You can now listen to Part 2 of BBC’s radio program, “The Story of the Talmud” . In case you missed it or want to hear it again, you can also listen to Part 1 from the same link. According to the website, they should be available for at least a year. This episode eventually includes some interviews with women about how Talmud study is changing now that it’s not a male charedi monopoly.
My previous post directed you to a BBC radio program about the Talmud [second part to air this week]. What I didn’t mention that I learned about the broadcast from an article at The JC.com, the Jewish Chronicle Online . Buried in this excellent article is a perfect description of my relationship with Talmud:
"For some people the Talmud is not like a parent but rather like a lover. These are individuals who have come to Talmud study relatively late in life. I met some of them while visiting Pardes in Jerusalem, an institute that pioneers Talmudic study for men and women with little or no background in this rigorous discipline. For these students, the Talmud is not a familiar presence but rather something exotic, dazzling and unpredictable. It fascinates them but they are not uncritical.
They approach it from the outside, as it were, with fresh eyes and mature intellectual tools developed elsewhere; through the study of science, history, literature or just life experience. The Talmud does not just seduce such individuals, they also seduce the Talmud, so that it yields to them wisdom and inspiration that is just not available to those like myself with a more familiar perspective and predictable expectations. The Talmud constantly surprises them in delightful ways."
I can’t resist adding that I had the honor of speaking about “Rashi’s Daughters” at Pardes when I visited Israel in 2007.
Here's the link to the first installment of an excellent 2-part BBC radio program about Talmud that you can listen to without getting up in the middle of the night. An amazing amount of information packed into 28 minutes, and as Rashi advises teachers if they want their students’ attention, it begins with a joke.
Tonight starts Tisha B’Av, the Black Fast – as opposed to Yom Kippur, the White Fast. According to the Talmud, Taanit 26b, five disasters for Israel happened on that date, including the destruction of both First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.
Here’s a pdf resource on personal and communal mourning from JOFA [Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance] for women, and men, in preparation for the fast and observance that starts tonight.
I admit to being a Netflix fan. I love the ability to watch, from the comfort of my living room couch and with English subtitles on, all sorts of interesting small films typically off the radar compared to the blockbusters. Foreign animated movies are some of my favorites, and when I saw that a French one named The Rabbi’s Cat received a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I immediately added to my queue. We watched it this weekend.
Based on a graphic novel, The Rabbi's Cat tells of the adventures of a rabbi and his talking cat - a sharp-tongued feline philosopher brimming with scathing humor. 1930s Algeria is an intersection of Jewish, Arab and French culture where a cat belonging to a widowed rabbi and his beautiful daughter eats the family parrot and miraculously gains the ability to speak. Rich with the colors, textures, flavors and music of Mediterranean Africa, the film embarks on a cross continent journey from the tiled terraces, fountains, quays and cafes of colonial Algiers to desert tent camps, dusty trading outposts, and deep blue Saharan nights in search of a lost Ethiopian Jewish city.
OK – the plot is bizarre, but I very much enjoyed following the characters through their wild and wacky escapades. The animation is amazing and the music, Klezmer with Middle Eastern overtones, was beautiful. And the overarching message that people, despite disparate religions, languages, and cultures, might actually be able to get along if they tried, was a nice change from everything I seem to see in the news these days.
Plus when was the last I got to see a movie where a rabbi discusses Torah with a cat?
Again I’ve gone over a week between blog posts, but I have an excellent excuse, or rather 3 of them. 1. I’ve been working hard on Book 2 of “Rav Hisda’s Daughter,” with the aim of finishing [finally] the first draft by month’s end. That means less blogging and more writing. 2. #1 above was interrupted by my publisher needing a synopsis of the above mentioned Book 2 by July 1. Believe me, distilling a 400-page novel into 3 paragraphs is more difficult than writing the actual book.
3. I spent last weekend doing speaking at North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation, a lovely Reform temple in one of the world’s all time great locations, especially when the rest of California is suffering a heat wave. The sweet pine forest smell took me right back to all the camping trips my family took in the summer, reminding me how important it is to include all my character’s senses in my new novel. Particularly for ancient times, the description of odors and tastes can bring this world to life far better than visuals. And how often does hearing a certain song bring an old memory vividly to mind?
It’s almost midnight and fireworks are still going off in my neighborhood. I hope you all had a good 4th of July.