I sent out the "final manuscript" of RAV HISDA'S DAUGHTER to my editor at Plume and to my agent this morning, along with a preface, glossary, historical timeline, cast of characters, and table of contents [still to come are maps and author's afterword]. What – you don't hear the choir of angels singing Hallelujah?
As any novelist knows, what I emailed is not the real final manuscript. My editor will surely want some changes, and in the meantime, I will be reading the entire thing aloud [not just the dialogue] and fixing any wording that doesn't sound right. There won't be any big changes, but it's amazing how much needs tweaking when I say it out loud. This part is rather enjoyable. I can do it in small chunks of time, as opposed to writing where I need at least a couple of uninterrupted hours to gather my thoughts.
Yet even after my editor and I agree on changes to be made, what I turn in still won't be the "final" manuscript, as that's when the copy editors have their go at it. After four novels published, it still astounds and embarrasses me how many typos and grammar errors they find, despite all the people who have already gone over it. But we are getting close to the finish line, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. The art department is working on the cover, and once that is decided, it's time to set up the new novel's website.
So why do I study Torah, especially since I grew up in a secular socialist household where I didn't even know what Torah was until I was almost 20? Needless to say, I didn't know anything about Talmud, except for reading Chaim Potok's "The Chosen," until I was past 40.
There are many reasons I study Talmud [one Jew, lots of opinions]: because I enjoy learning, because it's mentally challenging and stimulating, because women aren't supposed to, because it connects me to Jews throughout history, because it shows me the process that has produced the Judaism we practice today. And to be honest, because it gives me a special status in my community to be a Talmud scholar and, last but not least, because it's fun.
For those who want to start studying Talmud in a simple way, the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem has started a new Mishna Yomit, where every day a piece of Mishna [with commentary] arrives in your email in-box. Learning the entire Mishna first is actually the original method of Talmud study, and when I say learn, I mean memorize. Only after the Mishna was understood completely, did we move onto Gemara. Mishna Yomit started at the New Year with the first Tractate of Talmud, Berachot [Blessings], and if you sign up now you won't have missed much. Plus you can read the older ones too.
I am pretty much done with the latest draft of RAV HISDA'S DAUGHTER. It weighs in at just over 170,000 words – a good heft for a historical novel. I have one last Talmud scene to perfect, an important one where Rav Hisda asks his students why they study Torah – a question with a not so obvious answer back in 3rd century Babylonia when the Rabbis were a small minority among the vast majority of Jews who knew little or nothing of the Oral Law.
Ask nearly any religious Jew today about critical Jewish values, and no matter what their denomination, they will say that Torah study is high [if not tops] on the list. But if you ask why, that is not so easily answered, other than to say, "this is what Jews have always done, have always valued."
True, in Deuteronomy we are commanded: "Teach these words diligently to your children/sons [either translation is possible], recite them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you rise up … that your days and the days of your children/sons may increase."
But Torah study is not one of the Ten Commandments, plus there are hundreds more mitzvot as well, so why is this commandment paramount? The Talmudic sages insist that it is, declaring that Torah study is greater than 1000 sacrifices, than rebuilding the Temple, than attending synagogue, and even than doing mitzvot. Those familiar with the morning liturgy know the refrain, coming after a long list of recommended behaviors, that 'the study of Torah is equal to them all because it leads to them all.'
So if you study Torah, why? Next blog I'll give my answer.
I have just under two weeks to complete the final draft of RAV HISDA'S DAUGHTER. I have all the comments from my freelance editor, marked in pencil on a 750+ page printout [don't worry, it's double-spaced in 12 pt Courier font], plus corrections and questions from my husband and a non-Jewish friend. But my best critic is my daughter, who got me her notes on the last 7 chapters two days ago.
I've been editing and revising as I received their observations, but now that I have them all I'm ready to get this book into its ultimate shape. And just in time, I have two cross-country flights this coming week that will ensure I have plenty of uninterrupted hours to work.
For those in the Philadelphia area and east New Jersey, it won't be snowing so come on out to hear me speak. Here's my schedule:
Nov 6 - 10:15 am. Brothers of Israel, 530 Washington Crossing Rd, Newtown, PA 18940 [cosponsored by Kol Emet of Yardley PA]
Nov 6 - 3:30 pm. Ner Tamid Sisterhood, 1705 Berlin Road, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
Nov 7 - 1 pm. Bnai Israel Sisterhood, 1488 Old Freehold Road Toms River, NJ 08753
Nov 8 - 7:30 pm. Michael Fink Lecture. Temple Beth El, 1489 Hamilton St, Somerset, NJ 08873
See my Speaking Schedule for links to these locations.