Enchantress Readers' Guide
Questions for Discussion:
1. Hisdadukh and her contemporaries accept magic -- curses,
demons, and spells -- as a normal part of everyday life.
Did this surprise you? Why do you think magic is such
an integral part of their lives?
2. Em tells Hisdadukh that “the longer a man has desired
a thing, the harder he works for it, the more worried,
perhaps even frightened, he becomes as his goal comes
within reach.” Do you agree with her? What ultimately
allows Rava and Hisdadukh to reconcile and wed?
3. Rava often remarks that he struggles with his yetzer
hara. But later on in the novel, Rav Oshaiya tells him
that “God wants us to love Him with both our yetzer tov
and our yetzer hara.” What does he mean by this? Does
Rava eventually succeed in using his yetzer hara in this
way?
4. Why are Em, Rava and Abaye so dismayed by the dream
interpretations they receive from Bar Hedaya?
5. The author weaves many teachings from the Talmud throughout
her text. What purpose does this serve?
6. There are many restrictions placed on women living
in fourth-century Babylonia. What are some of the challenges
Hisdadukh, Homa, and others face because of these rules?
Alternatively, were there some ways in which the lives
of women were better than you might have expected them
to be?
7. How does Hisdadukh manage to endear herself to both
Em and Yalta? What does she learn from each woman?
8. What is Rava’s relationship with his son, Joseph, like?
Why does he treat him differently than he does his younger
sons? Do you think Rava struggles with the same sense
of resentment that Rav Hisda admitted to feeling when
his first son was born?
9. Hisdadukh tells Homa that a charasheta must be favored
by the angels in order for her incantations to work. Hisdadukh
and Rava are blessed by these angels, but not all of their
friends and family are. Is there any discernible reason
why some are more favored than others? Is it possible
for a person to change their luck?
10. Why is seeing Ashmedai in Rami’s form so upsetting
to Rava? What eventually allows him to forgive Hisdadukh?
11. When Rav Hamnuna dies, Rava inherits King Solomon’s
ring and a sheaf of papers with a spell written in them.
As Rava and Hisdadukh examine the pages, Hisdadukh comes
to a realization: “Rabbi’s spells were self-serving, while
those of charasheta were to protect and help others.”
Does the novel make a judgment as to which kind of magic
is superior?
12. What is Hisdadukh’s relationship with Chama like?
How does it change over the course of the book?
13. How is Hisdadukh affected by the deaths of her parents?
Does she react differently to the death of her father
than she did of her mother? How so?
14. Consider Hisdadukh’s interactions with Ashmedai. How
does he try to control her? Would she have been able to
bend him to her will without Solomon’s ring?
15. Why is it so important to Hisdadukh that she defeat
Zafnat herself? Could she have succeeded without Rava
and Chama’s assistance and learning?
16. What role does forgiveness play in the novel?
Questions for the Author:
1. Many of the characters in the novel, including Hisdadukh,
are historical figures. What drew you to her story? How
much did you know about her before you began writing Rav
Hisda’s Daughter: Apprentice and Enchantress?
– The Talmud passage where her father calls up Rami and
Rava, asks her who she wanted to marry, and she replies
“Both of them” astounded me, especially since that is
what eventually happened. I had to know more about her.
When I started my research, I knew very little about her,
or the Babylonian rabbinic community. I knew Rav Hisda
was a wealthy brewer, that he was one of the rabbis creating
the Talmud in the 3rd-4th centuries, and that Babylonia
was the same place as modern Iraq.
2. Stories of ancient Jewish magic and teachings from
the Talmud are threaded throughout the novel. What challenges
did you face in creating an atmosphere grounded in historical
fact but also infused with the supernatural?
– In my Rashi’s Daughters trilogy, which takes place in
medieval France, characters accept that illness came from
foul air or bad food, but might also be the result of
demon attacks or divine punishment. Precautions against
these include actions we would call superstitions, such
as wearing amulets or avoiding certain activities on “unlucky”
days. I detailed many of these “magical” practices, but
left it up to the reader whether they actually worked.
I wrote Apprentice and Enchantress from the heroine’s
first person POV, which meant that I, the purported author,
believed just like everyone else that misfortunes such
as disease, miscarriage and premature death were caused
by demons, sorcerers’ curses, and the Evil Eye. She/I
also believed that these problems could be cured or prevented
by spells inscribed by skilled healers on amulets and
incantation bowls. In Apprentice, my heroine trains to
become one of these healers. Though the techniques she
learns would certainly be considered magic today, I tried
to stay on the historical fiction side rather than cross
into fantasy. My heroine sensed, not saw, the angels who
made her incantations work. With Enchantress, rather than
pussyfooting at the border, I charged fully into fantasy.
My hero consults with ghosts, creates a golem, and resurrects
another rabbi – all as described in the Talmud. My heroine
conjures Ashmedai the Demon King, uses a magic ring to
speak with animals, and creates food from nothing – again,
magic described in the Talmud. I knew this might take
Enchantress out of my readers’ comfort zone for historical
figures, but I couldn’t leave out their supernatural actions
and be true to their story.
3. You write in the afterword that you hope this novel
will inspire readers to learn from the Talmud text itself.
How important is it to you that your writing opens new
doors for your readers, and pushes them to learn more?
Is that something you think about regularly while you’re
working on a novel?
– It is important to me, but not something I consciously
think about when I’m writing. I hope that what they learn
while reading my novels will whet their appetites to study
more.
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