodesh Tevet. I was in such a hurry to get there that I forgot my
tallit, so that I had to borrow one from another woman when I was given an aliyah. One man came over from the men's side to stop our singing Hallel, but he was quickly led away by police. And when it came time to walk to…
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Added by Maggie Anton on November 25, 2009 at 4:32pm —
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I am finally home from fall book tours and ready to start blogging again. But I'm too tired to be creative tonight so I thought I would share another Talmud limerick from one of my favorite blogs by
Chavatzelet Herzliya , this one originally posted Feb 8, 2008. Those who have read RASHI'S DAUGHTERS: BOOK III - RACHEL may recognize this
sugia from Chapter 27.
Nedarim [20a)
If he vows "My wife's pleasure in sex
Is a Konam to me," then regrets
What h…
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Added by Maggie Anton on November 23, 2009 at 12:44am —
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My last speaking event in Miami was at the JCC in Davie, and having arrived early, I looked around for something to occupy myself. Turned out this was easy, since there was an art exhibit going on, not an uncommon occurrence at JCC's. I decided to check it out, especially after learning that this was opening night, so there would be a nice little reception.
The artist,
Jackie Olenick, was there as well. Most of her new work appeared to be…
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Added by Maggie Anton on November 8, 2009 at 11:55pm —
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[continuation of previous post]
It is in the third chapter of Genesis, where Eve succumbs to the snake's temptation and eats the forbidden fruit, that Rashi goes against the near universal tradition of blaming Eve. He knows these very well, because in Gen 3:8 he states that he's aware of many midrash about this, including Genesis Rabbah, but he's not concerned with them - only with
peshat, the plain meaning of the text. Yet Rashi regularly quotes midrash in his other Torah commentaries, s…
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Added by Maggie Anton on November 6, 2009 at 2:43am —
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This Sunday, November 8, I will be the keynote speaker at
Bible by the Bay in Marin County, CA. My topic will be: "Rashi's Daughters as Torah commentators: fact, fiction or legend?" Which means I have to find some of Rashi's commentaries that show a feminist bent and teach them to my audience. I confess that I have not read all of Chumash with Rashi [shocking], nor have I memorized those parts I have studied. But I had a good idea where to start l…
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Added by Maggie Anton on November 3, 2009 at 2:51am —
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How about something that has nothing to do with Judaism [for a change], but is a big topic of discussion in women's historical fiction? What is the difference [assuming there is one] between historical romance, historical fiction with a romance plot, and historical fiction with romantic elements? Surely all have the basic plot: girl meets boy, girl gets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy. So what makes one novel a 'bodice-ripper' and another literary fiction? Is it the writing or merely the publ…
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Added by Maggie Anton on October 30, 2009 at 1:24am —
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Finally I'm home from my Florida book tour, which I consider a success despite some good news and some bad news. Good news: my programs at Jewish venues drew large audiences of over 100 attendees. Bad news: except for "Books & Books" in Miami, none of my independent bookstore events drew even half a minyan. Good news: Jewish venues often sold out of Books I and II, which means lots of readers are new to RASHI'S DAUGHTERS. Bad news: if they don't get a signed copy when I'm speaking, are they…
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Added by Maggie Anton on October 26, 2009 at 12:07am —
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Let all your Florida friends know that I will be speaking everywhere in Florida from Oct 13-22: Jacksonville [10-13], Palm Coast [10-14], Sarasota [10-15 am], Tampa [10-15 pm], Dunedin [10-16], Orlando [10-18], Boca Raton [10-19], Miami [10-20 am], Bal Harbour [10-20 pm], Naples [10-21], Boynton Beach [10-22 am], and JCC at Davie [10-22 pm].
For more info, including exact times and locations, see my
website schedule Continue
Added by Maggie Anton on October 12, 2009 at 2:19am —
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As we approach the end of Sukkot, I am reminded of the suspicion of a connection between Sukkot and
Hanukah, since both festivals last 8 days. According to the Apocrypha, the Maccabees were celebrating a delayed Sukkot when they rededicated the Temple.
"They [the Jews] celebrated it for eight days with gladness like Sukkot and recalled how a little while before, during S…
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Added by Maggie Anton on October 9, 2009 at 2:02pm —
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Today I was interviewed by Ann Bocock of WXEL, the NPR station in West Palm Beach, Florida. The show, "Florida Forum," will broadcast on Sunday, Oct 4 at 11 am EST and again on Monday, Oct 5 at 7 pm EST. Those who live outside south Florida can listen live on their computer by going to either
WXEL or
RadioTime . Those who want to wait and download a…
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Added by Maggie Anton on October 2, 2009 at 12:58am —
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Several folks asked for a copy of my Rosh Hashanah drash, which was actually a Talmud study session to show how Rashi's commentary is essential to deciphering the text. I will try to summarize my teaching, which focused on a short passage in Tractate Rosh Hashanah 20a. Keep in mind that the Talmud is written in a deliberately opaque fashion because this is the oral Torah that the reader should have already studied with a teacher. The shorthand version written down is supposed to jog the student'…
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Added by Maggie Anton on September 27, 2009 at 12:40am —
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With Rosh Hashanah upon us, I thought I'd connect BOOK III - RACHEL with the High Holy Days [aka High Holidays or, preferred usage, Days of Awe]. I don't think what I'm about to write is a spoiler, so even if you haven't read RACHEL, don't hesitate to read further.
One of my goals in writing RASHI'S DAUGHTERS was to show how medieval French Jews celebrated holidays and life cycle events, and to that end I was determined that every Jewish holiday would be observed in at least one volume of the t…
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Added by Maggie Anton on September 17, 2009 at 8:08pm —
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I recently saw a request for help posted on the Yahoo Jewish Book Marketing group that I couldn't turn down. Shelley B, who runs the blog
Write for a Reader was asking for posts from authors, bloggers, and publishers describing books we read as children that had an impact on our lives. In other words, a book that sparked something inside us, created the reader we are now, inspired us to write, etc. T…
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Added by Maggie Anton on September 6, 2009 at 2:04am —
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My blogs have been so serious lately that I wanted to share something fun. Today is Rosh Hodesh Elul; Elul being the month preceding the Days of Awe. To announce the upcoming holy days, we blow the shofar every day of Elul until Rosh Hashanah, starting today. In case you do not get to shul to hear the shofar sounded, here is the next best thing: my husband Dave and grandson Nathan perform a duet for shofar and baritone horn onYouTube. Since it's so short, you could watch it any day that you can'…
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Added by Maggie Anton on August 20, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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If you are a big fan of Chabad, read no further.
A while back I set up Google Alerts for "Rashi's Daughters" and "Maggie Anton," which sends me email whenever those two subjects show up on the internet. The idea, of course, is to find out who's posting about me or my books. But occasionally something else pops up, like the
link below.
I could tell by the title, 'Why I Don't Put on Tef…
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Added by Maggie Anton on August 16, 2009 at 4:48pm —
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Here is an interesting topic to consider as we enter the last Shabbat before Elul. According to Kabalistic sources, there are 22 saintly women mentioned in Torah, one for each letter of the
aleph bet. They are: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Joheved, Miriam, the five daughters of Zelafchad, Deborah, Manoah's wife [Judges 13:2], Hannah, Abigail, the woman of Tekoa [II Samuel 14], the widow helped by Elijah [I Kings 17:9], the Shulamite woman [II Kings 4:8], Hulda, Naomi [but not Ruth], Jeho…
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Added by Maggie Anton on August 14, 2009 at 2:41am —
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Wow! I just got my first ever RASHI'S DAUGHTERS book review in mainstream media, [i.e. a non-Jewish newspaper], today in the Glendale News Press. I actually lived in Glendale for almost 40 years, moving just last year to West Los Angeles. So the News Press did good for a hometown girl with a real review, containing praise and criticism [thankfully more of the former]. You can tell that the reviewer actually read RACHEL, as opposed to merely reworking the back cover copy.
Here are some of the hi…
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Added by Maggie Anton on August 9, 2009 at 1:28am —
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I think the biggest misconception Jews have about the First Crusade is that it directly caused the destruction of medieval French and German Jewry. But it is only with 20-20 hindsight that we can see European Jews beginning to lose status and anti-Semitism rising after the First Crusade. Judging by the almost complete absence of mention in Jewish writings of the time, most Jews took little notice of events in the Rhineland in 1096, just as they had ignored the Berbers’ destruction of Jewish life…
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Added by Maggie Anton on August 2, 2009 at 6:32pm —
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As we approach the black fast of Tisha b'Av, which starts at sunset on Wednesday, Jews focus on the more lachrymose parts of our history. Certainly some of Ashkenazi Jewry's darkest hours occurred at the beginning of the First Crusade, when Jews in 4 Rhineland cities were massacred in Spring 1096. Interestingly, the marauders themselves were slaughtered by the Hungarian army by mid-Summer, so that the Tisha b'Av parallel doesn't work in this instance. However, the First Crusade takes place durin…
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Added by Maggie Anton on July 28, 2009 at 12:19am —
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