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Paperback
Publisher: Plume
ISBN13: 9780452295681
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
The dramatic final book in the epic historical trilogy about the lives and loves of the three daughters of the great Talmud scholar Rashi
Rachel is the youngest and most beautiful daughter of medieval Jewish scholar Salomon ben Isaac, or "Rashi." Her father's favorite and adored by her new husband, Eliezer, Rachel's life looks to be one of peaceful scholarship, laughter, and love. But events beyond her control will soon threaten everything she holds dear. Marauders of the First Crusade massacre nearly the entire Jewish population of Germany, and her beloved father suffers a stroke. Eliezer wants their family to move to the safety of Spain, but Rachel is determined to stay in France and help her family save the Troyes yeshiva, the only remnant of the great centers of Jewish learning in Europe.
As she did so effectively in Joheved and Miriam, Maggie Anton vividly brings to life the world of eleventh-century France and a remarkable Jewish woman of dignity, passion, and strength.
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| My favorite |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I love historical fiction and find that M Anton does a fantastic job weaving history, religion and fiction.
I really enjoyed the first two books and they lead me to do some research of my own. This, the last book, was my favorite. She did an incredible job with the history and again with the characters.
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| Book 3 |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I have enjoyed certain aspects of the trilogy including this 3rd book very much. The historical perspectives are fascinating. Dialogue regarding the Talmud was interesting and thought provoking. What I did not like was the sexuality. It felt like intimate scenes were inserted in the book to help sales. They had nothing to do with the stories, the flow of the book and jumped out as inappropriate or out of place.
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| Rashi's Daughters, Book III |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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I am Helga Melmed, Charles's wife and I read the book, not him.
I enjoyed the other two much more. Too much history, Talmud part didn't seem to fit in.
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| Thought-Provoking, Particularly if You're Interested in Judaism |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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I typically don't review historical fiction not authored by anyone named William Dietrich, and I definitely judged a book by its cover with this novel. I don't read romance, and this appeared to be that sort of story. When I hear the term "historical romance", I immediately think of the thinly-sketched historical settings that serve as paper-thin backdrop for Fabio-esque characters to sweep damsels off their feet.
This is not that kind of novel.
Rashi's Daughters III is a well-researched, historically-grounded novel that places the serious reader firmly in medieval Europe during the time of the crusades. Told from the perspective of a daughter of a Hasidic scholar, the novel explores the plight of Jews during a period in which history tends to focus on the conflict between Christians and Muslims. I found this point-of-view to be thought-provoking, and a new experience. Elements of intrigue and conflicts over family and religious obligations are woven into the plot. It grows a bit heavy on discussions of Judaism if you're not interested in such things, and thus the plot slows at points.
Though not my genre, I still found Rashi's Daughters III: Rachel to be an enjoyable read. If you enjoy highly-detailed historical fiction, buy this book. It can be enjoyed as a stand-alone, but you might want to begin with the first book of the trilogy.
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| Rashi's Daughters, Book III: Rachel: A Novel of Love and the Talmud in Medieval France |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This final volume of Anton's trilogy about the famous Hasidic scholar's family in late 11th Century Troyes (near Paris) portrays Jewish European communities in turmoil as they face attack by Chrisitan mobs inspired by the Pope's call to end the "infidel's" hold over Jerusulem. Viewing all non-Christians as heretics, the mobs' leaders turned their anger on local Jews before heading to take on the followers of Allah. As an native American of Jewish heritage who has viewed the Holocaust from outside looking in, Anton's work brought home the plight of Jews who were persecuted 900 years ago for their devotion to their faith and their unwillingness to accept the divinity of Jesus. These Jewish communities in Germany and France were well established and contibuted to the overall economy and culture, and yet they were vulnerable. It is a haunting story.
Rachel, the third of Rashi's daughers, like her sisters is a Talmudic scholar and helps her father in deveping his commentaries on the Gmorrah and the Mishmah. She is also an avid businesswoman and has the ambition of becoming a successful wooolen's entrepreneur. In her mind, her freedom as a Jewish woman (daughter and wife) lies in her continued association with her father, her sisters and their families and the Jewish community in Troyes France. Her dilemma is that her husband, a very successful fur and woolens goods merchant, has developed a compelling interest in astronomy and sees his future (and his family's) tied to the Jewish community in Toledo, Sepharad (Spain). Thus, this book is also a very personal story of a woman who finds strength in her faith and her intellect. If the Talmud does not specifically ban a woman from carrying out a religious rite, she believes she may conduct that rite (even if tradition has assigned it to the men in the community.) A woman owes loyalty to her husband but not if he wants to move her and her children away from the community she and they cherish. She and her sisters have shown their father that a woman's role in Judaism can be much more than wives and mothers. They can study and understand the Talmud and offer cogent questions about the meanings of scripture. They can help in the reliogious education of the young, both the girls and the boys. They can inspire their siblings, husbands and children to pursue a full life devoted to Talmud, family and community. Perhaps of interest to some of Anton's readers, she includes pre-marital couseling and Talmudic directions to a Jewish husband in how to satisfy the sexual needs of his spouse. Her context is 11th Century France but the advice has validity in 21st Century America.
For those who found Anton's protrayals of dialogues between Talmudic scholars and students fascinating in her first two books in this triology, they will not be disappointed in Volume III. The constant search for the meaning of each scriptural directive and their applications in contemporary life made judaic studies relevent then and, as Anton opines, even for us today.
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