I was sent this link to an interesting interview with an Orthodox woman sex therapist, many of whose clients come from the Ultra-Orthodox world. Of course I had to comment, and what you read below is what I posted in response to the article:
I don't see how disseminating lashon hara about Rabbi Seidler-Feller has any relevance to this article. That said, I too [also with David Kraemer] find it strange, and sad, that Doreen Seidler-Feller is not more familiar with the generally permissive view the Talmud takes about sex between a consenting husband and wife, as detailed in such scholarly works as Boyarin's "Carnal Israel" and Biale's "Eros and the Jews."
The Sages believed that the quality of the parents' sex act had a corresponding influence on the quality of the child conceived by that act. That is, the more pleasure for both of them, the better the child. Contrary to what Seidler-Feller's patient had learned, conduct that leads to bad children is more along the lines of forced sex or sex while drunk, angry at the partner, or thinking of someone else.
However, considering that women have been prevented/prohibited from studying Talmud until recently [a situation I'm trying to remedy], it's not surprising that Seidler-Feller has not had access to these texts.
Perhaps her clients should be reading my "Rashi's Daughters" novels, as some "kallah" class teachers in NY have their students do.
Get ready; this blog post has lots of links.
Last year I was asked to write a review of Milton Steinberg’s "new" novel, THE PROPHET'S WIFE, which has just been released in paperback. Rabbi Milton Steinberg, who died just over 50 years ago, is best known as the author of BASIC JUDAISM, as well as the historical novel, AS A DRIVEN LEAF, whose main character is the Talmudic tragic sage-turned-heretic, Elisha ben Abuyah. Since the characters in my next historical series, RAV HISDA'S DAUGHTER, are also Talmudic figures, I should be so lucky as to have my novel compared favorably to Steinberg's.
Of course I jumped at the chance to read a galley of Steinberg's posthumous work, whose main character is biblical prophet Hosea, even though I knew that Steinberg had died before finishing it. Part of my review was to be how I'd craft the story's ending, which was certainly an intriguing task.
By the way, although hardbacks are usually more expensive than paper editions, not so in this case. At least not at Amazon. Frankly, I recommend checking it out at your local library.
As some of you may know, the official titles of the two volumes of my next series are RAV HISDA'S DAUGHTER: BOOK 1 - APPRENTICE [Aug 2012] and RAV HISDA'S DAUGHTER: BOOK 2 - ENCHANTRESS [Aug 2014]. Thus one might reasonably expect that they have something to do with ancient Jewish magic.
Having gone through the entire Talmud to discover what is said about the characters in BOOK 1, we have returned to the Talmud's beginning and started a new search of its contents, this time looking for information about magic, demons, healing, and sorceresses. Several long passages on these subjects are noteworthy, particularly those in chapters nine of Berachot, six of Shabbat, ten of Pesachim, seven in Sanhedrin and Gittin.
The rabbis are quite concerned about separating legitimate magic [used for healing and protection from evil spirits] from 'the ways of the Amorites,' which were prohibited. Apparently the Amorites were pagans who lived in Canaan in the ancient past, who were responsible for many magic practices that Israelites in rabbinic times still practiced.
Thus there is a sugia in Tractate Shabbat [66-67] that discusses a long list of magic practices with the goal of deciding which were 'the ways of the Amorites,' and thus forbidden, and which were not. In addition, chapters six and seven of the Tosefta [additional rabbinic material from the time of the Mishna] also discuss 'the ways of the Amorites.'
Most of these are just plain weird, like tying a chicken to the bed of a woman in labor [to keep her company] or placing a similar bone on the head of one who has a bone stuck in his throat. To my surprise, although perhaps I shouldn't have been, some 'ways of the Amorites' were familiar. For example, tying a red wool thread around a child's finger. How did the rabbis deal with this popular, yet prohibited, practice? They said to tie the red thread around the child's arm or neck instead. Another of 'the ways of the Amorites' was responding "for healing" when someone sneezed. But apparently this practice was so common [as it is today], that the rabbis reversed themselves and declared that actually this was NOT 'the way of the Amorites.' Also not the 'way of the Amorites' was scaring someone out of their hiccups.
This week's writing has been focused on Talmud more than usual. While many Jews see the Talmud as a compendium of laws, these laws are not decrees, but arise out of conversations [and arguments] between Babylonia and Palestinian rabbis of late antiquity. As most of you know, these rabbis and their families are the characters of my new series, RAV HISDA'S DAUGHTER.
After almost a year, my hevruta and I have completed the goal of studying Talmud with a specific goal of learning as much as possible about Rav Hisda, his wife and children, his colleagues, and his students. From these studies, it is clear that these people are not ciphers or interchangeable, but have distinct personas. For example: Rav Hisda is fastidious, his wife loves to party, he and his colleague Rav Huna are more adversaries than friends, and like anyone, the rabbis and their students get along well with some and not with others.
Two of the most obvious antagonists are, interestingly, the two students who marry my heroine, Rami bar Hama and Abba bar Josef [aka Rava]. Abba, who is both brilliant and arrogant, regularly condemns Rami for having such a sharp/quick mind that it leads him to errors. Abba also insults Rav Hisda's son Nachman, calling his statements 'fabrications.' Yet despite his many arguments with other rabbis, especially Abaye, Abba/Rava never abuses them verbally in such a fashion.
Naturally, I find all these Talmud sections fascinating, as does JTS professor Richard Kalmin. And this week, as the rivalry between Rami and Abba is reaching its climax in my story, I went over them in detail to determine which ones would be most appropriate for my latest chapters. Unfortunately, some of the Talmud discussions are so complex and esoteric that making them interesting to my readers is beyond my writing skills. Thus is my challenge: distilling my characters' relationships and attitudes from Talmud texts that are difficult even for scholars to understand.
For those whose enquiring minds want to know, the passages I considered came from Bava Kama 20b, Ketubot 63b, Eruvin 90a, Bava Mezia 96ab, Bava Batra 116ab, and Niddah 33ab.