I trouble myself to sort through a lot of detritus talmud commentary to find exactly what I'm looking for. Uncovering the gems make it all worth it. I hit jackpot with this one. To think now, that my favorite commentary on the talmud thus far is now this book, written by a woman. It's a marvelous curation, laid out in a splendid manor, with excellent erudition. It also gave me historical-fiction ideas as possibilities for future projects. I enjoyed the Bavli out of it. I want more like her, I want more books like this. Everybody, help me find more great stuff like it. Thank you so much. ( )

Ruth Calderon is a living legend for me - a non-Orthodox woman Talmud scholar who wants other non-Orthodox Jews, and women, to study this canonical text that has been the basis of Jewish law and tradition for 1500 years. I read some of these tales on the internet years ago; they gave me the idea to turn what the Talmud said about Rav Hisda's daughter into my own historical novel, [b:Rav Hisda's Daughter, Book I: Apprentice: A Novel of Love, the Talmud, and Sorcery|13542525|Rav Hisda's Daughter, Book I Apprentice A Novel of Love, the Talmud, and Sorcery|Maggie Anton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333225010s/13542525.jpg|19106814]. As I read this book, I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with how she expanded the various short Talmud passages to get to their meat, but always I was impressed at her scholarship and inventiveness. I was pleased, but not surprised, that one of her tales involves Rav Hisda's daughter, and I was fascinated that she interpreted the Talmud tale quite differently from how I did in [b:Enchantress: A Novel of Rav Hisda's Daughter|20821076|Enchantress A Novel of Rav Hisda's Daughter|Maggie Anton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1398025752s/20821076.jpg|40166974].

Why only 4 stars, not 5? Because there are so many more pieces of Talmud she could have, should have, included. In the end I was disappointed at all the good stuff that was still missing.

[a:Maggie Anton|79249|Maggie Anton|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1396995843p2/79249.jpg] ( )