I'm off and running again on another book tour, this one for the 3 weeks leading up to Halloween - a perfect time to talk about ancient Jewish Magic. I'll be visiting six states: Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Michigan and Illinois. For more details, including exact locations of my venues, see my web schedule.
Oct 10 - 7 pm. Temple Torah, Boynton Beach FL
Oct 13 - noon. Kehilat Shalom, Gaitersburg MD
Oct 14 - 6 pm. Alyssa Hadassah, Forsgate Country Club, 375 Forsgate Dr,Monroe Township, NJ
Oct 16 - 7 pm. Rodeph Torah, Marlboro NJ
Oct 17 - 11 am. Greens Hadassah lunch, So Huntington Jewish Center, 2600 New York Ave, Melville NY
Oct 17 - 7 pm. North Shore Synagogue, Syosset, Long Island NY
Oct 20 - noon. Congregation of Moses, Kalamazoo MI
Oct 22 - 7 pm. Congregation Kneseth Israel, Elgin IL
Oct 23 - 7 pm. Beth Judea Sisterhood, Long Grove IL
Oct 24 - noon. Aviva Lilah Hadassah lunch. 60 Revere Drive, Northbrook IL
Oct 24 - 7 pm. B'nai Torah, Highland Park IL
Oct 26 - 10 am. West Suburban Har Zion, River Forest IL
Oct 27 - 1:30 pm. B'nai Yehudah Beth Sholom, Homewood IL
I hope I'll get to see many of my fans there.
It would be easy to blame the High Holy Days for the long time between posts, but while that is a small part of the delay, along with a visit to my son’s family in Phoenix, the main reason is that whoever hosts my website has been under attack. Thus all of maggieanton.com, including the sites for rashisdaughters.com and ravhisdasdaughter.com, have been down, making my blog inaccessible. Today the blog site seems to be functional, so I’ll hurry to post something.
I have used my downtime well, I think, by finishing the first draft of “Rav Hisda’s Daughter” just before Rosh Hashana. I’d sent the first half to my daughter to edit while I worked on the second. As expected, she came back with a large number of improvements. Many were simply the word ‘boring’ [mostly about the Talmud scenes], while others pointed out the need for more explanation or suggestions that certain secondary characters should either be fleshed out or deleted. For a novel titled “Enchantress,” she thought there should be more magic. Now I’m working my way through implementing [usually] her ideas while she slogs through Part 2. Then Part 1 goes to my editor, who will certainly have even more ways to improve it.
Well it’s that time of year again. A few years ago, at my rabbi’s suggestion, I participated in a spiritual exercise called 10Q, where each day between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, They send me an email, reminding me to log into their website and answer a different question. The answers could be as short or as long as I wanted, and nobody would see them except me – unless I wanted to share them. Earlier this week I received an email with my answers to last year’s questions, and it was enlightening to see where I was last September compared to this one.
According to their website 10Q was inspired by the traditional ten days of reflection that occur between the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a period of time that’s long been considered an opportunity to look at where you're at, where you've come from, and where you're heading. Whether a person is Jewish or not, though, 10Q is a great way for anyone to look back at the year that’s past, look ahead at the year to come, and take stock.
You can sign up [it’s free] any time during the 10 days. It doesn’t take long, and I highly recommend it, especially for those who don’t have time for regular reflection during the year. To whet your appetite, here’s the first question: “Describe a significant experience that has happened in the past year. How did it affect you? Are you grateful? Relieved? Resentful? Inspired?”
I'm almost on the final chapter of Book 2. In the meantime, here's a little something to get you in the mood for the New Year. If you've ever been to Tel Aviv or if you've never been to Tel Aviv, this is a great chance to see it from new angles. Be sure to turn your speakers on: