Rashi’s Daughters: Joheved
Readers' Discussion Questions

1. What tone does the opening scene set? What does it tell you about Joheved’s character?

2. Describe how the bond between Joheved and Salomon develops and changes with time? Discuss the pros and cons of Jewish childhood in medieval France.

3. Rashi’s Daughters is filled with carefully researched historical anecdotes that the author uses as inspiration for her own imagined scenes. Discuss this interplay of fact and fiction.

4. Rivka is upset with her daughters learning Talmud. Are her objections reasonable? Why would men not want women in a position of knowledge? What is it that educated women threaten? Discuss the role of women in medieval society vs. their role today.

5. Joheved and Meir have an arranged marriage, as do Salomon and Rivka. Compare Joheved and Meir’s relationship to Salomon and Rivka’s? To Miriam and Benjamin’s? Discuss the pros and cons of arranged marriage vs. marrying for love. Why would Sarah prefer widowhood to remarriage?

6. Salomon’s decision to write down his kuntres is a controversial innovation. Discuss how a society is changed in a shift from oral to written tradition.

7. Relations between French Jews and Christians were fairly tolerant during this time. Was this lack of overt anti-Semitism surprising? What other myths about medieval times did Rashi’s Daughters debunk?

8. Which characters resonated the most powerfully for you? Were there others you would have liked to have known more about? Why? 

9. What do you see in the future for Rachel? Has the author left clues?

10. Religion was a powerful force for both Jews and Christians in medieval times. Is religion as powerful now? How does your religion, or lack of one, influence your life?

11. What questions would you like to ask the author about Rashi’s Daughters? Will you read the next book in the trilogy?