Joheved

ebook

This is such a good book! Well written, compelling story. I learned a good deal about life for the Jewish population in France at the time of the story. I heartily recommend this book ( )

Rashi’s Daughters by Maggie Anton. Epiphany library section 13: adult fiction. In 1068 Salomon Ben Isaac returned home to Troyes, France from his studies in Germany to take over the family wine-making business and continue his religious studies on his own. The first scholar ever to write a commentary on the Talmud, the Jewish scriptures, he secretly did something strictly forbidden: he taught his daughters Talmud. Daughters at that time were taught their bible stories, even Hebrew so they could read their bibles. But never, never bible commentaries, those were reserved for men only.
His eldest daugher, Joheved, values her secret studies, and does not want to marry unless her husband allows her to continue them. While dutiful and serious, she is a bright teen who keeps the winery records, and dickers for the highest prices for her father’s wines. At last she is betrothed to a young scholar from whom she keeps her studies a secret until she is forced to make a choice between marital peace or religious devotion.
Rashi is the shortened form of Rabbi Salomon Isaac. He was a real person – the first great Jewish scholar. Even today when Jews study Talmud they read in addition to the bible verses commentaries by Rashi and others great Jewish theologians who wrote their interpretations of scripture in the margins alongside the scripture verses. Much of the scripture revolves around Jewish law from Leviticus, so these theologians applied the scriptures to the times in which they lived. If a stray cow was in the middle of the road, for example, to whom did it belong – the farmer on one side of the road or the farmer on the other? Theologians even organized the laws according to topic to make them easier to study. No wonder so many Jews became jurists – while Jews advocate good works and deeds, these are incidental to obedience to the 613 laws in Leviticus! Judaism is, first and foremost, a religion of laws.
This book will give you an interesting window into the lives of a French Jewish scholar’s family in the middle ages – a time of short lives and plagues, but with holidays, festivals, early universities, and access to exotic goods brought by merchants from afar. After reading this you might want to follow it with a book about Joan of Arc, a French Catholic girl of the 1400's. Compare and contrast the type of life these very different religious French girls led. ( )

Horrid, sappy, predictable ( )

describes fictional life of the scholar Rashi. This one focuses mainly on his daughter Johenved who marries a scholar Meier. Family produces wine, Rashi opens a Yeshiva, and he teaches his two older daughter (Miriam and Joheved) Talmud.