Maggie Anton, author of the popular Rashi's Daughter series, will discuss her latest book, 50 Shades of Talmud: What the First Rabbis Had to Say about You Know What, at Jewish Women's Theatre's popular Bagels & Bestsellers author-brunch series on Sunday, September 25 at 10:30 a.m. @ The Braid, 2912 Colorado Avenue #102 in Santa Monica.
Maggie Anton's latest book mixes Talmudic discussions with cartoons and observations by both serious and comedic thinkers, to provide audiences with a new and rather shocking perspective on what the Talmudic sages have to say about the most intimate of human experiences.
"I knew about "be fruitful and multiply," says Ronda Spinak, artistic director of the Jewish Women's Theatre. "But I never imagined the lengths the first rabbis went to tell young Jewish men and women just how to be fruitful and multiply!"
L.A native Maggie Anton was raised in a secular, socialist household, where she reached adulthood with little knowledge of her Jewish religion. Her marriage was the start of a lifetime of Jewish education, synagogue involvement, and ritual observance.
In 1992 Anton joined a women's Talmud class taught by Rabbi Rachel Adler, now a professor at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. To her surprise, she fell in love with Talmud. Intrigued by the great Talmudic scholar Rashi's decision to break tradition and teach his daughters the Talmud, Anton researched the family and decided to write novels about them.
Thus the award-winning trilogy, Rashi's Daughters, was born, to be followed by National Jewish Book Award finalist, Rav Hisda's Daughter: Apprentice and its sequel, Enchantress. Still studying women and Talmud, Anton has lectured throughout North America and Israel about the history behind her novels. She will share that history and the thinking behind 50 Shades of Talmud with the Bagels & Bestsellers audience later this month.
David Biale, Professor of Jewish History at UC Davis writes, "The only thing more surprising and amusing than Maggie Anton's book on sex in the Talmud is the Talmud itself. Anton shows us how the ancient rabbis - no prudes among them!-explored every angle of human sexuality with humor and insight that feels entirely modern.
Anton will be speaking and signing copies of her book at Bagels & Bestsellers on Sunday, September 25 at 10:30 a.m. at The Braid. Tickets are $15 - cash at the door (includes light brunch). For more information, visit
www.jewishwomenstheatre.org.
JWT provides a home for the diverse and eclectic community of artists and creators who comprise L.A.'s Jewish women's (and now men's) community. Both at its home in The Braid theatre and art gallery in Santa Monica's Bergamot Arts District, in intimate salons throughout the city, and on tour throughout the country, JWT stages and displays traditional and contemporary works that provide a forum for the development, performance and showcasing of Jewish talent. JWT aims to leave no Jewish story untold, while celebrating the truths that connect us all.
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