Maggie Anton, author of "Rashi's Daughters" and "Rav Hisda's Daughter" Speaking

Acclaimed author Maggie Anton, author of Rav Hisda’s Daughter and the Rashi’s Daughters trilogy, will talk about Rav Hisda’s daughter, who was one of the most frequently mentioned women in the Talmud, about life for Jews and women in Zoroastrian Persia as Rav Hisda and his colleagues established Jewish laws and practices after the destruction of Jerusalem’s Temple, and about Babylonian sorcery and incantation bowls.

Anton, a clinical chemist by profession and member of a Reform synagogue in Southern California, was raised in a secular Socialist home. She first studied Talmud in 1992, with Rabbi Rachel Adler. Just a few years later she began writing Rashi’s Daughters, and Anton has subsequently become one of the most popular interpreters of Talmud for modern readers. 

She describes the Talmud as “a novelist’s gold mine” and is working on Rav Hisda’s Daughter: Book 2, which will be published in 2014. 

Babylonian snacks will be served at the reception, where Rav Hisda’s Daughter: Book 1 will be available for sale. Cash and checks accepted; no credit cards.